Tag Archives: communication

How I Interview New Massage Clients

The first ever intake you have with a massage client can set the tone for your entire therapeutic relationship. How can you open up lines of communication and get plenty of useful information to boot? Here’s how I go about it:

One thing you’ll notice is that I’m… really thorough. My initial interview can take about 5-10 minutes, and that’s completely on purpose. I want that client to get on the table with no questions about whether its okay for them to speak up, or whether they can ask for changes to be made. I want them to feel like they had a chance to really explain what their unique needs are, and to know that I heard them.

And, I want them to feel like the expert in the room. Sure, I know a lot about bodies in general, but they’ve known their body for their whole life! What can I do to let them know that I value them as a source of information? That I don’t have psychic hands, and that I need their feedback? I’ll talk more about this in a future video about communication on the table, but I’d love to hear how you go about it. How do you empower your clients and let them know that they’re in the driver’s seat? ... continue reading.

Is Your Massage Practice Sending the Wrong Message?

Massage Business Stuff, Rambling,

Here’s an important article about a negative experience that a client had while on the table: https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/dealing-with-a-fat-shaming-massage-therapist/

In a previous rant, I said that massage therapists causing pain—and making their clients think it was necessary—was one of the only massage-related phenomena that truly made me angry. Well, this counts as causing pain. If someone comes to me with a unique human body, anything that I say or do to stigmatize that person for their shape, or size, or sounds, or smell, is causing harm. They’ll leave that experience thinking, “I was wrong for putting myself in that vulnerable position.” In other words, they trusted us with their body, and we breached that trust.

Maybe you would never think of commenting directly on someone’s weight, which is great! With that as a given, I’d like to direct your attention to something that we’ve learned from psychological and medical studies: The power of words, and the power of symbols in general. How we speak, and even the signs and pictures in our offices, can communicate a powerful message of brokenness or wholeness to our clients. ... continue reading.