[Inclusivity] Effective Communication Lets Larger Guests Know They're Safe in Your Spa [Part 2 of 2]

Note from the author: This is a highly sensitive topic, and I can understand why seeing the word "fat" seems offensive. In the article, you'll see that the term is stripped of all pejorative meanings and was used in line with fat activists' quotes and self-identification. There is a whole population of people out there who reclaim that term and don't attach negative meaning to it. The intent of this piece is to discuss a whole segment of people who have been largely ignored by the hospitality industry."

Diversity, equity and inclusion are ongoing considerations for spa and wellness facilities, and fat guests are an important population that is often overlooked in this regard. Spas must think about these spa-goers' needs with empathy, and be sure that they're sending a message that says, "This is a safe place for you."

Developing Trust

It’s critical to train staff so that they don’t make assumptions that show up in thoughtless comments or fat-shaming language. Just one biased comment could have profound negative effects: It could ruin a guest’s entire experience, trigger or traumatize them, and cause them never to return.

Team members should be taught that fat doesn’t equal unhealthy, and they should never assume that the fat guests are trying to lose weight. They should steer clear from making disparaging comments about food choices, anything about body size or any other questions that could be considered intrusive (like, “Have you tried Weight Watchers?”). Practitioners are there to help, be nonjudgmental, and develop trust and psychological safety with guests.

Many fat people have fears around receiving bodywork. They continuously ask themselves questions to avoid shame attacks. “Will that massage table hold my weight? Are my hands and feet too fat to get a mani/pedi? Will that robe fit me?”

Further, the shame that fat people experience goes even deeper into issues around worthiness and the relationship with their practitioners. “I once overheard a massage therapist talking about how much energy it took to work on a larger body. Upon hearing that, I was filled with shame about being in a larger body and a voice inside said, ‘I'll never do that then!’" recalls Andrea, a marriage and family therapist from Iowa who identifies as fat and living in a larger body. "I believed that I didn't deserve anything more than a fully clothed chair massage.”

Even after she found a practitioner who provided an inclusive atmosphere and with whom she could openly talk about her journey of healing her relationship with her body, Andrea’s fears continued to resurface while in the spa. “One time I had gained some weight, and I was just really worried about the table. I thought, ‘Is it going to hold me?’ I had this fear of asking about it, because what if the answer was: ‘Oh, no, Andrea, you do weigh too much now. And now you can't get a massage,’” she says. In that moment, Andrea’s fear about asking if she was literally too fat to get a massage was compounded with her fear that if she was too fat, that her relationship with her practitioner would end.

In order to be inclusive to all guests and deliver the most effective treatment, practitioners need to pay attention to physical cues from clients and learn how to communicate effectively. This is especially important when guests may have a history of touch that isn’t so positive.

Tara Zinn, LMT, owner of Downtown Omaha Massage in Nebraska, is a big proponent of role-playing with her staff in order to give practitioners confidence in their delivery when communicating around sensitive topics. “Let's roleplay and see what questions are being asked, and then you practice it," she says. "Because it's one thing to be told it and another to hear it.”

This kind of training goes a long way when working with fat and large-sized guests, and it prepares therapists for some very real situations. Practitioners can then be confident in their answers and know how to deliver an effective service when a guest asks questions like: "Will I fit on that table comfortably? What if my arms hang off the sides? Will that table hold my weight? How can I get on that table with this injury or mobility impairment? What if the wrap doesn’t fit me?"

Staff can also be prepared should something a guest is concerned about actually happens, like a table breaking. Zinn recalls a minor incident in her own spa, in which a wire underneath a portable table snapped when a large guest was on the table. No one was harmed; the guest remarked that he felt lopsided. Because the staff had practiced, the practitioner was able to handle the incident with grace. When the guest got up to use the shower as part of his treatment, they moved quickly to switch the table out.

Zinn reiterates that her training always includes using questions to facilitate effective communication. “How would you communicate if the table broke? And what if the legs dropped or something—how would you handle that? How would you handle it if someone couldn't fit into things, and it was uncomfortable and they were upset? All of these communications empower not only the team but the guests, who will know that they can ask questions and feel supported.”

Eric Stephenson, chief wellness officer for massage therapy franchise Elements Massage and director of education for imassage, Inc., says that effective communication for bodyworkers starts with therapeutic presence and understanding the importance of the power differential between practitioner and guest. “What really happens in the first five minutes of a massage is important, because you're establishing safety for someone who's in a power differential," he says. "We train therapists to check in about pressure in the first five minutes. But they don't say, ‘How's that pressure?’ If they're doing it optimally, they say, ‘In terms of pressure, would you like more pressure, less pressure or is that just about right?’ The client gets to choose, and you're training them how to communicate with you.”

Zinn advises that you start from the mindset that you’re there to help and not judge, assess the most effective way to work on someone by asking a lot of questions, and then repeating back what you hear so the guest is assured that you’ve seen and heard them. “Be really confident in that delivery, so a client of any size feels comfortable in that space for the next duration of time,” she says. “The worst thing is lying on a table with no clothes on, feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable the entire time because of something that happened before you even got on that table.”

Inclusive Marketing

Marketing can be used to appeal to a broader audience to encourage explicit size inclusivity that can help everyone feel more body acceptance. It can also help people who might not have thought spa services were right for them see treatments as routine care rather than frivolous or rare luxuries.

So, how do you communicate all of your DEI efforts to potential guests? Representation is important. Diverse guests from marginalized communities are looking at your marketing materials to see if they are reflected in them, for cues that they will be welcome and safe. They want to visualize themselves enjoying your services.

Photography makes the biggest impact, because potential guests can see that you are inclusive and accommodating to a wide range of people at a glance.

If you use stock photography, it’s important to include photos with people, and not just have shots of empty facilities or rooms. Choose photos with the melanated faces of BIPOC in spa settings, and the most diverse photos you can find. Heads up: This task is challenging. Stock photography is woefully inadequate when it comes to representing LGBTQ+ people, those with disabilities and fat people in the spa.

It’s always best to take custom photos. If you are planning a photoshoot, finding a good art director who is well-versed in spa, wellness and diversity to work alongside your photographer is key. Your shoot should include a diverse group of models who are wearing your spa's robes and slippers, going through the entire guest experience. More often than not, diversity is embodied in multiple ways in one person, so finding the right models may be easier than you think.

One final recommendation when it comes to custom photography: Be as accurate and as transparent as possible. Don’t stage images with body positions or physical locations you’d never put your guests in, fake a treatment (that’s not in your menu) just for the aesthetics (or the Instagram appeal), or use fake massage therapists in the photos. People can tell, and that kind of photographic apathy ultimately hurts your brand image.

Your commitment to diversity and inclusion should also come across in your marketing copy, starting with your mission statement or About page, all the way through to the description of your services. Combined with diverse imagery, this also creates a sense of psychological safety for guests, as they will know in advance that your establishment is welcoming of them and others like them. Remember, marginalized groups of people who likely have trauma in their history are looking for signs that they will be welcome and safe with you.

Making your service descriptions free from fatphobia requires eliminating “healthist” assumptions around weight, and celebrating large-sized bodies. Start with the intention that health and wellness can be achieved at any size (and any background, ethnicity, ability, gender or identity), and focus on how nourishing, enjoyable and feel-good your services are.

As the fat acceptance and body positivity movements become more mainstream, spas can participate in it by offering services celebrating the bodies of people of size. Sugaring Brooklyn, for example, has a Belly Glorification service on its menu involving its signature sugaring hair removal, a massage and a “belly facial.” Owner and operator Natalie Hull explains that the affirmation of fatness can go a long way toward giving people exactly what they're seeking from the spa: a space to honor and care for their bodies. “Our language is bold and intersectional, and using the word ‘fat’ is often an educational point, giving clients permission to be themselves and feel removed from the harsh fatphobic world,” says Hull.