Are You Building Strong ‘Wellness Partnerships’?

Why The Spa Industry Needs To Invest In Education

By Abi Selby, MD and Co-Founder of Spabreaks.com

The spa and wellness industry has grown by 20%* in the last three years as people recognise the importance of investing time in taking care of their mind, body and soul on a scale we haven’t seen before; adopting it as part of a routine instead of the odd treat.

Incongruous to this growth, however, is the rate at which we as an industry are growing and nurturing our workforce. Since I founded Spabreaks.com more than 10 years ago, the pressure on existing professionals and venues to accommodate and care for more people enjoying treatments and facilities has steadily risen.

Despite this, last year Derby University shared its decision to end its Spa Management course as of July 2020, one of the largest and most respected in the UK. This is hugely disappointing but not wholly surprising - the view taken by some educational bodies is that these courses provide an ‘easy route’ to a qualification or that they are not a ‘proper’ course, which is a misguided view at best. At SpaBreaks.com we are partnered with more than 800 spas in the UK and Europe,so we can confidently claim to haveexpert insight across the industry, and spas are looking for qualified, reliable therapists, who need to hone their skills and learn their trade somewhere.

Stymying the supply of qualified personnel creates a challenge, at a time we're seeking credible solutions to a health crisis.

As stress and depression continue to dominate the mental health agenda, demand for qualified therapists across the UK and around the world will only increase so it is counterintuitive to cut one of the most respected courses that provides professional-level training and education. Stymying the supply of qualified personnel creates a challenge for the industry - and society - at a time when we're all seeking credible solutions to the mental health and wellbeing crisis. At Spabreaks.com, we’re seeing sustained growth in bookings for spa breaks, with people spending more money and time on their wellbeing, which they need professionals to facilitate.

Therapists - who let's face it are the spa industry - are declining and getting burnt out, so sustainability is going to be limited as we go into a new generation where we are not seeing spa and wellness as a 'proper' career.

At its core, our industry is about caring for and helping people, providing both immediate relaxation and relief alongside longer lasting health benefits through expertise. Not everyone has the skill set to be a doctor or a nurse, but they can help people through massage and therapies, so by reducing their options we are cutting this off to many people who would aim for a career which allows them to help people in this way.

It’s increasingly important to promote it as the fulfilling skilled profession it is.

With people under more stress and strain than ever before, our industry needs to do more work to change the way a profession in wellness is seen. It is becoming increasingly important to tackle some of these issues in society and a career in wellness needs to be promoted as the incredibly important, fulfilling and skilled profession it is. We, as a whole, need to encourage people to view wellness as a viable and respected career choice, and provide them with the tools and resources needed to gain the skills and expertise customers expect.