The Institute Difference

The Institute for Integrative Healthcare Studies is not like other home study and online CE providers for many reasons, here are some of those reasons:

Specializing in MASSAGE CE

Other Providers

Many companies offer CE for massage along with a gamut of other professions.

The Institute

We specialize only in massage, which gives us the ability to concentrate on your needs and state laws and requirements.

Knowledge of State Laws

Other Providers

Let's be honest, many other CE providers have copied (at times verbatim) the information we provide to our students regarding their Board's continuing education requirements.Why do they do this? Is it because they don't want to do the work?

The Institute

We read the state laws, contact the Boards and regularly verify the various Board's continuing education license renewal requirements. We take these efforts so that we can provide you with the most accurate information and steer you in the right direction for your CE requirements.

Pilot Tests

Other Providers

Other providers may use times on DVDs and word counts to determine how long a course should take to complete, but this isn’t the best method.

The Institute

Before a course is offered to our students it is pilot tested by licensed massage professionals. These testers volunteer to go through the course materials, complete the exams and provide feedback and critiques. Aside from gaining their thoughts on the benefits of the course and potential improvements before the course is made available to you, they also determine the number of hours it will take to complete the course.

Rest assured that before a course is available to you, your peers have already evaluated the course. If it doesn't meet their standards, the course isn't offered.

Student Support

Other Providers

Whether you have a question about a course, your transcripts or a certificate, when you call other home study providers you often get the opportunity to leave a message and have to wait for a call back. Waiting is FUN, right!? Not when time is of the essence.

The Institute

Our student support team is available Monday through Friday, from 9am - 5pm (with a short break between 12:30p to 1:30p because people need to eat) to answer your questions. We can assist you with information about your Board's requirements, course recommendations, questions if you're having trouble on a course, transcripts, or obtaining a certificate for a course you took in 1999... that's right; we keep everything.

Physical Materials

Other Providers

You don't like using the computer? You don't want only online materials - that's too bad that's mainly all they offer.

The Institute

If you are in a hurry and can't wait for a shipment - we have courses where all of the materials as well as the test are available online. But, if you like to physically hold your books and DVDs and you love the smell of pencil shavings - then we have courses with materials we can ship just for you!

A Money-Back Guarantee

Other Providers

Don't take our word for it, visit some other online and home study providers of continuing education and try to find their return/exchange policy. Or better yet, call or email them and ask. What we found is that many providers offer no returns or if they do its within a very short time frame. So, if you think the course is worthless - tough luck - other providers won't give you your money back or offer an exchange for another course. Took a week to look at the materials and decided it wasn't for you? Well you weren't fast enough, the time in which you were able to make that decision ran out.

The Institute

We understand that you are fulfilling your CE requirements, but we feel you are also investing in your skills and professional knowledge, so we offer a 90-day money-back guarantee. Other providers don’t guarantee their courses, but we invest in ours to ensure they are the best out there and we want you to see us as a trusted resource. We aren't here to make you suffer, we are here to help you.