When I was starting to really lay out how I wanted this school to be run, I wanted to make sure that at every choice I was making the choice that benefited the students in the program. I wanted the school to be full of equity and mutual respect. One of the ways I wanted to reinvent the traditional massage school is with the Student Clinic.
The traditional Student Clinic for Massage Therapists (and many hands-on-customer services) is that at some point in their education, typically towards the end, students will begin taking clients from the general public. Up until this point, students learn on each other. We have “Trades” where one student will practice whatever we are learning on a buddy, and then they will switch. It’s a fantastic learning model: See, Feel, Do. What we run in to with trades is the lack of body diversity. We need students to be exposed to as much body diversity as we can. This is the best way to prepare them for working with a wide variety of issues and personalities.
With the traditional model, anyone can contact the school and make an appointment for a discounted massage (typically ½ the average cost). Where does that money go? A very small amount will let students use that to pay down their tuition. Students can’t receive income from massaging until they are licensed by the state (though most allow them to keep tips). The majority of schools put that money back into their business and it helps with overhead costs of running a school with a part-time clinic.
In case you didn’t know, this school is just me, Lindsay Juarez. In the future I am excited to add support staff as we grow and that becomes a need, but for now and probably awhile it’s just me! This comes with a lot of challenges and risk of course, but it also comes with a LOT of benefits! One of those that i have been enjoying far more than i thought i would: I get to decide.
I get to chose what this school looks like. I get to prioritize the things that mean the most to me. Community has been a closely held value of mine since 2020, when I saw how beautiful humans can be when we come together for a common cause. Leaning into my community and being intentional about how i grow it has produced so much fruit you cannot convince me this isn’t the right way for me.
So, to benefit the Community, we will be offering FREE massages. Now, this can come with a frenzy and chaos that just destroys the benefits. There will be an application process, and i will be selecting who i let come into my students’ spaces, because again: i get to decide! To benefit the student, they will have access to a large amount of regular clients and have a HUGE amount of body diversity to learn from. Clients will be asked to complete a detailed feedback survey so the students get real, honest, and thorough advice to keep growing.
This project is a labor of love, but I am so excited to see what doors this opens for us to keep pouring into our Community.
-Lindsay ✨
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