The Process for Organizations

 

Completed organization application form including the following:

  • $250 one-time application fee for organizations seeking membership with ISMETA
  • $10 for Certificate of Registry (optional; 8 ½ x 11" formal Certificate of Registry, with Seal)
  • Statement of Purpose (include if your school has already composed this statement) Describe the mission and goals of your program
  • An itemized breakdown of your hours relative to the items listed under "Curricular Requirements" in the Guidelines for ISMETA Approved Training Programs.
  • Your questions (Please type on an attached sheet any questions or concerns your school may have about the guidelines. Please include the section number and letter of the particular clause to which you are referring)
  • Copies of your promotional materials
    Enclose applicable catalogues, brochures and video tapes (VHS, U.S. or European format) of your school and/or program
  • Signed and endorsed copy of the ISMETA Code of Ethics


For any questions regarding eligibility for acceptance as an organization, please refer to Organization Membership Criteria

 

GUIDELINES FOR ISMETA-APPROVED TRAINING PROGRAMS

 

 The guidelines include the four sections listed below:

 

I.  Curricular Requirements

The school's training/certificate program must meet the following requirements:

  • A minimum of 500 class hours of formal instruction in movement education and therapy, in either a classroom or tutorial format with approved instructors (any ISMETA-RSME or ISMETA-RSMT). These class hours must be geared towards professional training.
  • The minimum of 500 hours will give a graduate the ability to demonstrate facility with skills as described in the ISMETA Scope of Practice via a balanced combination of skilled touch, movement, and verbal guidance. (This includes practice in and movement protocols for one-to-one sessions)
  1. Curriculum must include general movement education including but not limited to: movement observation and analysis; neuromuscular or skeletal awareness; movement skills efficiency and development of individual movement protocols.  Demonstration and/or verbal instruction may be used to assist in the active learning on the part of the client/student.
  2. This course work must be geared toward the training of future movement practitioners so that they are skilled in correcting movement patterns, and not geared simply for purposes of personal development. The courses of study may include experiential anatomy, physiology, and movement classes. These courses are to be considered as actively experiencing the subject through kinesthetic or embodied movement applications, rather than through purely academic or cognitive analysis.
  3. The curriculum must also include hands-on re-patterning which can be related to anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology, including the benefits and cautions of these touch techniques. Hands-on re-patterning is defined as employing guidance with one's hands to teach the client/student active movement patterns that he or she will be able to continue to utilize independently. It is required that assessment skills and interventions using knowledge from efficient alignment, ease of movement, neuromuscular awareness and/or perceptual –motor development be taught. In addition, there should be biomechanical attention to the educator, therapist, or practitioner's movement patterns and usage during hands-on work.  Thus, the client /student will, at times, be actively involved in the movement, not merely passively receiving the movement instruction of the therapist or educator.
  4. The Curriculum must also include course work aimed to strengthen professionalism in areas such as counseling, business skills, case studies, ethics, and development of a private practice.

 

II.  Training Program Requirements

A.     In order to obtain ISMETA approval as a training program, and hence become an ISMETA member organization, any previously established school or training program must first meet all the requirements listed below:

  1. The program must provide somatic movement education and/or therapy for the purpose of training Somatic Movement Educators or Somatic Movement Therapists, as described by the ISMETA Scope of Practice, Standards of Practice, and the Ethical Guidelines.
  2. The director and/or primary teacher must be an ISMETA registered practitioner, either a Registered Movement Educator (ISMETA-RSME) or a Registered Movement Therapist (ISMETA-RSMT) who has taught for at least 300 hours in a professional movement-based certification program.
  3. The program director must agree to notify ISMETA promptly of any changes in school curriculum, policies, procedures, or philosophy.
  4. The program director must agree to:

    a. Allow those persons designated by ISMETA to observe any or all school somatic movement-related programs. ISMETA or its designated representatives will conduct observation at the school site.  In case of extenuating circumstances observational review may be conducted via videotape.
    b. Allow ISMETA or its representatives to observe teachers instructing a sample of courses both core and elective, selected randomly by ISMETA.
    c. Allow ISMETA or its representatives to observe two different students practicing one-on-one movement education or movement therapy during the above visits

  5. Schools must submit at least 2 letters of reference about their programs from professional colleagues who are involved, either in a teaching or directing capacity, with certificate programs in the somatic movement field.
  6. All teachers of core courses must be current ISMETA Registered Somatic Movement Therapists in good standing with ISMETA. Non-members or associate members can teach elective courses only.
  7. The program must send a representative to ISMETA board meeting twice a year (in person or via telecommunication). Representatives may be school faculty members, administrators, or graduates informed of school policies and the somatic movement field at large. Committee tasks will be delegated locally.
  8. The program must agree to become involved in a peer review process with other somatic movement programs.
  9. Each school must agree to participate in occasional conferences and other types of ISMETA advocacy

 

B.     In order to obtain ISMETA approval as a training program, any newly established program must meet the requirements listed below:

  1. New Programs need to have been in existence for at least one complete cycle of the full training program, with at least 6 students, some of who are graduates available to be interviewed by ISMETA representatives.
  2. If the above guidelines are not met, it is possible for a school to apply for supervised status, whereby the training program is under the curricular jurisdiction of another previously established school for at least one full educational cycle. The school shall then need to apply for independent status during one of its next educational cycles, with a full review of its curriculum again at that time.  It is assumed that the curriculum will remain consistent after the approval pending period.

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III.   Ethical Standards

As an approved training program, the institution must agree to abide by the ethical standards put forth by ISMETA, and to train its students to abide by these standards.

 

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IV.  Fees

Each school applying for ISMETA approval agrees to pay an application fee of $200, and ISMETA approved schools agree to pay annual dues to continue to be listed as an ISMETA Member Organization. Dues shall be based on a percentage of each program's enrollment as determined by the board of directors, inclusive of your representation, so that the fee is reasonable. This fee shall cover:

  1. The administrative costs of initially reviewing the curriculum. (There may be additional costs if an ISMETA-appointed person needs to be sent to the school for observation.)
  2. The costs of including the approved school's name in appropriate ISMETA publications and other advancing projects (conference literature, conventions, open houses, etc.).
  3. The costs incurred by ISMETA's advocacy efforts on behalf of movement education and therapy.

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