Full Members receive the following benefits:

• Professional Representation - The Society aims to act in the professional interests of its members and represent those interests to the public and to other professional bodies. As such, the Society, through its connection with the College of Holistic Medicine, is a member the following professional bodies:

  Massage

  • Institute for Complementary Medicine
  • British Massage Therapy Council and, through them, the British Complementary Medicine Association

  Counselling

  • The College is a member of COSCA, the Confederation of Scottish Counselling Agencies, which has a mutual recognition agreement with the British Association of Counselling.
  • The College is also a member of the European Therapy Studies Institute.
  • The College is a Recognised Training Centre through the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Award Body (CPCAB).

• Designatory Letters - You can use the letters MSHP after your name to indicate your membership. This is in addition to the letters DTM, DHTC, DLDC or DHP which indicate your qualification as a practitioner.

• Register of Members - Members will have their name given out to members of the public who write to the Society asking about practitioners in their area. We publish a Register of Members each year. However, as this can become outdated quite quickly, we also have the Register available online.

• Leaflet on Massage - Members who are massage graduates can purchase from the Society copies of a leaflet on the benefits of massage. This is for distribution to patients, doctors and other interested parties. Because we print it in bulk, it is much cheaper than if you do something individually. It also looks "official", demonstrating that what you say about massage has the backing of a professional body. A sample leaflet and list of prices will be sent to you when you join.

• Logo - The Society has a logo that is printed on the leaflet. A large copy of the logo will be sent to all full members for accurate photographic reduction so that you can use it on your own professional stationery, business cards, appointment slips, etc.

• Newsletter - The Society publishes a quarterly Newsletter called NewsSpace which is sent to all members. It contains interesting articles about the Society, the College of Holistic Medicine, political developments in the industry, hints and tips on running a practice, etc.

• Insurance - The Society runs a group professional indemnity insurance scheme which is available to all full massage members.

• Code of Ethics - The Society has also developed a comprehensive Code of Ethics by which all members should abide.