Massage therapy is an immensely rewarding field. We have the opportunity to contribute and make a real impact on the health & wellbeing of individuals and society. However, as with any industry, massage therapy also comes with its challenges. Particularly with mobile massage, there are occasions when a small minority of clients demonstrate inappropriate behaviour during the booking. While our customer care team have a thorough process in place to vet such bookings, there are still rare occasions when these type of bookings slip through the cracks. You can find details about our client vetting process here.
Empowering therapists to feel safe on the job
Our goal at Blys is to empower all therapists on the platform to feel confident and supported if ever faced with a tricky client situation. Through education, processes, policy and an available operations & support network – therapists can feel that they have the tools and resources to confidently approach these kinds of situations and, more importantly, feel safe and comfortable at work.
9 tips for dealing with challenging clients from Blys therapist, Savanna Rose.
- Remain professional and calm so as to not escalate the situation.
- Set a professional tone from the beginning.
- When asking the client to get undressed, use this as an opportunity to emphasise the importance of wearing underwear during the session. It’s important to remember that for some cultures, it would not be unusual to remove underwear. This is why it’s important to educate the client on the expectations for Blys services in order to minimise any confusion from the beginning.
- If the client is not wearing underwear when you get back to the table, tell them that you will leave the room again so that they can put them on. Emphasise that Blys has a very strict company policy about underwear being worn and that you cannot continue the massage until the client is dressed appropriately. If the client still refuses, advise the client that you will need to end the massage.
- If anything inappropriate happens while the client is on the table, feel empowered to stop the action. State very clearly and calmly that what they are doing is not appropriate. Advise them that if they wish for the massage to continue they will need to stop. Do not let it continue hoping that the client will stop on their own.
- If the client does not stop or becomes hostile when asked to stop, feel empowered to stop the massage. Instruct the client that the massage is over. Then leave the room to allow them to get dressed.
- If the client is aggressive in any way and makes you feel unsafe, leave without your table with the intention of having the police help you to collect it afterwards
- No matter what, remain as professional as possible the entire time.
- After any incident, immediately let Blys know, so that appropriate action can be taken.
Therapist safety is one of our biggest priorities
- All Blys Massage clients must register a valid email, mobile number and credit card before they make a booking.
- Blys phone-screens new male clients who request female only therapists. The team takes them through a standard set of questions to ensure our service type, terms and consequences of inappropriate questions are clearly understood.
- A check in/check out system is available on the therapist app as a way of knowing that you’ve safely completed your appointment.
- You’ll be contacted if you haven’t checked-out of an appointment within 40min of estimated time of completion.
- You can rate & review clients after each appointment. Any client that doesn’t comply with our service terms and guidelines, or is flagged with us by a therapist, is immediately blocked from the platform.
- You can block clients that you don’t want to see again, with a single tap in the therapist app. Our local Therapist Support team is available 24/7 via phone, live chat or SMS, if you need any assistance or have questions. We’re one call or text away.
If you ever feel unsafe, please know that you’re not obliged by Blys to stay and provide the service. You can simply leave and contact our Therapist Support team immediately on 1300 420 188.
