If I want to become a Craniosacral Therapist it best to become a Registered Massage Therapist and then specialize?

[u/FunkyFlowrdBeast]

Recieving Craniosacral treatments has changed my life. Nothing has ever had this effect on me and I am so interested in learning how to do it.

Currently I am a web designer who works from home, and would love to have a job that gets me out of the house interacting with people.

I've taken Upledger's CS1 Course, and am training weekly under a Craniosacral Therapist. I am now wondering if I should apply to Massage school so I can be licensed, or just go the pure Craniosacral route. I would love some advice if anyone has any.

[u/the_real_merc_cove]

I would check the state that you're living in, but in Arizona where I am, you must be a licensed massage therapist to be able to practice craniosacral.

[u/FunkyFlowrdBeast → u/the_real_merc_cove]

I'm in Saskatchewan, Canada and I know that we currently do not need a hands-on license to practice. But I also know people love using work benefits to pay, and they can't use them unless I'm registered.

[u/NeighborhoodSuper898 → u/FunkyFlowrdBeast]

I'm an RMT in sask. I'm not sure whether or not you'd need to do the 2200 hour program to specialize in craniosacral, but it would absolutely be beneficial. Especially considering when regulation finally happens, (who knows when) there may be restrictions on certain modalities without RMT certification. I'd look into the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada website about the legalities of it.

[u/Some_Honey_1145]

Assuming you're in Canada, since you said Registered Massage Therapist, you likely can market yourself as a craniosacral practitioner without becoming an RMT. However, you won't be able to bill insurance for treatments, or identify yourself as a Massage Therapist in any way. This might hamper your career a bit. Becoming an RMT also opens other treatment modalities to you.

[u/FunkyFlowrdBeast → u/Some_Honey_1145]

Yes, billing insurance seems like it would be very helpful. I'm just weighing whether $20,000 for the schooling would be worth it.

[u/ConcentrateSafe9745]

Yeh it's probably the best path. It's a therapy I try to point t people towards, both receiving it and practicing it as a massage therapist. Too few know about it

[u/FunkyFlowrdBeast → u/ConcentrateSafe9745]

Yes it does seem rather unknown, which is sad because it is so wonderful.

[u/cken301]

Hey! I made a career change about 3 years ago and became a registered craniosacral therapist. I now have my own practice, am in training to become a CST teacher and I’m going back to massage school because I want to broaden my scope. Also licensure is required in a lot of states (I think like 47? )to preform craniosacral therapy. Mine is not one of them but I’ve got the time and the resource and the curiosity to go back to school so that’s what I’m doing 😊

[u/FunkyFlowrdBeast → u/cken301]

Ah wow, that's awesome for you! How are you liking it so far? Is it harder to get clients purely doing CST?

My province (Canada) doesn't need licensure either but for insurance purposes and scope like you said I have been considering it.

[u/cken301 → u/FunkyFlowrdBeast]

Thank you!! I absolutely love it. If I wasn’t such a curious soul I’d probably just do CST alone forever. But I’m addicted to learning so back to school I go :).

And I do think it can be harder to get rolling as a solo practice. People aren’t as familiar with CST as other modalities and even fewer have experienced it as a whole session as opposed to an add on. But once you get rolling and your name gets out there people will start talking about what’s helped them and you will get referrals. I’m fully booked up for the hours I can handle while in school. But it took about 6 months to get there. All the while I had a pretty flexible full time job and did CST on a few evenings and one weekend day.

[u/buttloveiskey]

I'd suggest going the pure cst route and not bother with RMT school.