At its recent meeting on April 9, the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) voted to grant Body Therapy Institute a renewal of its accreditation for a term of seven years. That is the maximum length of time the Commission can award a term of accreditation.

Accreditation is a voluntary process that requires a school to demonstrate its compliance with a comprehensive set of standards that represent a high level of accountability. BTI’s ongoing compliance with these standards assures that students receive quality education and the public receives quality services.

In the acknowledgment letter, COMTA Executive Director Kate Zulaski said, “The Commission appreciates the diligence, patience and grace that you and your staff have demonstrated.”

BTI was originally accredited by COMTA in 1999, and was the first massage school in the Carolinas to achieve this status. This is BTI’s fourth time through the accreditation protocol.

In the first stage of the accreditation process, the school had to document every aspect of its operations in a Self Study Report (SSR) – to demonstrate exactly how the school met the COMTA Standards of Accreditation. It included both the educational and administrative aspects of the institution. Once the SSR was submitted, reviewed and approved, COMTA sent a team of experts to perform an on-site visit at the BTI campus to verify that the standards were being met as described in the SSR.

It all went extremely well, and we’re grateful for the hard work by BTI staff and faculty members that led to a successful completion of this project!