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The Institute for Therapeutic Massage was established in Pompton Lakes in 1994 by Lisa Helbig, LMT, and was quickly approved by the New Jersey Department of Education. Classes began in 1995, and in April of 2001, the school became accredited by the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) – the only specialized accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education with a primary focus on massage education. The Pompton Lakes location has since moved to Haskell, NJ as of November 2008. Our Tinton Falls location, which has since moved to Red Bank, was added in 1999, and our first hospital-based training program was started in 2000 at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ-Newark). We have since opened 2 more hospital-based programs, with our Morristown Memorial Hospital location opening in 2002, and Community Medical Center, in Toms River, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabus Health Care System, starting in March of 2006. In 2008, the Pompton Lakes campus moved to Haskell, NJ, in which we have classroom, clinic, and personal training space over 2 floors of the building. We also began offering classes at New Vista Rehabilitation Center in Newark, NJ. With our core program in place, we then went on to develop a hospital-based Medical Massage Program with both the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey – Newark, and Morristown Memorial Hospital. This is an advanced program for massage therapists to master the art and science of medically based massage while working with doctors and nurses in an active teaching hospital. Participants in this program will gain valuable hands-on experience and learn to provide massage therapy to actual patients. Students were now able to learn massage in a true medical setting - one of the fastest growing and most important aspects of massage therapy. Along with our core Massage and Bodywork Studies Program, ITM also offers a Massage Therapy and Personal Training Program, an Eastern Bodywork Program, the only COMTA Accreditted Oncology Massage Certification Program in the US, a Clinical Massage Therapy Program, a hospital-based Orthopedic Massage program, and over 30 different continuing education classes. While the Massage and Bodywork Studies Program helps students learn Swedish, medical, and other hands on massage forms, the Massage Therapy and Personal Training Program adds another dimension by developing cross-trained health and wellness professionals. The Eastern Bodywork Program is designed to advance the knowledge and skill-sets previously learned in the Massage and Bodywork Program and place emphasis on eastern massage philosophies and Shiatsu techniques. The Institute for Therapeutic Massage is proud to see that students come to our massage school from virtually all walks of life to learn massage therapy. Students range in age from 18 to retirement, male and female, on job hiatus or with a full-time career. The atmosphere at the school is conducive to, and the staff is very much focused on, providing a well-rounded, supportive and gratifying learning experience for those motivated to achieve the highest standards of performance within the massage profession. As massage therapists, we know about the many rewards and potential challenges in being a part of the health and wellness industry, and strive to pass this experience along to our students; thus preparing them for their lives as bodywork professionals through lecture, hands-on, and real world applications. To do this, ITM maintains a student-to-faculty ratio of approximately 10:1 in the hands-on classes, and 20:1 in the lecture classes to give our students the maximum instructional effectiveness and individual attention and support that they deserve. We are also fully committed to developing advanced course-work and continuing education offerings so as to provide our students with the most current practical, theoretical, scientific, and ethical foundations of massage-based healthcare. |
