SWAMPSCOTT — Superintendent of Schools Pamela Angelakis has hired Swampscott Massage Spa to treat the district’s staff to a little mental-health break in the form of a seven-minute chair massage right in schools.
The last two years during the pandemic have been hard for the district’s families, parents and students, Angelakis said.
“My focus was obviously on the students,” she said, adding that she has always cared for the social-emotional health of children.
But Angelakis was also worried for two years about the faculty and staff at Swampscott’s schools, custodians and nurses who were on the frontlines of this pandemic, and teachers who were tasked with learning different ways to educate children, while wearing masks and protective gear. Angelakis felt that they were a bit forgotten.
“I’ve been racking my brain: what could I do to potentially put my worry into actions?” she said.
The superintendent was thinking about different employee-appreciation gestures that big private companies like Google and Facebook do.
“I thought ‘Oh, I could never do that,’” she said.
Then she remembered her connection at the Rotary Club — Susan Bishop, owner of the Swampscott Massage Spa.
Angelakis reached out to Bishop to organize chair massages at each of the schools for one day. Bishop liked the idea and since December they have been trying to coordinate dates, massage therapists’ schedules and the number of clients.
This past Wednesday, massage therapist Tara LaScola came to the Stanley Elementary School to give seven-minute sessions of chair massage to 27 staff members who signed up for it. When school starts again in March after the mid-winter break, Swampscott Massage Spa will come back to schools for another five consecutive weeks, Angelakis said.
“They really have made this doable for us,” said Angelakis about Swampscott Massage Spa.
The business provides massage chairs and massage therapists, and school staff can sign up for slots on the spa’s website. The school district is funding the massages or “seven minutes of heaven,” as teachers coined them.
“The reaction from the teachers and staff and custodians and administrative assistants is just fantastic,” she said.
The investment is nominal, Angelakis said, but the staff sees that the district really cares about them.
“Staff’s mental health and wellness is just as important as the students’,” said Bishop.
She opened Swampscott Massage Spa nine years ago by herself. The business has recently moved to 990 Humphrey St. and now has three massage therapists and a full-day spa with aesthetics treatments.
Bishop said that the massage day at Stanley School went very well, and more teachers are reaching out to book their sessions for the future dates.
