Who’s Who

Interview by Jacqueline Le Sueur (JLS) with: The Therapist Team at Spa Alila Cha Am (TT): from left to right…Khuns Gan, Phi Pui, Nan, Mod, Tuk, Kig, Su, Nang, Pim, Lek, Nong Pui, Bum

The team above are all in the middle of three months of pre- opening technical, service, language and life skills training for a new spa in Cha Am, Thailand. It struck me, as someone who frequently interviews people for spa/wellness-related articles, that journalists rarely turn to the teams at the ‘sharp end’ of our business for their thoughts and views. So, one morning, after we had done our ‘funk & groove’ movement exercises, meditation and self-massage I thought I would ‘interview’ the team before we got immersed in another day of therapy training. Armed with the questions below they sat together, whilst I was at morning brief and attending to admin, and discussed with great passion and intent their responses. When we sat together to translate these from Thai to English the entire team dug deep into their dictionaries and debated intensely to ensure that I had captured not only the translation of their words but their very essence as well.

As you read what follows please consider that the team were not given any indication at all as to how to answer – they could take as few or as many words as they liked and answer however they saw fit to interpret the questions…

JLS: Why did you decide to become a massage therapist in a spa?

TT: Want to have a new / more experience. Want to help people have good health. Wanted a job that makes me happy because I know that I am helping people. Want to learn more knowledgeWant to do this work because it is beautiful and it inspires me to be the best in spas. This job challenges me and makes me want to learn more and more. I want to understand what a spa is and what experiences it offers to me and to its guests.

JLS: What benefits does your job bring to you?

TT: More knowledge – I want understand techniques and products. I learn lots of new things – new skills and techniquesI learn and understand the systems of running a spa. I learn about the body and also about the body’s energy and how they work. I am learning how an industry works and that is good for my future. Doing this work makes me healthy in body and mind and energy. This work makes me very happy when I massage people and see how good that makes them feel. It improves my personality and makes me better at working in a team. It gives me a good life – at work and at home, for me and my family.

JLS: How would you like to progress in your spa career?

TT: Trainer, Consultant, Manager, Spa Owner, and Supervisor: I like being a therapist

JLS: What do you need to help you to do achieve your career goals?

TT: I must be enthusiastic to learn and educate myself. I need to be patient and get experience in different areas in the spa. I need to be disciplined so that I can find the time to learn and practice new skills. My employer can provide me with the opportunity to learn and provide me with stability in my job so that I can educate myself. My employer can provide me with annual training so that I can maintain my skills and learn new ones that will benefit the company and its guests. I need to believe that I have the potential to learn and improve

JLS: What can the spa industry do to educate the wider public that a career in spa is a rewarding and positive career?

TT: By creating a Code of Ethics that is very clear and that companies and employees work to Spa employees and owners and managers must all work with honesty from the heart; with integrity. We can communicate our integrity in the way we carry ourselves, the way we speak, the way we dress and the way we work. This way the public will realise that spa is not about sex, it is about health and wellness. We can educate the public about spa by doing workshops in the community. There needs to be a set of standards that all spas work to. These spas must be inspected to make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

JLS: My heartfelt thanks to this team whose voices are representative of many, many therapists in our spas across the region.