2026 MTF Community Service Awards Selected

Posted:Wednesday, August 19, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Massage Therapy Foundation Selects 2026 Community Service Awards

(Evanston, IL, August 19, 2026) The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) announces the selection of two Community Service Awards for the 2026 cycle. Awards support organizations which provide therapeutic massage to people who face barriers to access due to cost, location, trauma, or other life circumstances. The maximum per-award amount increased to $20,000 in 2026, up from a previous maximum of $5,000. The award selections are as follows:

SOMAMU: A Trauma-Informed Massage Therapy Project for 30 Displaced Women in Northern Greece
Irida Women’s Center, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
$20,000
This award is sponsored in part by a gift from Biotone

Irida Women’s Center operates a safe community center exclusively for women in Northern Greece, protecting, empowering, and supporting socially and economically vulnerable women, including refugees, migrants, and locals, living in extreme poverty and social exclusion while being at risk of gender-based violence. The 12-month SOMAMU project aims to provide 300 total sessions of trauma-informed, culturally-aware therapeutic massage to 30 displaced women, with the goal of alleviating somatic symptoms and improving physical well-being. Additionally, the project will implement 12 structured psychosocial support group sessions to equip women with relaxation and body regulation techniques to enhance their stress management, improve overall well-being and socio-emotional resilience and complement the benefits of therapeutic massage.

Healing Touch: Massage Therapy in Odesa Region
Angels of the Future/Ukrainian Medical Center for Rehabilitation of Mother and Child, Odesa, Ukraine
$19,800

Massage serves as a manual-muscular intervention at the neurophysiology-psychology interface, offering non-pharmacological relief for mental disorders exacerbated by war trauma. The Healing Touch project will integrate trauma-informed massage therapy into existing rehabilitation programs for mothers and children to support psycho-emotional recovery and physical well-being. The project aims to provide therapeutic massage to 7 people per day, for providing an estimated 1500 sessions over the course of one year. Project objectives include reducing stress-related symptoms, alleviating psychosomatic pain, enhancing proprioception, restoring body awareness and sense of reality in affected mothers and children, and building organizational capacity for sustainable integration of massage into rehabilitation services.

About the Massage Therapy Foundation

The Massage Therapy Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to supporting scientific research, education, and community service within the massage therapy profession. The Foundation publishes an open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal and provides educational resources for massage therapists, educators, and students. MTF fosters international scientific collaboration through grants, resources, training, and services.

For more information contact:

Annie LaCroix, MTF Program Manager at alacroix@massagetherapyfoundation.org

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