About IAIM

Birth - by Vimala Schneider McClure

The International Association of Infant Massage Instructors was born when Audrey Downes sponsored an instructor training in Chico, California in 1981. Audrey took on the task of directing the organisation, and spent the next several years working very hard to bring it into a viable framework.

Our first group of trainers - Diane Wamsley, Diana Moore, Laurie Evans, Helen Moses, Maria Mathias, and Jody Wright - joined us during that period, after having spent time as instructors and working in various ways to promote parent-infant communication. Maria Fagerlund, in Denmark, joined in 1986, and we were truly "international."

Another event in 1986 was a turning point for us. We met together to form the first Board of Directors of the IAIMI, and began the official process of becoming a non-profit organisation. Again, it was Audrey's extremely conscientious, hard work that enabled us to get to that point.

Our first meeting as a Board of Directors signalled a whole new phase for the organisation; we each re-committed ourselves to our work together and to bringing Infant Massage and the vision it represents to our culture and the world.

The IAIM is now a non-profit tax exempt organization that was first incorporated in the USA in 1986. The USA held the International Office until 1992, when it was moved to Sweden.

The IAIM is constantly expanding. There are now thousands of certified infant massage instructors in more than 40 countries world wide. At present, there are 38 qualified Instructor Trainers, with several Trainer Candidates working towards their qualification.

With its international based status, IAIM now works with individual affiliated Chapters and we are proud to say that more and more Chapters join IAIM every year.