What are the prerequisites to register for the Maternity and Infant Massage Program?
Massage therapists are required to send proof of graduation (copy of diploma and transcript) from a massage school training program (preferable an accredited program) with a minimum of 500 hours of training when registering. Specifically, registering students must a strong background and understanding of client-centered services, professional ethics, anatomy, physiology and kinesiology and a minimum of a basic understanding and experience with a number of massage therapy modalities including Swedish, neuromuscular, lymphatic, reflexology and acupressure techniques. (Students who do not have a background in all these modalities should complete the necessary continuing education or read suggested preparatory materials prior to registering in this program.)
Space permitting, additional participants without a massage therapy background may register in Modules 2 (DONA doula training) or 5 (IMUSA infant massage training).
How long is the program?
Massage therapists register for the entire program, and students have up to ten months to complete the six required modules which are scheduled every month to allow students sufficient time to complete outside assignments before proceeding to the following modules. Modules 1-5 must be taken sequentially as each module serves as a foundation for the following modules. Module 6's Community Internship can be scheduled concurrently with other modules or after Module 5 in the last two months of the six month program.
What is the cost of the program?
The cost of the program depends on the tuition payment plan that you choose. There are several tuition payment options as outlined in online Registration Form – $2,950 when paid upfront (a 15% discount) or $3,450 with monthly payments of $575 over 6 months with 0% interest and the first payment is due prior to the start of the first module's class and then equal monthly payments are due at the first of each of the following 6 months. Payment can be made with credit/debit card, check or money order. To speak with us about Financial Aid, contact us at the Cortiva Institute location where you have registered to take the program. Our contact information is on the Registration Form.
The cost of the program's required materials is approximately $130. These required materials include the six required textbooks and a Cortiva Essentials – Dri-Fast polo shirt for examinations, community service projects and internships.
What else do I need for the program?
After registering in the program, students receive a program welcome letter via email with more specific information about each of the following program requirements. Here are the highlights of those requirements:
- Students need access to a computer and the Internet, as well as have a working email address to receive program updates and complete the online assignments after each module.
- Students are expected to wear comfortable, professional neat, clean and modest attire and practice impeccable personal hygiene in class.
- Students are required to bring massage sheets and pillowcases, unscented lotion and bed pillows to class for each module, as well as an infant doll to Module 5. All other equipment is provided by Cortiva.
- Students invite a current client or another appropriate person to be their client for practical examinations in Modules 1, 3 and 5. Out of town students contact the instructor for the contact information of a local woman and families who have expressed an interest in participating. Students receive more information about required forms that women and families must complete in the program welcome letter.
- Each module has an estimated eight hours of required assignments to complete to receive a passing grade and before proceeding to the following module. These required assignments include reading, online examination, practical sessions and other online assignments.
How do I register?
Simply go to the Continuing Education page and click on the Maternity and Infant Massage program registration link.
Do I get a certificate when I complete the program?
Yes, at the conclusion of the program, you receive a certificate of achievement as a Maternity and Infant Massage Specialist with 200 continuing education hours. If you are a health care professional who completes Modules 2 or 5, you receive a certificate of attendance with 32 continuing education hours for each module.
Do I get National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork continuing education hours for this program?
Yes, at the conclusion of the program, your certificate of achievement includes 200 continuing education hours that are approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. The program includes 6 hours of professional ethics that meet the new NCBTMB professional ethics continuing education requirements.
What is the Maternity and Infant Massage Program Advisory Board and who are its members?
Our Program Advisory Board members bring their wisdom, expertise and experience in massage therapy education, research and maternity and infant care to help keep the Maternity and Infant Massage Program in tune and in the forefront of current and evolving practices in maternity and infant care.
Patty Emmons, CNM, LMT is a certified nurse midwife and licensed massage therapist. Since receiving a Master's in Nursing and a midwifery certificate from Yale University in 1979, Patty has been practicing as a certified nurse midwife and passionate women's advocate. She has practiced in several out-of-hospital birth centers, and served as a faculty member at the University of Colorado at Denver, Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing, from 1982 to 1995 and then held a clinical faculty position until 2000. She believes we all have innate healing capacities which are enhanced by a sense of connection with body, mind and spirit. During travels to Belize in 2001, she studied Maya Abdominal Massage for women. Subsequently, in 2003, she completed formal massage therapy training from Healing Spirits Massage School in Boulder, Colorado. Certified in both areas, Patty now combines the practices of midwifery and massage. Patty is married and has two daughters. Her family enjoys wilderness canoe trips together every summer, and Patty treasures gardening, knitting and telemark skiing.
Joel M. Evans, M.D., a board certified OB/GYN, is the founder and director of The Center for Women's Health in Stamford, CT, where he practices Integrative Obstetrics and Gynecology. A frequent lecturer on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), Dr. Evans is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. In January of 2001, he was honored as a Founding Diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, and is recognized as the first physician in Connecticut to be Board Certified in both Holistic Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Evans' book, "The Whole Pregnancy Handbook," published by Gotham Books in April 2005, has been critically acclaimed by Publishers Weekly and Bookpage.com. He has been featured in American Baby and Parents magazine as well as interviewed on television and radio shows across the country. Dr. Evans helped create a clinical study at Columbia University Medical Center on the use of the herb black cohosh in breast cancer, which was presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists and later published in their journal.
Dr. Evans is a member of the senior faculty of The Center for Mind/Body Medicine in Washington D.C and teaches health professionals about the medical benefits of relaxation therapies at The Center's basic and advanced training programs. He also lectures about nutrition and supplements at the Center's CancerGuides™ and Food as Medicine conferences. He has a special interest in providing service to those affected by the tragedies of war and terrorism, and has worked intimately with the F.D.N.Y. to help NYC firefighters handle the many stresses caused by 9/11. Dr. Evans also participated in the Center's Mind/Body Mission to Macedonia in 1999, where he traveled to United Nations refugee camps immediately after the NATO bombing to help Kosavar refugees heal their wounds of war.
Dr. Evans utilizes a wide variety of complementary and alternative therapies in his own practice, blending the best of modern medicine with the wisdom of traditional healing.
Michele Kreisberg, MSPT, CMT, RYT is a graduate of the Boulder School of Massage Therapy and earned her master's degree in physical therapy from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 2000. Michele has treated numerous women with serious unresolved health issues stemming specifically from a lack of care and understanding around women's health. Since 2002, she has concentrated all of her continued studies through the women's health section of the American Physical Therapy Association, osteopathic visceral manipulation coursework, and as an apprentice to Rosita Arvigo's Mayan abdominal and uterine massage. Michele has created a holistic approach to address women's specific needs combining fifteen years of yoga experience with the science of physical therapy and the art of touch. She specializes in menstrual and digestive problems, postpartum health, fertility assistance, pelvic pain and incontinence. Michele is committed to empowering, educating, and supporting women for a greater understanding of their own health.
Christine Lark, MA, LPC is a childbirth educator and psychotherapist. In her birth preparation classes, she works with couples to enhance their ability to navigate birth with awareness, empowered choice, deep connection and primal surrender. As a psychotherapist, she consistently works herself out of a job, helping clients strengthen their skills of self-awareness, compassionate inner dialoguing and self-leadership. Christine is also a retired pregnancy massage therapist and doula.
Being a part of the Advisory Board for Cortiva's Maternity and Infant Massage Program is a great honor. The program's content and structure create the conditions for elevating birthing and infant care to its appropriate level of importance in our culture. This has far-reaching implications for the babies, mothers and families emerging from a Cortiva graduate's care, not the least of which is a more robust sense of connection, trust and empathy.
Paulina (Polly) Perez, RN, BSN, FACCE, LCCE, CD is an internationally known nurse and public speaker. She graduated from Texas Woman's University and is now President of CFE, Inc of Johnson, Vermont. In 2001, TWU selected 100 nurses from the 10,000 nurses they had graduated in the last 100 years to honor at their Centennial Anniversary Celebration and Polly was one of the 100 nurses.
Polly was awarded the AWHONN Award of Excellence in Community Service in 2001. She is a consultant to hospitals, universities and corporations on health care related issues. Polly is also listed among the Outstanding Young Women of America, Who's Who in American Women and Who's Who in American Nursing.
Polly has always campaigned for patient rights and for family-centered care. She is known for her exciting programs and books, always presented with warmth, enthusiasm and wit. She draws on her experience in health care to address issues that are important to families and professionals. Those who have heard Polly speak or read her books are energized by both her personality and her ability to make complex information easily understood. She is the author of several books including "Special Women: The Role of the Professional Labor Assistant," "The Nurturing Touch at Birth: A Labor Support Handbook," "Doula Programs: How to Start and Run a Private or Hospital-Based Program with Success!" and "Brain Attack: Danger, Chaos Opportunity and Empowerment," as well as the video "Special Women: The Role of the Professional Labor Support Assistant."
Who are the program instuctors?
Kate Burt has been in the massage therapy field since 1993 after graduating from the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona, and her career began working alongside chiropractors in Sun City. Since 2000, she has been a lead instructor of pregnancy, lymphatic and hydrotherapy at Cortiva Institute - Phoenix Therapeutic Massage College in Arizona. Kate is a Certified Birth Doula and trained as a Postpartum Doula with DONA International, and is a Certified Childbirth Educator with the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association. She is also a member of Postpartum Support International. Captivated by emerging research on the benefits of infant massage, Kate completed the Baby Touch course and now offers presentations to high school teen mom's groups, health fairs, libraries and infant retail stores. She currently manages In Due Time, LLC specializing in pregnancy and postpartum massage, childbirth education, doula care and infant massage instruction. "Happy moms make happy babies, and it's a wonderful life to be a part of that."
Penny Bussell-Stansfield is a Certified Childbirth Educator with the National Childbirth Trust and has over twenty five years of teaching experience in Scotland, England, France and the United States. She has been a DONA International Certified Birth Doula since 1996 and a DONA International Certified Doula Trainer since 1997. She is a graduate of Cortiva Institute - Desert Institute of the Healing Arts in Tucson, Arizona where she specialized in pregnancy massage, childbirth education and birth doula services. She currently teaches pregnancy massage at the Cortiva Institute - Somerset School of Massage Therapy in New Jersey and is a partner in Hillsborough Massage Therapy LLC. Having witnessed the power of compassionate, therapeutic touch during pregnancy and labor, Penny is committed to empowering women to have positive birth experiences. Working in many different cultures has profoundly affected the way that she works with clients. With great respect for individual beliefs, ideas and customs, Penny knows that childbearing women across the globe have similar concerns and respond to individualized, compassionate care. "Our relationship with these women may only last a few weeks or months, but the effects travel through the centuries in the image that these women have of themselves, their abilities and their worth."
Susanrachel Condon has been a New York state licensed massage therapist since 1991 and completed her perinatal massage training with Kate Jordan and Carole Osborne-Sheets in 1990. Susanrachel served on the faculty of the Swedish Institute College of Massage Therapy & Allied Health Sciences in New York City for ten years, and since 1994, has participated extensively in their continuing education program. With Shelley McGrew, Susanrachel was the co-founder and co-director of Niara Healing Arts' Massage Education Program and Niara's Doula Service. Together, Shelley and Susanrachel developed and taught Bodywork for the Childbearing Cycle, a NCBTMB approved certification course for massage and bodywork professionals. Susanrachel and her husband Richard Condon, a certified Rolfer, produced a video, Advanced Pregnancy Massage Techniques, in addition to a DVD program, Partners in Pregnancy, for couples and childbirth professionals. They have also lectured widely as private consultants at conferences, hospitals, birth centers, schools and spas. She was certified to teach childbirth preparation, newborn care and breastfeeding classes in 1996 by the Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York (CEAMNY) and served two terms as President of the CEAMNY Board of Directors. In 1998, Susanrachel graduated from the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn Midwifery Program and is now a NY state licensed midwife and ob-gyn nurse practitioner with a thriving homebirth and gynecology practice in the Hudson Valley. Susanrachel holds a BFA in Art Therapy and has additional training in birth counseling and counseling for pregnant survivors of sexual abuse. "As a midwife and massage educator, I see perinatal bodywork as a critical adjunct to prenatal care, which has become devoid of meaningful touch in many clinical settings. In addition to obvious physical benefits, restorative therapeutic massage facilitates women connecting with themselves and their sacred physicality throughout the extraordinary childbearing experience."
Amy Hopkins is an experienced Labor and Delivery Nurse who received her BSN from the University of New Hampshire in 1996. After a number of years working in hospital settings, her interest in the holistic view of pregnancy drew her towards massage therapy. She graduated with honors from the Boulder College of Massage Therapy in 2001 and has since specialized in offering prenatal massage, childbirth education, and doula services in her private practice. Upon moving home to Maine in 2002, Amy expanded her knowledge base further by studying and practicing yoga. Today, she teaches prenatal and mom/baby yoga classes in addition to her massage practice. Amy has been approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork as a continuing education Approved Provider and in addition to teaching with Cortiva, she has taught prenatal massage at the Solidago School of Massage Therapy. "I am guided by my passion for 'everything-pregnancy', and my strong belief in health education. I feel massage is a gift - a necessary luxury - that plays an integral part in the overall health of pregnant women and their babies. Through the gift of massage therapy, I am committed to helping my clients and students witness the wonder of this connection for themselves."
Michele Kolakowski is Cortiva's Director of Maternity Massage Education and led the development of the Maternity and Infant Massage Program - a culmination of a dream to integrate the skills of pregnancy and postpartum massage, professional labor support and infant massage instruction in one training program. Since her graduation from the Boulder College of Massage Therapy in Colorado in 1992, she has had the privilege to study with a number of maternity and infant massage pioneers including Carole Osborne-Sheets, Kate Jordan, Elaine Stillerman, Suzann Yates, Deanna Elliott and Carolyn Guenther-Molloy. Prior to joining Cortiva, she instructed the Pregnancy, Labor and Postpartum Massage Therapy Certificate Program and the Infant Massage Elective for the Boulder College of Massage Therapy and has taught pregnancy massage at spas and conferences nationwide. She maintains a small private practice, Sanctuary Healing Arts LLC, devoted to childbearing women and infants and also serves as the Lead Massage Therapist at Longmont United Hospital's BirthPlace where she provides maternity massage and infant massage instruction. Michele is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor with the International Association of Infant Massage Instructors, a Certified Birth Doula with DONA International and a Certified Maya Abdominal Massage practitioner. Michele is known for her passion and knowledge in this growing specialty, as well as her commitment to excellence in massage therapy education. "Touch has remarkable power during childbearing and infancy, and it's a privilege to witness and teach the humanity of skilled, caring touch that our world needs so much."
Michelle Larson grew up in Seattle, Washington with a passion for health and healing. Shortly after graduation from the Cortiva Institute - Desert Institute of Healing Arts in 2001, she found her true calling - pregnancy, labor and postpartum. Michelle continued her education in oriental medicine, acupuncture, Tui Na certification, herbology and homeopathy at the Arizona School of Acupuncture. Michelle's acupuncture research and master's thesis on the positive effects of a simple acupressure protocol during labor to decrease pain, anxiety and affect delayed labor was published in her article, Acupressure During Labor and Delivery in the Spring 2006 issue of Qi-Journal. Michelle is a Certified Birth Doula with DONA International and a Certified Childbirth Educator with the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association. She is on faculty of the Cortiva Institute - Desert Institute of Healing Arts and the Asian Institute of Medical Studies in Tucson, Arizona. Michelle was the owner of Catalina Foothills Wellness Center with twelve practitioners offering massage, acupuncture, yoga to the Tucson community until its eventual sale in 2005. Michelle now maintains a massage and acupuncture practice for women and their families focusing on the unique needs during the childbearing year. "It's an honor to work with women and infants during this magical time of life and a pleasure to see the blossoming effect as they grow from one phase of life into the next and moving through the childbearing year."
Kelly Malloy graduated from the Cortiva Institute - Brian Utting School of Massage in Seattle, Washington with post-graduate certification in infant massage, doula training and pregnancy and postpartum massage. Formerly an instructor and student advisor at the Cortiva Institute - Brian Utting School, Kelly now manages full practices in massage and birth doula support. Her motivation and passion is driven by inspirations including Tiffany Field and Brian Utting, as well as the deeply satisfying relationships she encounters with her clients and students. Studying with teachers Kalena Babeshoff, Penny Simkin and Carole Osborne-Sheets have contributed to Kelly's expanding expertise and skills while providing an opportunity to give back to a community that has given so generously to her. In her teaching with Cortiva, Kelly shares her passion for both the massage profession and the specialties of maternity and infant massage. "I am humbled and honored by the ability to contribute to our amazing communities while also sharing in a family's joy of birth."
Shelley McGrew has been fascinated with the mysterious nature of the body, especially the pregnant body, since early childhood. She received a BFA in Dance from Arizona State University. In 1990, she became a Licensed Massage Therapist and began teaching massage and anatomy at the Swedish Institute in New York where she quickly found her passion in doing pregnancy massage. Her practice was a perfect marriage of the internal experience of the body learned through dance, the hands-on experience of healing through massage, and the desire to educate and empower through teaching. She formed Niara Healing Arts with Susanrachel Condon in 1993, offering childbirth education, perinatal massage and labor doula services to families. Shelley became a Certified Childbirth Educator through Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York and a Registered Nurse. She has taught perinatal massage courses at Swedish Institute in New York, and at Cortiva Institute - Desert Institute of the Healing Arts and Providence Institute in Arizona. She has presented massage techniques for midwives at the American College of Nurse Midwives Conference in 2004 and the Midwives Alliance of North America Conference in 2006. She presently works as a Labor and Delivery nurse in Tucson, Arizona. "I hope for each mother to experience her own inner strength and wisdom through birthing."
Victoria Robertson is a faculty member of Cortiva Institute - Colorado and brings a wealth of teaching experience in integrative bodywork, movement and dance to the classroom. In 1994, she began teaching integrative massage and movement courses at her alma mater, the Boulder College of Massage Therapy in Colorado. While living in Maui, Hawaii, Victoria complete her pre- and perinatal massage training with Carole Osborne-Sheets. She created the pregnancy protocol for The Ritz Carlton Resort in Kapalua, Hawaii, trained the massage therapy staff in this protocol, as well as helped to develop a training video for the resort. Victoria also created pregnancy massage trainings for The Four Seasons Resort and The Maui Academy of Healing Arts. Upon her return to Colorado, Victoria developed and currently teaches a Foundational Therapeutic Massage course for Cortiva Institute - Colorado which includes the basics of pregnancy massage so that all students have the knowledge and skills to work with healthy pregnant clients. She also has provided pregnancy massage therapy at Kaiser Permanente and given basic pregnancy massage trainings for their staff. Victoria's private practice specializes in pregnancy, cranial sacral and integrative massage. "It is so magical to feel those new ones in mothers' bellies and know the incredible miracle at hand."
How can I download the Maternity and Infant Massage Program brochure?
Download the Maternity and Infant Massage Program brochure 
