The RAA Board encourages all professional members to acquire national certification. At the same time it does not require national certification to become a member. National certification has always been considered an option.
The Board does have a policy though as to the criteria that a national certifying agency must meet, and since there seems to be an ever-growing number of businesses offering national certification in reflexology, thought it important to spell out these points.
The Policies and Procedures that govern the Reflexology Association of America state clearly that in order to qualify as a certifying body, the organization must meet the following three criteria set by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCAA) and the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). Both NCCA and NOCA are independent, non-profit, non-governmental agencies that exist to certify agencies that meet its psychometric standards.
The three criteria, developed to avoid a conflict of interest or perceived conflict of interest, state that the certifying agency must be:
1. national in scope
2. non-profit (existing for the good of the profession, not for financial gain)
3. independent (not affiliated with any school, teacher, educational program, membership organization or other entity)
In the past, the RAA recognized the National Therapies Certification Board (NTCB) and the American Reflexology Certification Board (ARCB) as the two agencies in this country that met our criteria.
During the summer of 2013, the Education Committee spent a number of weeks reviewing other certifying bodies in the country to see whether the list of acceptable agencies could be expanded. None qualified. In fact, during a phone conversation with the office administrator of NTCB it was learned that the organization no longer operates as a non-profit. Therefore, RAA is not able to recommend NTCB as a certifying body any longer. That means, that at this point in time, the only agency meeting RAA’s criteria is the ARCB. Current members who obtained their certification from NTCB in the past are grandfathered in, since their designation met the RAA qualifications when they joined.