Thank you to everyone who has signed and supported this petition calling for stronger protections against sexualized client misconduct in regulated health care.

As part of this advocacy effort, I reached out directly to the Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of Ontario (RMTAO)—the professional association that exists to support RMTs and advance our profession. I provided a detailed proposal including:

✅ A trauma-informed discharge protocol
✅ A standardized Patient Code of Conduct
✅ Zero-tolerance signage and scripts
✅ A formal request for accommodation on the basis of PTSD
✅ Testimonies from other RMTs who have experienced misconduct

Unfortunately, the RMTAO’s response was disappointing and dismissive.

They:

-Deferred entirely to CMTO regulatory policy, despite being an advocacy body, not a regulator
-Declined to engage in meaningful dialogue or collaborative solutions
-Provided limited, hard-to-navigate resources rather than clear systemic support
-Ignored the core issue: that RMTs are being left to handle sexualized misconduct alone
-Failed to meaningfully respond to my formal disability accommodation request under Ontario's Human Rights Code
I have since submitted a formal AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) accommodation request to the RMTAO regarding barriers faced by practitioners with PTSD and ADHD. 

This petition remains critical. If our own professional association will not act to protect RMTs, we must continue to push for legislative change that does.

Thank you for standing with me—and with all regulated healthcare professionals experiencing this harm in silence.

➡️ Please share this petition.
➡️ Please talk about this issue.
➡️ Please keep the pressure on.

In solidarity,
Ashley Culp, RMT