STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION (SI)
Dr. Ida P. Rolf Method
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
Drafted for The International Association of Structural Integrators
David D. Wronski
_________________________________
_________________________________
Note to Professional Structural Integrators:
A draft of the Standards of Practice was originally written at the request of the International Association of Structural Integrators (IASI). In order to understand its purpose, it is necessary to know the strategic considerations — the background and rationale — which form the basis and format of this document.
It stands on its own, irrespective of what IASI may officially publish. Please feel free to use it for your own professional purposes.
_________________________________
Goal
Consistent with its mission
to serve the profession of Structural Integration, IASI, the International
Association of Structural Integrators, is developing a Standards of Practice
(SOP). This is intended to cover the essential elements that identify Structural
Integration as a distinct, integrated approach and protocol for therapeutic and
human developmental applications.
Discussion
The SI-SOP is intended to serve
several purposes:
— Define the Standards of Practice
(SOP) of Structural Integration: What is and what is not SI.
The
SOP is not intended to be a complete and comprehensive a document for the
profession of Structural Integration. It is intended to be a concise touchstone
document that reflects the generally held common terminology, agreements and understandings
among SI professionals. As such it will also serve to integrate communications
and thus aid the profession in speaking in a unified voice with the public, other
professions, and legislative bodies.
It
is also a document which can be made available for access by the general
public, other professionals, and relevant governing bodies.
— Bring together diverse groups
of practitioners, schools, instructors, researchers, and accrediting bodies with
a common philosophy and practice respected by the Structural Integration
community.
— Support accredited
professionals in all aspects of practicing as Structural Integrators.
— Articulate the inherent
values of Structural Integration clearly.
— Support SI professionals’
integrity in their work with clients, and in reflecting that quality of shared
message in all their communications about Structural Integration.
— Promote accurate information
about SI that the public can easily understand.
— Represent Structural
Integration accurately and consistently to regulatory bodies, local governments
and state boards.
— Provide consistently
intelligible information to other health professions and professionals.
— Work to ensure that Structural
Integration continues to grow and develop in alignment with the highest levels
of its established understanding, principles and goals, foundations, theories,
methods, skill-sets, and intentions.
— Speak up energetically for
the inclusion of Structural Integration’s ideas in professional conversations
with members of Integrative Health Practices (IHP), conventional health care, Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (CAM), and Complementary Integrative Medicine (CIM);
remembering that physical alignment in gravity is still a newsworthy and little
understood idea.
SOP Elements
The Standards of Practice document for Structural Integration is intended to cover the
essential elements that identify Structural Integration as a distinct, integrated
approach and protocol for therapeutic and human developmental application
The Standards of Practice
will establish the core elements of training, technique, and practice that
define Structural Integration as a unique, methodology/protocol. It reflects the
fundamental skills and knowledge that are taught in common by all SI schools,
and are understood by SI professionals as defining Structural Integration and
differentiating it from other methods.
This list is to include: the
philosophy and theories that are central to Structural Integration. SI’s ethics
and code of conduct will also be defined.
It will present a concise
definition of Structural Integration that can inform a dialogue among
practitioners that will encourage consistency in all our communications to the
public and related professions.
The Standards of Practice
will describe elements that are unique to the training and practice of
Structural Integration. This may include knowledge and skills that are common
to other touch oriented practices as well as being part of the required curriculum
and practice of SI.
The Standards of Practice
document will be completed through peer review involving all IASI recognized
schools and practitioners, other related stakeholders, research organizations
and appropriate accrediting bodies.
The development of the SI-SOP is part of IASI’s mission to lead in
promotion through education and communication of Structural Integration as a
vital contribution to health and well-being.
In 2002 the International
Association of Structural Integrators (IASI) was formed as a professional
membership organization representing SI professionals from a variety of
training programs. IASI has established essential training requirements, a code
of ethics, and continuing education requirements.
IASI Missions
• To promote the highest professional
standards for Structural Integration;
• To
preserve and support the continued evolution of the art, science and philosophy
of Structural Integration; and
• To
represent the interests of SI practitioners to the public, regulatory agencies
and other professions.
In the field of Structural Integration many variations are
reflected in the training differences in several schools. Additionally,
practitioners sometimes modify and embellish the work in their individual practices.
This flows from many
factors: new methods discovered in practice, approaches based on philosophy, preference/temperament,
other learned skills, marketplace demands, and the immediate demands of daily practice.
However, common agreement on
core definitions reflected in a complete Standards of Practice will help to
maintain both a consistent identity and practitioners’ alignment with core
principles and practices. This offers great value to the profession itself as a
centering point for practitioners, and to assure clients they are receiving a
high standard of Structural Integration.
We do not intend to limit
the services or creativity of SI practitioners seeking to benefit their client.
Nonetheless, it is in the interests of the profession and all practitioners to
make it clear to practitioners and their clients when what is being offered is
Structural Integration and when it is not.
The SI field is young enough
that most clients have little knowledge of Structural Integration, nor from experience
of what to expect during the process, nor its intended outcome. The Standards
of Practice is a professional touchstone and a public declaration meant to
guarantee consistency of message and delivery.
A formal SI-SOP will be a basis of fair, accurate representation
of Structural Integration in licensing legislation and the agencies that govern
those licensing laws.
Many states and
municipalities have enacted laws governing the practice of complementary and
alternative healthcare procedures. Structural Integration is not exempt in most
states. The IASI continues to participate in the development of regulations intended
to protect the profession of Structural Integration. It has been proactive in providing
regulatory bodies with information about what constitutes adequate training,
certification and continuing education in the profession of Structural
Integration.
The Standards of Practice will present a platform for a unified
message to the general public. Structural Integration is still a developing
profession, and there are several areas in which our philosophy, theories and
point of view can make a significant contribution.
There is a direct and immediate need to promote values of
Structural Integration publicly, and there is also a parallel opportunity for
leadership in advancing ideas of Structural Integration itself.
It is arguable that the
profession as a whole seems to have missed that point, focused as practitioners
are on the challenge of maintaining their professional practices. Speaking up
clearly for the advantage of living in balance with gravity will increase
awareness and acceptance of Structural Integration, offering us the opportunity
we seek for serving others.
Balance in gravity, a core
idea of Structural Integration, is a phenomenon whose presence our clients can
feel. But outside our offices, it presence is lost, muted by the stiffness and
pain in which most people live. Structural Integration’s benefits will become
familiar in the public mind and among other professionals only when we can
communicate what we have learned clearly, and reliably evoke its proof in
other’s lives.
