Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1013756
occasions a year, no regular staff meetings, and informal rather than highly structured performance reviews. Surveying of customers is limited to first-time customers; they are sent a postcard seeking feedback three days after their initial session. Yet, the clinic staff displays obvious closeness and frequent professional interaction that, as Biasucci says, "adds to the appeal of being here." Taylor adds, "A lot of counseling and offering of second opinions goes on in the break room." What also comes through is strength of numbers and diversity. The kind of career fulfillment and stimulation offered by Bodywise Wellness is harder to find in solo practice. Somewhat typically, Nancy Albertson describes her initial reasons for joining Bodywise Wellness as, "I was attracted to come to work here because of the more complex problem-solving challenges offered by this clinic." Once there, she and others come to prize how much they learn from colleague interactions. "I am really grateful I ended up here," says Montgomery. "My advice to others: don't be afraid to leave an unsatisfying or limiting massage therapy work environment." Community Relations Davidson has an appreciation that clinic success is dependent on a thriving, economically healthy, and visually and aurally stimulating community. After all, few people in a dying community feel they can afford massage therapy. Efforts by Davidson and numerous other caring citizens have helped keep Bodywise Wellness's hometown vital, inclusive, and optimistic. Massage therapy, still newer in acceptance than many other health disciplines, also needs community exposure and explanation. Civic engagement opens doors to educate citizens about massage. Davidson has consistently embraced such opportunities for community engagement over two decades. She seizes every chance to educate about the benefits therapeutic massage can provide. She is careful in each presentation to acknowledge what she does and does not know about the benefits of massage. Neither is she shy about saying, "Our clinic has saved the community's health- care system hundreds of thousands of dollars—through solutions performed at reasonable cost in our clinic setting, avoiding hospitals and surgery costs for dealing in an alternative way with soft- tissue injuries. If massage therapy is going to have an enduring impact, it will be based on economics. When economic benefits become recognized, respect for the work of individual therapists can follow." 82 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 8 Her fellow therapists appreciate these qualities. "I like to be around people who are motivated, inspirational, and high energy … and that's our leader," Collins says. Taylor adds, "She also constantly tells us how appreciative she is of our being here. It is wonderful to work at a place where gratitude is expressed for your work." Another important aspect of the Bodywise Wellness climate is a unified sense of service, both to individual clients and to the community. As Biasucci says, "We are here for reasons beyond ourselves." Perhaps surprisingly, Bodywise Wellness has very little in the way of formal approaches to team building or conscious work climate improvement mechanisms—just two company social It is obvious that the driving force is not owner profit maximization. Rather it is to provide a good living for loyal therapists, to keep services affordable for community clients with varying incomes, and to contribute toward improving the massage therapy profession.