Certification Tutorial

There are 2 types of certificates available

1
The International Certificate
2
The CE Certificate

What is the difference between the two?

The INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE is a display certificate which verifies that you have studied the material.

Anyone can get this certificate, however qualifying is required. To see a sample certificate, click on the image to enlarge it.

The CE CERTIFICATE is only meant for licensed US therapists who need continuing education credits to keep their massage licence active.

Qualifying is required. US therapists have the option to get both certificates. To see a sample certificate, click on the image to enlarge it.

Who can get a certificate?

You are not entitled to a certificate just because you purchased a course. We only issue certificates to students who enroll in our certification program and demonstrate that they have practiced the material.

Please note: One certificate is issued only to the original purchaser, not to practice partners.

Is there a cost for the certificates?

The International Certificate is provided FREE of charge

The CE Certificate has a non-refundable $10 processing fee.

When can you get a certificate?

You can enroll in our certification program at any time, either when you purchase the course, or later. This could be months or years later. There is no expiration for starting the certification program.

However once you officially enroll in the certification program, there is a time limit for completing the certification. You can see those time limits on the chart further down on this page. If there is a reason why you could not complete the certification within the time limit (work pressure, disease, family emergencies, etc.), please contact us and we can extend it.

For which courses can you get a certificate?

Certificates are available for our medium and large courses with more than 3 hours of training. We do not issue certificates for our smaller courses with less than 3 hours of video training.

Here is the list of certification courses, their available CEUs, the amount of time you have for completing the program ('Time limit'), and the minimum time you need for completing the certification program ("Minimum duration').

Please note: the time limits starts when you officially enroll in the certification program, not when you purchase the course.

Course data and times chart

Course name	CEUs	Time limit	Minimum duration
Complete Thai Massage	30	1 year	3.5 months
Thai Back Massage	22	6 months	2 months
Thai Rocking Massage	12	6 months	3 weeks
Heavenly Head Massage	12	6 months	4 weeks
Thai Massage Hip Therapy	12	6 months	3 weeks
Thai Foot Massage	10	6 months	4 weeks
Thai Massage Shoulder Therapy	10	6 months	3 weeks
Thai Massage For Sciatica	8	3 months	2 weeks
Hands Free Massage	8	3 months	2 weeks

Where are the certificates valid?

CLICK HERE for the International Certificate

CLICK HERE for the CE Certificate

The CE Certificates are valid nationally in the US. You only need one of those if you are a licensed massage therapist who has to get CEUs to keep your licence up to date.

Shama Kern, the director and principal instructor of Thai Healing Massage Academy, is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) as a Continuing Education Approved Provider (provider number 451985-12).

CE hours can be used either for licence renewal in your state or for membership renewal in professional massage organizations like NCBTMB, AMTA or ABMP.

Not all CEUs are the same:
States may distinguish between different categories of CEUs for licence renewal: live in person training, online training, and home study.

Our CEUs are classified as 'home study' or 'online'. Most states require some live CEUs and they also allow some online CEUs.

Online courses may be accepted as live training if they include an interactive feature which allows students to communicate with their instructor. This depends on the definition of the rules in each state.

NCBTMB CE hours are accepted nationally. However all 50 states have different regulatory agencies and different laws regarding massage therapy.

Thai Healing Massage Academy cannot be up to date on the licence renewal rules in all 50 states.

If you want to be sure about the licence renewal requirements in your state, you should contact the agency in your state which regulates massage licensing.

Inquire from them if they accept interactive online home study training courses with NCBTMB CE hours for the renewal of your massage licence.

To explain to them what this training consists of, this might be helpful:

The elements of Thai Healing Massage Academy's training programs:
Our certification program is a structured and interactive online training with personalized instructor support, a feedback and progress reporting mechanism, testing requirements, the ability to communicate with other students, and verifiable course participation via our online forum posting.

You can use ABMPs clickable chart for reference:
State Licensing And CE Requirements

New York state therapists: Please note that our CEUs will only be valid for membership renewals of professional associations like AMTA, ABMP or NCBTMB. They cannot be used for the renewal of your massage licence.

What do you need to do to get a certificate?

CLICK HERE for the International Certificate

CLICK HERE for the CE Certificate

When and how do you receive your certificate?

CLICK HERE for the information

If you want to receive a certificate, it is necessary that you read ALL the information below, watch the videos, and follow the process.

How to get started with the certification?

Step #1: Certification Registration:

You need to register first!

CLICK HERE to access the certification registration form

Step #2: Forum Registration And Login:

Please note: The forum login is not automatically the same login as for your course membership portal. It is a separate registration and you will get a new username and password.

You can change that to whatever you want and can remember. You can access the forum conveniently right from within your membership portal.

If you want to use the same login credentials for both the membership portal and the forum, you can accomplish that by using the same email and password for the forum that you have already set up for your membership portal.

Besides watching the video, you can also see the same information in written format by choosing the option below.

CLICK HERE to see the forum registration/login information in written format

Since you will be posting in our private forum, you need to register and log into the forum with your username and password. Go to the forum page of our website (https://thaihealingmassage.com/forum) and click on the "Register" button at the top right, as shown in the image below.

Please note: This is not the same login as for your course membership portal. It is a separate registration and you will get a new username and password. You can change that to whatever you want and can remember. You can access the forum conveniently right from within your membership portal.

Important: Your forum display name has to be your actual first and last name. So if your name is John Smith, your display name cannot be John, or yogibear17, or JSmith - it needs to be John Smith, otherwise we cannot find you in the forum.

After you submit this form, check your email. You will get an email from Thai Healing Massage Academy with your user name and password info. This is how it looks like:

Click on the link in the email. You will get to a screen which has a password in it which is computer generated and hard to remember. Replace it with a password that you prefer and can remember. You could use the same password that you use for your course membership portal so that you don't have to remember two different passwords.

After you reset your password, you will be redirected to a confirmation page which looks like this. But DO NOT USE the login link on that page. Instead go back to the forum page (https://thaihealingmassage.com/forum) and use the login link at the top right corner to log in.

Forum Login: Whenever you log in, only do so from the forum page, as shown here:

After you log in, you will automatically be redirected to the forum profile page. Read the instructions on there, and then click on the "Edit Profile" link in the sidebar.

Make sure that both your first and last name are listed as your display name, and not an abbreviated or nick name. Your forum display name has to be the same name that you want on your certificate.

Then fill in the bio section with some information about yourself - where you live, what you do, what your background with massage, yoga, or any other healing arts is, what is your primary language (if not English), etc.

When you are done, click on the "Update Profile" button to save your changes. That's it! Now you are registered, logged in, and you can post in the forum.

Step #3: Forum Posting And Navigation:

Please note: Make sure to watch this video before you post in the forum. The posts need to follow a certain format which is explained in the video.

Here is a recap of the main points:

Every module has to have it's own post with the module number written at the top of the post. You cannot combine two or more posts in your progress reports.
The posts cannot be a listing of the content. They need to be experiential, i.e. they need to show that you have actually practiced the material in the module. This means commenting on how the practice session went, what feedback you got from your partner, any questions you might have, how you are using the material, etc.
One sentence is not enough. You need to write at least one good paragraph about the module.
You cannot post lots of modules at one time weeks or months after you practiced them. You should post shortly after you practiced each module.
All your posts need to be in the same forum thread. This is done by creating a 'TOPIC' (Click on 'Add Topic' in the forum). After that, you add posts by clicking on 'Add Reply' (NOT on Add Topic anymore)

CE Test Question Access (only for CE certificate)

If you just want the International Certificate, you should skip this section. It does not apply to you. This section is only for licensed massage therapists from the US who need continuing education credits (CEUs) to maintain their licence.

CLICK HERE to access the CE exam test questions

This page contains the guidelines for your CE certification test, and the registration/access form for the test questions (at the bottom of this page).

For CEUs, you need to do the forum posting, and there is one additional requirement by the NCBTMB. You need to answer 5 multiple choice test questions per module. We use a third party software for this test, called 'ExamProfessor'.

You can access the test questions from this page, but you need to create a separate login just for ExamProfessor since this is not part of our system. The login that you created for your membership portal or the forum will not work.

There is a non-refundable registration fee of $10.- for the CE certification test. You pay that when you register.

If you want to know where our CEUs are valid, please read the section titled "Where are the certificates valid" earlier on this page.

How to answer the test questions:

The test questions are not general massage questions, but only apply to the material which is covered in one particular session. Every question in this test is clearly answered in the corresponding video session.

Each question has only one correct answer. The questions only relate to the content of one particular session. Choose the answer which is clearly spelled out in the video.

When to answer the test questions:

Ideally you should answer the questions right away when you watch a session for the first time. Then it will just take a few minutes.

If you wait with the test questions, you might not remember the answers anymore and you will have to re-watch the videos or re-read the transcripts (if your course has transcripts). This will take more time.

Test expiration:

The test remains open until all question are answered. Then it will be automatically graded. However the test will expire if you take longer than the time limit of the course. (See the Course Data And Times Chart higher up on this page).

Passing the exam:

You need a passing score of 80 percent. If you don't get a passing score of 80 percent, you can retake the test two more times.

If you are new to Examprofessor, first choose your course from the "Public Exams" button, and then register. Once you are registered, you can login via the "Student Login" button.

Support for the exam software:

Since this is third party software, if you have any issues or questions, you can contact ExamProfessor directly via email: support@examprofessor.com. This is the fastest way to get an answer.

In conclusion, if you do your regular forum posts, and answer the test questions for each video module as soon as you watch it the first time, the entire process should be quick and easy. As soon as you complete all the testing requirements, your certificate will be sent to you via email.

Access the exam with the CE test questions via the form below

PLEASE NOTE: Make sure to select your course from the list, and not another one. If you select and pay for the wrong course, we cannot refund the $10 you paid for it.
In this case you would have to pay another $10 for the correct course. This is easily avoided if you just make sure to select the course that you want to sign up for.