Also, how long are the certification Professional Training Programs?
A training class (meaning from matriculation to graduation) is approximately 500 hours. Currently, those hours are conducted over the course of about 24 months, divided up into 3 semesters (with time in between each semester to practice and complete some homework).
The most popular and flexible 24-month format for the 3 semesters is what we call ìmodular schedulingî. This means each semester is composed of 2 intensive modules of training. Each module is 9 days long — running from one Saturday to the following Sunday. (This enables students currently in other job situations to only have to take off one work week per module.) So, each semester consists of only 18 days total — i.e. two 9-day modules about three months apart. Then the students go back to their lives for about 6 months, and then return to do the next semester, consisting of 2 more 9-day modules about three months apart; then six months later they do their final 2 9-day modules three months apart and graduate.
We cram a lot of training in these short modules, but we use best teaching practices and students will tell you how much and how well they learn the material. We are very proud of our methods, and we think that — in addition to the actual groundbreaking techniques of Somatics — our training is one of the most competitive and impressive systems we operate. We have been told it is an unparalleled experience, as impressive as the Somatics treatments themselves.
Because of our methods, students can actually begin working with clients after only their first semester, believe it or not. They may not treat chronic pain as quickly, and they may need to refer out to advanced practitioners for more complicated clients, but they help a lot of people at a lower cost. First year students are amazed at how much more they know about how to help chronic pain sufferers than many health care professionals with very high-level degrees and years of experience. I recall the student who marveled at spending only 18 days in our training, and then finding himself in the position of the advanced practitioner to whom chiropractors and physical therapists were sending their VIP clients — and even their spouses — who they could not help.
At the current stage of company and markets, the 2-year training cycle works very well for us: The most development and support of practitioners with the least amount of overhead and resource allocation. And it has been a smart balance of growing the right synergy of supply and demand, demand and supply. However, keep in mind that the modular format of our training was a very deliberate move on our parts: We have an extremely flexible delivery system that is, well, modular. With the click of a mouse we can operate an accelerated training process at a variety of different paces. So, if demand spiked so much that our existing practitioner population was insufficient to staff an urgent demand for so many new Somatic Systems clinics, we could operate a job recruitment and in-house staff training and fill more clinics. Our innovative, flexible format also provides a lot of really exciting potential for integration and adaptation of different training formats, so, for example — without having to retool at all — we could convert/îretrofitî whole populations of physical therapists, chiropractors, orthopedists, etc. in academic or corporate settings. (This is part of the reason for our headquartersí location in a region of over 15 colleges, including several very prestigious institutions.)
