"I'm afraid I'll lose my clients if I raise my rates... One of my clients was told by a fellow professional that she should not receive work from anyone else but him... I feel guilty when clients don't feel better at the end of the session... Most of my clients still want me to do deep tissue and my body is hurting more and more...Whenever I work with her I start to feel helpless because she seems so miserable." These difficult issues from professional bodyworkers are typical of the many that are brought up in continuing education. Clearly, bodyworkers, like other professional caregivers, have a strong need for on-going support and advice in dealing with these kinds of concerns.

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of Insurance Coverage: What is the situation with 3rd party payers and how will it change in the future? If bodyworkers had a union, how would that affect our relationship with insurance companies? Are there provisions for bodywork in the new national health proposals?

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of Somatic Interactions with Clients: One of the biggest revolutions in health care and the other caregiving professions is somatics, meaning recruiting the body-mind of the client or patient into active engagement in their own healing process through their own feeling awareness in their body. Because we spend much hands-on time with our clients and their bodies, we can be in the forefront of this potential revolution.

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of the Health Care Industry: To what extent is the public aware of the actual benefits of bodywork? Is there still confusion in some regions with prostitution? How does the medical profession view massage? Are primary provider prescriptions reflective of understanding what we are accomplishing with clients?

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of Public Awareness: To what extent is the public aware of the actual benefits of bodywork? Is there still confusion in some regions with prostitution? How does the medical profession view massage? Are primary provider prescriptions reflective of understanding what we are accomplishing with clients?

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of Leadership and National Organizations: Who will be the future leaders in the bodywork professions and what will their qualifications be? What visions for the future will capture the energy and imaginations of our profession as a whole? Will corporate boards and profit making decide our future? Will the benefits of bodywork come to be supported by research and public recognition?

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of the financial situation of the industry: Are most bodyworkers self-supporting or are they being subsidized by others? How many bodyworkers are supporting a family on their earnings? ...In general, bodywork schools are charging more money each year

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of Questions in Research: In order to be recognized by the other caregiving professions, bodyworkers will have to support and conduct research that authentically investigates the effects we see in our sessions. We need to develop our own questions from our own experiences; we need to understand placebo effects, we need to use openness and curiosity about our work to guide us.

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of redefining the profession: Will manual therapists become the source of breakthroughs in somatic medicine and new forms of life fulfillment for their clients? It is easy to see that bodyworkers can choose to play very significant roles in the development of different approaches to human health and lifestyle.

Questions raised by Jack Blackburn for the Future of Bodywork Seminar in the realm of training and education: Observing the current situation for new bodywork trainings, how has the situation of bodywork education changed in the last few years and what are the trends?

This article is a follow up to the articles I’ve written about the problem of caretaking in the field of bodywork. I titled the series “Issues in Supervision” because I see the process of supervision as fundamental to our work as practitioners and also to the future of our profession.