How to avoid therapist burnout
If your therapists are suffering from stress, anxiety and lack of sleep, then they could be experiencing burnout – an issuing that has longed plagued those who work in caring professions.
“The industry is growing with more people going to spas, and most of them want massage, and therapists very often are not prepared to fulfil the high demand. Because of that, they burnout, go into a state of anxiety and become stressed out,” says massage, healing and wellbeing expert Beata Aleksandrowicz.
“Firstly, its improper techniques which causes problems with their elbows, wrists, lower back, and secondly, they are not getting enough breaks."
In our video, Aleksandrowicz covers three key topics:
1. What managers can do to prevent therapist burnout
“The first thing to recognise is that [your therapists] are people of special needs in the way of how to manage, handle and take care of them. Therapists also need training – but not only on the level of massage techniques, but also on how to self-develop,” says Aleksandrowicz.
“Also, look at things like your equipment. Simple things like tables that don’t adjust will create lots of pressure on the posture of the therapist. Uniforms are often tight – they don’t give therapists any movement. This all will have an impact.”
2. Getting your therapists to invest in self-care
“Another important thing is their self-care – doing stretches and taking breaks between treatments. Your therapists are the most important in your business because without them your spa basically doesn’t exist,” explains Aleksandrowicz.
“If they give this deep quality of treatment, then the client will come, and the profit will come with that.”
3. Advice on how mobile therapists should look after themselves
“The most important is daily routines – the things you know you should do every day. If you understand how profound your work is and how much your result depends on your wellbeing, you will create these daily routines, such as breathing, meditation,” says Aleksandrowicz.
“When you start work, make sure everything is in place, that you have full control of everything. Between every treatment, you need to stretch and drink plenty of water, and it’s possible to do that, even if you’re very, very busy. You need movement to take care of your body. Therapists cannot give good treatments if she/he are not looking after themselves.”
For more helpful advice and tips, visit Professional Beauty’s YouTube page.
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