Certification vs. Certificate: A Distinction the Massage Profession Needs to Understand

The massage profession has a long history of confusing the words Certification and certificate. From the very beginning of the creation of the National Certification Board, we were confused about what the word Certification actually meant. The 1990 it was explained as a big C vs a small c.

Nowadays, the massage profession often uses the words certification and certificate as if they mean the same thing. They do not. In fact, confusing the two has contributed to decades of misunderstanding about credentials, professional standards, and what it means to demonstrate competence in a field. I first learned the difference from an article on the NCBTMB website authored by Whitney Lowe. (I can only find that article now on archive.org.)

If the massage profession wants to mature and gain greater credibility within the healthcare system, this distinction matters.