Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/68178
AN MT'S LEGACY It is an incredible gift to be able to perform the services we provide. Celebrate whatever you can do to help. we do. People want massage. People need massage. Our human physiology is primed to enjoy its benefits. Whatever your venue—spa, clinic or chair massage—be proud you are a massage therapist. Be thankful you can help people with your skills. Be results-oriented, but value subjective as well as objective feedback. When you look back on your career in that light, you'll appreciate the core of the work. Tip: Get a journal for your reception area so clients can leave comments. A dark day is brighter when I page through mine to see all the nice things clients have written over the years. It's something I can always treasure long after I'm finally done with massage therapy. When you retire from massage therapy, what will you have when you're done? What evidence will there be that you have made a difference in your massage career? What will be your legacy? MEASURABLE RESULTS Of primary concern to our clients are the immediate results born of our hands-on skills. People come in feeling one way and when they leave they should in some way be different and better. The word legacy suggests long term, but we should not underestimate the power of the benefits of massage, even when the change is relatively brief. Even when we meet the so-called short-term goals—pain relief, a good night's sleep, relaxation, and an hour's vacation from gravity and concern—clients' needs are honored. It is an incredible gift to be able to perform the services we provide. Celebrate whatever you can do to help. Some people seem to be more wired into the benefits of touch than others. You'll recognize those clients easily. They're the ones who have regular appointments booked and are always eager for their next session with you. Whether they are enthusiastic regulars or occasional clients who swing through once a year, you do good work. It's the nature of things. In fact, it's so good, you have to work pretty hard at it to give a truly awful massage. Don't underestimate your value or power just because you can't "fix" someone in a session or two. There are too many variables to put that heavy pressure on yourself or on your client. Generally, long-term results tend to accrue through cumulative treatment or through focus on remedial exercise that clients can do for themselves in between sessions. Clients wouldn't expect to be healthy after one session at the gym, so it's reasonable to give you time to work wonders over multiple sessions. When therapists shy away from asking clients to rebook, that reluctance probably signals an underestimation of the value of what THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS We work in a one-on-one context. Our therapeutic relationships are supposed to be sterile, devoid of the "friend" label. Yet many clients tell us things about their lives they wouldn't share with others. As we touch, inevitably, we are touched by people's experience and their life stories. We are not working at a distance, looking at anonymous blood samples through a microscope. We work in close relationship to our clients for extended periods of time. After you retire, you will need to redefine yourself in relation to your former clients. When you are no longer their massage therapist, who will you be? Will you ever see any of your former clients again? Will any of them become friends with whom you could socialize? Many therapists have ethical objections to that idea, eschewing the dreaded dual relationship at all costs. Beware of that phrase "at all costs." That cost could be too high, especially if you live in a small town 78 massage & bodywork september/october 2009