DO YOUR THERAPISTS HAVE COMPASSION FATIGUE?

Ian Bell

EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR

A highly experienced spa and wellness professional, Ian Bell was the opening manager for Aman Spas at Amanpuri and he has managed luxury hotels in Bhutan as well as designing and opening spas for some of the biggest hospitality brands. In addition to training spa staff around the world, he is a practicing Core Process Psychotherapist, having gained his MA through the Karuna Institute in Devon, UK. www.ianalexandertherapy.com As an industry, we focus a lot on how to bring mental health into the guest experience. But what we should also be talking about is how we can support the mental wellbeing of our staff.

Compassion fatigue is a form of burnout that is experienced by professionals working in a caring capacity. The term was first used in the medical profession, but very much applies to spa therapists too. Burnout happens when stress becomes a habit. The stress in this case comes from being overwhelmed by the needs and emotions of other people, while not looking after your own wellbeing.

In a spa setting, compassion fatigue can be characterised by reduced expressions of empathy and sensitivity; therapists feel detached, numb and emotionally disconnected; or in extremes, feeling stressed and depressed by the helplessness of not being able to help others.

These symptoms can be a result of the repetitive sequences that treatments are sometimes reduced to. While performing the steps of the ritual as prescribed by the menu, rather than according to the specific needs of the guest, therapists can find themselves numb to the connection and natural flow of energetic information between themselves and their clients.

It takes deep empathy and a courageous openness to talk about these issues and assess if they are present within your team. It can be hard to detect the beginnings of compassion fatigue in others, especially those we rely on.

Most carers will continue to care for their clients despite how they might be struggling within themselves. They will say ‘yes’ to whatever they are asked to do, and just push on through. It is easy to take this response for granted and assume it also means ‘yes, I’m fine’. However, people-pleasing is a stress response, just like fight, flight or freeze.

If you are not already doing so, you should work closely with your HR department to develop support strategies for all staff. Consider what you can do to relieve the physical and emotional demands that are placed on therapists. Allow for breaks to be taken outdoors in nature during the day, especially in spas located in basements, helping your team to refresh and refuel.

Talk to your therapists. People in caring roles will often downplay their own exhaustion and suffering because they are so focused on looking after others. Think about how you can offer

longer breaks between treatments.

IHG Hotels & Resorts has developed employee resource groups. These are voluntary, staff-led networks that aim to support wellbeing. All colleagues have access to information and support through the safe space of these groups, to enable them to feel comfortable bringing their whole self to work. IHG has also offered ‘Recharge Days’ over the last few years, which allow its team an opportunity to pause and have an additional day to focus on their own wellbeing and mental health.

Healing is natural and takes place continuously in all living things. Our choice is under which conditions it will do so. For spa treatments to follow the healing principles of nature they need to include elements of spontaneity, creativity, trust in the process and a deep attunement to the client.

However, within spa businesses, treatment success is judged by timing, adherence to rigid sequences, productivity and treatment room utilisation. We have created a very tight system that doesn’t allow for true healing to flourish.

To bring life back into our spas, treatments and therapists, we need to allow for some rewilding to happen – to make treatments about connection, flow, spontaneity and a balance of knowledge and intuition once more.

For this to occur, and ultimately to combat compassion fatigue in our spa teams, there needs to be a shift in how we view our businesses from a revenue perspective. Very few spa models offer a direct and full return on investments. The ones that do are usually membership based, where membership fees rather than treatment revenues meet the budgets. And yet, we still operate spas on a direct profit-driven model, to the detriment of therapist’s wellbeing and ultimately that of our guests. The financial worth of any spa is in the indirect revenue through increased guest-room and food and beverage revenue; how it can encourage return guests and also draw in local communities. But the true value of a spa is in the healing and caring space it offers. When we put some soul back into our treatments, through our therapists, spas will truly become the dwelling and healing spaces for our bodies, minds and souls again.