The Massage School is a really amazing idea- making massage more financially accessible to working folks-- but run in unbelievably sketchy ways. There are a few wonderful teachers (Ilir, Alecia, Angela) who believe in massage as a healing practice that should be accessible for everyone, and who are committed to training folks up with continuous learning and consent-based practices for sustainable and safe massage work. However, the administration and leadership seem committed to greed, harmful practices to maintain power, and gas-lighting to cover both up. More than half of my class dropped out due to preventable injury (we were not trained in safe practices, and actually were trained in practices that create injuries, many of which were brought to the attention of admin who ignored them, until many months in the teachers above volunteered in their own time to help us learn safe practices), harassment and the unsafe work and learning environment created by leadership. The leadership who did all the initial training made the space unsafe for both students and the general public receiving massages in clinic. Sexual assault jokes by leadership were made while folks were on the table, receiving massages by leadership (including the comment "True fact, sexual assault only happens when her legs are open," made while opening a student's legs). The only training on consent that leadership gave was to say watch out for false reporters. Students receiving massages from leadership were regularly made uncomfortable, and their bodies negatively commented on in front of the entire class, causing one student to leave early, weeping. One staff member, who has been frequently reported on in yelp by The Massage School's clients, on a regular basis explodes at students and clients alike. He has on multiple occasions wrongfully thrown students out of class and clinic, often in retaliation to folks trying to address his escalating behavior, literally screaming at students and clients on a regular basis, sometimes even throwing clients out when he is displeased. This abusive behavior was allowed to continue during every clinic. Leadership and admin are aware of all of this- our class has been trying to work with staff to make the school a safer space for the entire time we have been in school. All of the issues we have brought up have been ignored, retaliated against or gaslighted. In response to one of the reports of the staff member's abusive behavior, leadership lectured the students on showing respect to staff. It is important to respect staff- to respect everyone-- and to do so, The Massage School must develop a practice of addressing, repairing and transforming its own harmful practices. As the seriousness of COVID became more apparent, The Massage School continued to operate through March, the leadership offering no safety guidance for clinical practice other than "keeping yourself healthy". When it finally did shut down, there was no ongoing communication with students or clients on the school's closure, ongoing measures the school was taking to address COVID, the potential development of virtual classes and clinic, or alternatives for continuing learning during COVID. In fact, it was only after numerous students emailed leadership and admin that they finally sent any emails. This deep lack of care on the part of leadership has been as apparent as leadership's monetary interest in opening up yet another Massage School in Portland, or Seattle, or somewhere else far away in Cali, as opposed to addressing the concerns put forward by community members in the existing establishments. This could be such an amazing and important school. Massage, as practiced with safety and care, is an incredible healing practice that should be accessible in every community. It also has the capacity to do a lot of harm, when practiced in unsound ways with no accountability for harm, as has been the experience with The Massage School. Because The Massage School offers such an important public service, a practice to care for our health, there needs to be a rigorous safety and accountability practice to make sure we all are learning from mistakes, stopping the harm, addressing and repairing wrongs, and learning new ways, so that we can create a practice of care and trust for and with all of our community members. This is an opportunity to change to a better way. Students have been emailing leadership with suggested practices and safe alternatives for virtual classes and clinic, with no movement from leadership. The public MA massage board meetings (leadership at The Massage School is a board member, which is a potential conflict of interest; many classmates are fearful of retaliation in trying to get their licenses) were just closed to the public when students joined the meeting as members of the public. We are looking to find ways to safely continue our learning during COVID, hoping our school chooses to do the right thing. read more

The Massage School does not comply with CDC sanitation laws or common-sense sanitation practices. You will not be provided with antibacterial soap. You will not be provided with access to disinfectant cleaners like Lysol wipes or anything alcohol-based. Massage tables, face cradles, massage lotion bottles and communal baskets for clients to store their personal items during a massage (this includes shoes, cell phones) are NOT cleaned between each client (or ever) unless a student has taken it upon themselves to do so at their own volition and cost. Vinegar-water is the one and only cleaning product that the school provides. You have access to spray bottles filled with diluted vinegar if you choose to clean your workspace and shared tools, but sanitation is neither enforced nor mandated whatsoever. Students were sick OFTEN throughout the school year, which is no surprise. Example: a bottle of oil during student clinic will be handled many times throughout the hour and placed on the gritty concrete floor when not in use. The client on the table will have their feet, full body and face massaged. Afterwards, the oil bottles will be thrown into a communal bin with all the other dirty bottles where they will accumulate more bacteria and grime. The same bottles are used in the classroom setting. They do not get cleaned; they are always greasy to the touch with traces of sand and from the basement floor that is rarely- if ever- vacuumed. The owner of this school, Alexei Levine, ironically serves as a state board member, representing ALL massage schools in Massachusetts. Alexei has chosen to opt out of communication with his students during this global health crisis. He wasn't even willing to reach out to us in the very beginning to inform us of the school's closing. No one has heard from him. It's been 4 months--the person supposedly advocating for students across the state hasn't considered that his own student body might be expecting to hear from him. There are informative resources available that students have had to discover on their own with truly no help from the school. Thanks for the inadvertent lesson in self-advocacy, Massage School! I don't have faith in The Massage School to effectively implement sanitation protocols to protect the public from Covid-19 because it's a completely foreign practice for the school. There is too much room for error when a complete 180-degree change is required to escalate sanitation practices from Zero to Pandemic. Reopening should be left to the schools who have been practicing sanitation and showing regard for public health all along. With thousands of student clinic hours needing fulfillment this dank and dirty basement is not a safe place to make that happen. For prospective students in Massachusetts I can personally recommend Elizabeth Grady instead. I received my Esthetics licensure there. Cleanliness and CDC compliance was an ongoing discussion and practice since Day 1 of the program. Elizabeth Grady takes public health and sanitation VERY seriously. I opted for the program at The Massage School because the tuition was more affordable and I made an incorrect assumption that a state board member would provide a sanitary environment to learn and practice massage. read more

If you are interested in going to school here for massage therapy, please consider paying the extra money for a different school. I thought being a student at a nonprofit school would have been a larger departure from attending the for profit school I tried out a few years prior. I couldn't have been more wrong. My class experienced no support from it's leaders when clinic employee/instructor was verbally abusive to it's students and it's clients. The leaders of this school also thought it necessary to verbally insult it's students during classes with no regret or remorse. And certainly no apologies. After months of radio silence from the school after the shut down from COVID19, the students had to come together to figure out ways to make the money we spent worth it after being dismissed and disrespected by the school. We tried joining Massachusetts board meetings via online and was quickly dismissed for our concerns, nor were our concerns addressed. The only concern our school head seemed to be interested in was a neighboring school that is encroaching on his Western Mass territory. The school leader said in the meeting, "I don't even care about my school at this point", knowing his students were listening in and concerned for their future with the school that had already taken their money. This is not the kind of leadership or conduct that should be present in any school or state board. read more

The Message School is a truly a hidden gem that is really catching on. I've been going for well over a year now and have seen the volume of clients steadily increase. They've got a really good thing going, and I have always found the clinic manager to be professional, courteous and respectful as well as the student massage therapists. They run a tight ship which is great because they've got to get one group of clients out (and likely rescheduled) and the next group of clients in over a short timeframe. Keep up the great work. read more