Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1402696
L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 79 are followed. In most cases, the franchise owner is not a massage therapist and knows little about the profession. The franchisor is their teacher, industry guide, and parent. Without the franchisor's guidance, the owner will often falter. Every field visit is an opportunity to help the new owner get it right regarding the franchise goals, as well as the health and welfare of each employee and client. A primary component of each field visit is to check the employee files. This lets the franchisor know if the spa is on the right path. As a part of the visit they check for interview notes, reference checks, a copy of a therapist's license, surveys, any complaints or incident reports, and how they were dealt with. CONCLUSION We all have an opportunity to work toward reducing and eradicating sexual assault from the massage therapy industry. Franchise organizations and smaller clinics enacting policies and guidelines for the prevention of sexual assault will drive the education and thoughtful action of practitioners, their clients, and organizational management. Together, we can strive to make what we do a healthy and healing place for all involved. I hope this series of articles and its support materials give you some tools and the impetus to make improvements wherever and whenever you can. Ben E. Benjamin holds a PhD in sports medicine and owned and ran a massage school for over 30 years. He has studied under James Cyriax, MD, widely known for his pioneering work in orthopedic medicine. Dr. Benjamin has been teaching therapists how to work with injuries for over 35 years and has been in private practice for over 50 years. He works as an expert witness in cases involving both musculoskeletal injury and sexual abuse in a massage therapy setting. He is the author of dozens of articles on working with injuries, as well as these widely used books in the field: Listen to Your Pain, Are You Tense?, and Exercise Without Injury. as a Preventative and Investigative Measure" at abmp.com/keeping-clients-safe.) CALL BUTTON Installing a call button within easy reach in each treatment room gives both the therapist and client access to the front desk staff immediately in cases of emergency or situations that require an urgent response. A small button should be placed under the edge of each massage table, just where the client's hand rests. At the start of each session, the therapist should indicate the location and use of this call button. Provide instructions in your training courses and training manual that include sample phrases for the therapist to use, such as: "This call button is here to keep both of us safe, if either of us wants or needs help." This creates an immediate sense of safety for the client and the therapist. The call button also works as a deterrent for any therapist to engage in inappropriate activity or for any client who has a tendency to violate the boundaries of a therapist. Information about the call button and its purpose should be on the company website. Also post prominent signs in the treatment rooms. Call buttons can usually be installed for a few hundred dollars per room. Research has shown that the incidence of inappropriate touch is dramatically less when call buttons are installed, and complaints generally go down significantly. FIELD VISIT If the clinic or spa is a franchise operation, the franchisor should do a field visit to each franchisee at least every three months to verify that they are adhering to all operational guidelines. After a franchise spa has been vetted, trained, and opened, the most important task for the franchisor is continued education and enforcement of its accountability standards. If the franchisor has mandated everything in this checklist as well as others, they must be sure these standards by the hiring organization's code of conduct policy. Redirect helps reduce the risk of future incidents by providing valuable insights and support, leadership coaching, staff training, and policy consultation. (Additional resource: see "Misconduct Complaint Process" at abmp.com/keeping- clients-safe.) MYSTERY SHOPPER Use of a mystery shopper is indicated when any boundaries are violated or inappropriate therapist behavior of a sexual nature is suspected or reported. Certainly, if a therapist has multiple complaints of a sexual nature, an investigation should occur. But if the complaints are more subtle and vague, a mystery shopper should be engaged. Even one inappropriate incident is enough to trigger action based on the severity of the indiscretion. The use of a mystery shopper is an important component to keeping clients safe. It is part of a continual vetting process of therapists since it is difficult to weed out 100 percent of therapists with poor boundaries or predatory tendencies during the interview and vetting process. Predator therapists often test verbal and/or physical boundaries of the client during a massage therapy session to gauge whether they are a good person to take advantage of. Others, with poorly developed boundaries, may gradually move from the professional to the personal, drifting into inappropriate touch or conversation. Too often, these inappropriate actions are not reported because either the client has not been properly educated by the spa or clinic to recognize such improprieties, or the client feels too ashamed or embarrassed to bring the issue to light. To counter these unreported activities, prior to initiating a mystery shopper visit, organizations need to have collected regular email surveys of their clients' experiences with their massage therapists. These surveys are often primary indications of inappropriate behavior. (Additional resource: see "Mystery Shopper