I'm new to this area - I moved to Asheville in June.
I'm here to share something that I'm feeling very frustrated & sad about right now.
I graduated from the MN Center for Shiatsu study in 2002, with training in a number of healing modalities.
I did not get a license because, among other reasons, it cost hundreds of dollars to take the test, & I was living in poverty.
However, due to Minnesota's sweet Freedom of Access Law which stresses the rights of
consumers to decide whom they would like to provide their health care needs,
I was able to give years of blissful, healing bodywork to grateful clients.
Fast forward to life in North Carolina, where this is no longer the case.
Now, due to licensing laws, I can no longer offer my trained skills to those who would like to receive them.
So, instead, I search daily in the classifieds for what else I can do. I have applied for numerous jobs - all under $10 an hour -
sending in resumes, filling out applications, sending emails, making phone calls, etc.
I can't get even a $7.25 an hour job, the law disallows me to do what I do best, & obviously I can't afford to take the test!
I'm upset about this & the whole principle of the matter.
I don't want the government, the Massage Board, or anyone else to tell me whom I can & cannot hire for my health care needs.
If I want to go to the old woman down the street who learned the healing touch from her ancestors & never went to school,
who is to tell me I can't, that that isn't legal?!
Completing a test can tell all about what I know in my head - but nothing about the magic I can do with my hands.
That's what my teachers who gave me straight A's in school already did. AND, my clients in the Midwest could tell you!
That's not good enough here though - I have to have a lot of extra money to pay for folks who don't know me
& have never received my healing ways to say that it's okay for me to do this work.
If I had any extra energy - but it all must go to figuring out how I'm even going to manage to pay my bills -
I'd fight this law tooth & nail, promoting FREEDOM OF ACCESS for all of us.
Thank you for listening.
Peace & blessings to you for your attention.
- Location: Asheville
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests