Almost time for student clinic!

[:) smile (:]

... it was a slow day for the female students so that always means an *extra* slow day for the guys.

Mikanik,

I am curious... Do clients make the choice if they see a male or female therapist?


Brian

 

[Elise Jane]

Yeah..they do get to choose between male and female students. I kinda wish they didn't because there are days I'll sit for three hours waiting for someone to come in that doesn't mind a male therapist. What can ya do though? *shrug*

 

[livewire9]

What can ya do though? *shrug*

You try "marketing yourself"... make yourself known as the "go to guy" for certain issues. Find out who does the scheduling and impress the heck out of t hem.
"Oh, you want deep tissue? Mikanik is our best MT for that, I am sure that he'll take good care of you!"
"You woke up this morning with a pain in your neck? That happened to me last month and I had a massage with Makanik, I think he could help you too!"
In a short period of time you'll most likely have to be marketing yourself anyway... might as well get a jump on it! Go get 'em Mikanik! :

 

[Mr. Dan]

Yeah..they do get to choose between male and female students. I kinda wish they didn't because there are days I'll sit for three hours waiting for someone to come in that doesn't mind a male therapist.

I have to say I'm surprised by this. Are there others who had this happen?

At my school and other schools in the area (I have spoken to others about this) the client coming in does not have a choice. At my school the student clinic policy clearly states:
"Clients may not request male/female therapist or a particular student."

I had many clinic clients who had never had a male therapist before. Pre-session they shared that info and some said they were a bit nervous. Post session every single one of them would say (in their own words) that they would be comfortable with either male or female in the future.

I understand that there are circumstances in which a client would only see a female therapist or a male therapist; but, this is a learning environment. I feel the rules are a bit different when a client comes to a student clinic. Yes, they are paying for a massage; but, in this environment it is just as much about the student learning as it is about getting a good massage.

In this type of environment with an association to a massage school the therapist gender issue should not be supported. It's like the school is saying, "Yes, there is a difference between the massage you will get with a male student and female student."

It just bugs me.

What can ya do though? *shrug*

How about talking to the program director and finding out why this is the policy. If it is truly a student run clinic, can you as students change the policies? Can you all agree on a system that treats each and every student fairly regardless of gender? Can you set up system that the client sees the next available therapist regardless of who it is?

I obviously don't know all the details about your program and how your clinic is run or the clinic/school policies. But, as a male therapist if my program had allowed clients to choose and I had to sit around waiting for someone to be ok having a male therapist, I would have been very upset with the program.

Brian

 

[Wing]

Yeah..they do get to choose between male and female students. I kinda wish they didn't because there are days I'll sit for three hours waiting for someone to come in that doesn't mind a male therapist.

I have to say I'm surprised by this. Are there others who had this happen?

In our school we mainly had to get our clients ourselves. There were people who knew the school was there and would come in for massage, but not enough to get a student graduated on time. And, they were allowed to choose male or female, which left it hard on the men.

We hammered the phones - calling clients who had been at the school before and also brought in clients. What the women at our school did, was help the guys with phone calls, and schedule them clients along with ours. Or if our schedule was filled, we'd actively try to help the guys get clients.

But, we were told beforehand that we would need to be prepared to bring in clients for student clinic, so it wasn't a shock or anything.