Education , But Let’s Make It Different!

By Robyn McAlpine

I’m very quick to raise my hand and admit that I failed school, graduating year twelve with a 46.8 result, not even a pass or a mark that would get me very far in the tertiary education world.

Yet, looking upon the shining career I’ve built, the skin science that is comfortably tucked in my brain, the book and articles I’ve published, much like this one, it’s clear that perhaps it wasn’t me… but possibly the learning environment I was being measured by?

At 42 years of age, I’ve come to realise that my brain works a little differently and hours spent in a classroom, listening to teachers, and having to sit in a chair and focus are a slow and painful death to my skin nerd loving soul.

Having personally mentored over 500 beauty therapists in our industry, and having two decades of being in and of, observing our industry, I’ve learned that my education failings aren’t an isolated case.

Turns out many of us working in the beauty industry have had a similar school experience, being measured by a system that fails to accommodate the kinds of learning style that would tap into our natural talents and skills. Skills like empathy, kindness, the practicality our using our hands to serve and care for others. We have all found ourselves here, hunting hairs and fondling faces for a living and there’s hardly a textbook or classroom in sight! Pure bliss!

But the lingering hangover of feeling like we aren’t very smart or that if we wanted to advance our careers, we’d need further study, causes so many of us to stay in the comfort zone of the treatment room, applying ourselves practically, giving spine tinglingly good treatments and doing a brilliant job!

However, I also have soooo many therapists in my DMs hungry for more but scared of that familiar feeling like a failure, sitting in a classroom and not having the capacity to pay attention like the neurotypical kids! It’s the hangover effect of years at school feeling like we were never quite good at the whole learning thing.

The sheer thought of having to focus on a lecture, delivered inside four windowless walls, under artificial lighting, then draining your social battery making small talk by the tea and coffee station during the breaks…. It’s a proper skin nerd boner killer! We want the knowledge and education but when delivered like this, it’s like walking barefoot over cut glass just to reach it!

It’s a challenge I’ve seen throughout my career and one I’ve had to navigate as the owner of a brain that likes to take the long way around when it comes to learning. And this is something am determined to change. Not my brain, I’m fortunately/unfortunately stuck with that, but to influence the way our industry educates, that is absolutely something I can do!

I’ve already started with the Skinside Out Squad, taking the education, you have and turning it into relatable, tangible, useable information in the treatment room, because we cannot simply regurgitate a memorised textbook to our clients. We need to deeply understand what we do, making it part of our being so that it naturally pours out of us when sitting across from the clients we serve. Reading our education from a textbook or slides on a screen doesn’t really help us get it into our brains and hearts so that we can feel it and KNOW it!

But I’m going bigger and better and taking it way further than that. It’s only natural in our industry that we give and nurture our clients, forgetting that in order to do so and never burn out, we need to be giving back to ourselves and filling our own cups. It’s exactly why I created the Skin Therapist Retreats.

I’ve taken industry high value education (the relevant, useful, and juicy bits) and sent them on a blind date with self-care and community connection and it turns out they really, really like each other. Just call me the greatest match maker in the skin saving universe!

Picture this: a weekend hanging out with a bunch of your new skin nerd friends. You wake up surrounded by nature, go for a stroll on the beach and return to a fully catered breakfast. Across the table you swap salon stories before gathering on a picnic blanket to learn and truly understand the consultation process. But not just top line introduction that gives you the content but still leaves you guessing! Over the next few days, you dive deep into learning how to consult, taking breaks between sessions to go and get a massage, a facial or just have a nap between fully catered meals. You pour yourself into a cosy bed each night feeling inspired instead of overwhelmed.

You finally pull yourself away from your new estie besties to return home but this time, you are READY.

You don’t have to madly study your notes on the plane home, trying to figure out how the heck you’ll use this education in everyday salon life. You don’t have to test your memory to make sure you don’t forget the important bits, because every bit of the retreat education has made sense. You were able to take your time learning, your teacher stopped and gave you personal attention and helped you tailor it to how YOU operate, not trying to make you fit into the system. She helped make a system especially for you!

That’s exactly why my retreats are designed this way! Deep, real learning, in the open air, with therapists just like me who die a thousand deaths at the thought of sitting in a conference room. Who struggle to learn from books and screens, and instead want to ask questions, talk about it amongst the group without missing the lecture going on up front.

And that’s why I am here, writing this knowing that if you’re reading this far, it’s because like me, you’re tired of education that leaves you feeling sillier than when you started, you’re hungry to learn and excited that you’ve found someone who gets it and suddenly that sense of calm and spark has just come over you where your heart skips a little beat but it also feels a bit scary to think you might actually want to do this!

So, consider this my personal invitation to come join me. Our next retreat is in March and there is a place with your name on it! The fear of studying stops here (there’s no homework, just pure understanding, I promise!)

Come learn with me. Let me teach you and love on you as you fill your soul cup and your skin nerdy brain.

With only a few spaces left, one of them has your name on it! Head to www.robynmcalpine.com and take the bold leap into the next stage of your career. One that is filled with confidence, knowledge and passion that burns so bright, your clients will come circling the flame!

@expert_skin_therapist www.skintifix.com