2 minute read
Why language matters in cancer care in spas
Use non-restrictive language
An educator in cancer, Julie Bach created Wellness For Cancer to help those affected by the disease globally.
“The initial idea for Wellness For Cancer was sparked by my experience as a caregiver when my mother had ovarian cancer,” she explains. “Her positive response to touch therapy left me with an overwhelming desire to extend this healing to others.
“I believe touch therapies in spas help to destigmatise the fear surrounding cancer, which is helpful for our collective role in health and healing. Being there for people when they need us most makes us more appreciative of our work; we cannot provide wellness only for well people.”
Moving away from menu offerings
Bach says there should be ways to let guests know you can take care of them without putting a cancer service explicitly on the menu. “A person touched by cancer is still a person, just like any other,” she emphasises, “By offering cancer-specific treatments you define and confine them to certain services. Of the millions of guests spas see, fewer will be actively undergoing cancer treatment; many more will be living with the aftermath. These guests will always need treatment adjustments and won’t want to be restricted to ‘the cancer treatment’ for the rest of their life.”
For a more personalised solution, she suggests “putting a purple ribbon on the menu to symbolise cancer treatments or adding a simple statement: “Our therapists are trained to adapt your service for a variety of conditions including pregnancy, injuries, cancer and more. Please let us know when booking.”
“The crux is this,” adds Bach. “therapists must be trained to use critical thinking to adapt any treatment on the menu to a guest with cancer. Offering cancer therapies won’t be a differentiator for long; at some point in time soon, every brand and operator will have to have therapists that are adequately trained.”
