About Perception Massage Clinic
Our goal is to open a Massage Clinic that employs and empowers blind and visually impaired massage therapists.
Perception Massage Clinic is a social enterprise that supports the visual impaired community by promoting career opportunities and supporting blind massage therapists throughout their career path. Furthermore, the clinic endeavors to raise public awareness of under-employment issues faced by many in this community, as the unemployment rate is at an unacceptable 70% in Canada.
As proven in many Asian countries, massage therapy is an established wellness industry profession that enables self-sustaining economic independence for the visual impaired. In these countries, ‘blind masseuses’ are sought after for their heightened senses of touch and feel.
Perception Massage Clinic intends to work closely with CNIB-BC region, by participating in their Pre-employment for Young Adults and Employment Referral programs. Once the clinic gains recognition and momentum by providing on-going employment for experienced visually impaired licensed therapists, it will expand its mandate to support students enrolled in a college massage therapy program or new graduates by providing mentorship and an apprenticeship program designed to help them gain confidence with their practice through its Learning Centre. Starting a one-of-a-kind Massage Clinic in Greater Vancouver will highlight the potential of this career path to the visual impaired community in the region.
Perception Massage will be the first massage clinic in Western Canada that employs only visual impaired therapists. The Clinic will actively recruit vision loss therapists who are interested to join a social enterprise that creates employment specifically for their community. It will actively seek out students enrolled in the college program to start early discussion around the opportunity to join the clinic after successful completion of their program .
Driving Awareness and Client Reservations: Perception Massage Clinic’s marketing will target clients interested in both massage and “social responsibility”, emphasizing the therapists’ sensitive kinesthetic abilities through their heightened sense of touch, attuning to healing of the body. It will highlight the concept of combining a ‘Blind’ massage experience with contributing to a positive social cause for the visually impaired community. The success of the Dark Table restaurant in three cities across Canada as well as similar endeavours in major cities such as London, Paris and New York, are very good examples of how social responsibility can be applied to a viable business model.