Raison d’Etre shares tips on how to avoid therapist burnout
By Sophie Nutt | 21 June 2019 | Expert Advice, Feature
In a job which is dedicated to caring for others and one that can have lots of back to back appointments, many spa therapists forget to give themselves breaks throughout the day or even the time to rest and stretch between clients. Spa therapists are on their feet all day and, when its busy, often don’t go outside or see any natural light for hours.
Therapists should be reminded and encouraged to look after themselves by salon and spa owners to avoid treatment quality compromise and burnout.
Nikos Kouremenos, education and project manager at global spa consulting company, Raison d’Etre, has come up with his five top tips of how to look after your therapists:
- “Teach therapists a variety of hand exercises, which they should do after each client (or at least at their midday break) to help prevent and protect against repetitive strain injury (RSI). A good way to really stretch out your hands is to place the palm against a wall and turn away, stretching out the palm and length of your arm. You will immediately feel relief of tightness or tension.
- Schedule daylight breaks. This is extremely important, as many therapists can go several hours without seeing any natural light, which can result in a lack of vitamin D. Sunshine and light is proven to boost the mood as well as the immune system, so being in a dark room all day can sometimes cause therapists to feel less happy and energetic. Ideally therapists should be able to go outside for 10 to 15 minutes every two hours to allow them to refresh and also get some fresh air in-between clients.
- Check that equipment has been adjusted for each spa therapists needs – for example the massage table should be adjusted to accommodate the height of each spa therapist, to ensure that they are not over-stretching or having to hunch uncomfortably while giving a treatment. With electric massage beds at almost every spa these days, this should be a matter of seconds for the therapist to adjust.
- Increase oxygen flow. The easiest way to do this is to teach therapists some simple breathing exercises to do a few times in the day. Breathing exercises are proven to help people relax if feeling stressed or tired, while increasing the oxygen and blood flow around the body.
- Hydrate – give each of your spa therapists their own water bottle and encourage them to drink and refill it regularly throughout the day. Therapists often work in warm rooms without windows; so they need to stay hydrated and drink enough water to prevent them from feeling weak or tired. Spas could give their staff branded bottles with the spa’s name on.”