About Massage Therapy Nexus, Julie Onofrio, LMT

Welcome to Massage Therapy Nexus, a platform built to support, inform, and advocate for the massage therapy profession. This project is a culmination of my 38 years of experience in the field—a journey filled with passion, challenges, and a steadfast commitment to advancing the profession I love.

Why I Created Massage Therapy Nexus

Over nearly four decades in the massage therapy profession, I’ve witnessed and experienced firsthand the many challenges our field faces. From the evolving landscape of education and licensing to issues of professionalism, representation, and advocacy, the path hasn’t always been easy. These challenges, however, are what drive my commitment to this work.

Massage Therapy Nexus is my way of giving back to a profession that has given so much to me. It’s a space to:

• Share Knowledge: Over the years, I’ve accumulated insights and expertise on the complexities of our field. This site serves as a hub to share this knowledge, empowering practitioners to grow personally and professionally.
• Foster Advocacy: The profession is at a crossroads in many ways, and now more than ever, we need strong voices advocating for its future. This platform aims to illuminate key issues and encourage active participation in shaping the profession’s direction.
• Build Community: I believe in the power of connection. This site is designed to bring together massage therapists who care deeply about the profession, creating a shared space for dialogue, support, and collaboration.

What You’ll Find Here

Guided by the structure outlined in the Table of Contents, this platform explores:

• Advocacy and Professional Issues: A deep dive into the challenges affecting our profession and actionable ways to address them.
• Education and Licensing: Resources to navigate the complexities of requirements and best practices for maintaining professional excellence.
• Community Engagement: Stories, interviews, and insights from practitioners who are shaping the future of massage therapy.

A Call to Action

Massage therapy is more than just a profession; it’s a calling. Together, we can elevate the standards, tackle the challenges, and ensure the longevity and respect our field deserves. Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or new to the industry, I invite you to join me on this journey.

Thank you for visiting Massage Therapy Nexus. Let’s build a stronger, more connected future for our profession—together.

Julie Onofrio, LMT.

In 1987, I graduated from Seattle Massage School with 250 hours of education which was the required amount at the time. I started working for myself right away as there were not many other options at the time. I started my practice in a gym with a friend of mine who I went to massage school with. We worked on building the practice and branching out into other locations of the gym. As time went on, my friend moved away and the gym started charging more and more rent, I went out on my own and moved to various office spaces within a 4 block radius in downtown Seattle where I am still today.

In 1998, I had a very bad experience with a CE class that ended up in me having various forms of vertigo over my long career. As a result, I took to writing and my first website www.thebodyworker.com was born. I just put all of my notes from massage school into a website. It continues on at www.massageschoolnotes.com. In about 2002 I also started another website – www.massagetherapycareers.com which I sold in 2009 for enough to live on for a year or so while I struggled with the minor health issues. It was making me a hefty income from ads at the time. Little did I know that the lucrative ad years were gone but I tried to recreate what I had adding www.massagepracticebuilder.com to the mix.

In about 2005, I wrote my first edition of the book Massage Insurance Billing Manual that is now it its’ 4 edition and available on amazon in paperback and kindle as well as a PDF version on my website www.massagepracticebuilder.com Most of my career, I was billing insurance – Labor and Industries (workers comp), motor vehicle collisions, and health insurance. In WA, we have been able to bill health insurance since about 1996 when it became a law that carriers had to cover massage.

Over the years, I have been involved in various organizations starting with NW Massage Practitioners (now defunct), AMTA-WA Chapter, WA Massage Alliance for Health (PAC – now closed) and was a founder of the WA State Massage Therapy Association in about 2015. Currently, I am the AMTA-WA GR chair and have been a board member for about 2 years.

During the Pandemic, when Deshaun Watson was accused of sexual assault of the many massage therapists, a small group of us met regularly to try to find solutions. It resulted in me purchasing the website www.lookbeforeyoubookamassage.com and looking into the many issues surrounding the illicit business problem in the massage profession. For 2 years, I read every news story that came across in my Google Alerts on the topic. I have to say, now knowing what I know, it is important to take the next steps in working to untangle massage from the illicit businesses. We can’t stop or end human trafficking although many are working on it.

Also during the pandemic, I started a website called www.massagechangeslives.com . I had previously heard about a concept of Beautychangeslives.com which promotes the beauty industry and wanted to model it after that with creating scholoarships and my addition of a database of massage therapy schools. Then along came AI and AI search and the website lost traction as well as the Facebook Page that went along withit.

My current project along with this one is also the Society of Massage Archives where I am working with a few others to find, track and share the history of the massage therapy profession.

This latest undertaking combines many of my older posts from those websites creating a fresh look at the issues with the hopes that I can share what I have learned and also work to find out what concerns massage therapists in the US are currently faced with. You can start with answering this short survey and signing up for my free newsletter!