Elisabeth Contadino, Cincinnati — Movement Education, Commonly Referred to as Somatic Education

Summary

Testimony on House Bill 81 from Elisabeth Contadino of Cincinnati, who describes working for many years as a Licensed Independent Social Worker before turning to movement education, commonly referred to as somatic education. The testimony states that after getting a massage therapy license, Contadino studied several modalities including Trager Approach, which is what Contadino primarily practices with clients. It describes the importance of professional communities for practitioners and students of modalities that use touch but are not massage therapy. It states that House Bill 81, without an exemption for these practitioners, would effectively hurt the Trager community in OH as well as the communities of other modalities, and asks for an exclusion in the bill.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

My name is Elisabeth Contadino and I live in Cincinnati. About 20 years ago, after working for
many years as a Licensed Independent Social Worker, I recognized the importance of the
relationship between mind and body. I felt that the way I was working was incomplete without
somehow addressing that relationship in a deeper and more integrated way. I then decided that
I wanted to practice movement education, commonly referred to as somatic education, and was
told that I would need to become licensed as a massage therapist. So that is what I did. While
massage therapy was interesting, it was not what I wanted to do and is not what I am doing.
After getting my massage therapy license, I went on to study several specific modalities
including Trager Approach, which is what I primarily practice with my clients.

I will not repeat the information that you are getting from other written and spoken testimonies
requesting the inclusion of an exemption for practitioners of other modalities that use touch but
are not massage therapists. These modalities that use touch have formed professional
organizations. While most of the organizations have been in existence for at least 40 years their
membership numbers are very small in comparison with that of the American Massage Therapy
Association.

I want to share with you the importance of professional communities for practitioners and
students of these modalities that use touch. Most of us are in solo private practices. We make a
conscious effort to know each other, learn from each other, and share with each other. Another
big part of what makes these organizations so important is that a large portion of their
memberships are made up of people who developed expertise and experience in a wide variety
of fields prior to becoming Trager, Feldenkrais, Alexander or some other practitioner who uses
touch. Their varied contributions have made it possible for these modalities to continually evolve
and refine themselves. They attract people who question themselves and their clients, are
creative, and contribute to the collective knowledge of those who practice their modality. There
are also many instances of the sharing of knowledge with those who practice other modalities
that utilize touch.

House Bill 81, without an exemption for these practitioners, would effectively hurt the Trager
community in OH as well as the communities of other modalities. Please provide an exclusion in
House Bill 81 that will preserve the integrity of our professional communities.

Thank you for listening to me.

Sincerely,
Elisabeth Contadino


File and source

File

2021-05-26_commerce-labor_testimony_hb81opcontadino.pdf

Size

28,904 bytes

SHA-256

32c832ecc85a78ad8618884180960c0623c190c8ec5ab77e90457322fb7dc8ac

Our copy

2021-05-26_commerce-labor_testimony_hb81opcontadino.pdf

Original

No public link identified.