I am currently working as a massage therapist in Vancouver BC Canada. I am looking to work in Switzerland. I read from this forum about the site http://www.asca.ch/Home.aspx?lang=de where I think they accredit massage therapy schools; however, it is in German I cannot read what it says.

I understand that it may be best for me to look for work in a spa. I am not sure if my techniques are best suited for a spa environment. My main focus is myofascial release and craniosacral therapy. I am also versed in a variety of other techniques such as Swedish massage, deep tissue, sports massage, therapeutic exercise, joint play, MET, PNF, neuromuscular techniques, and hydrotherapy.

I studied at the west coast college of massage therapy, a 3,000 hour program.

I have my EU passport so this should make it easier for me to get a work permit.

Can anyone help me?

There's a call for English therapist on the ASCA website, perhaps you could give a try there.

http://www.asca.ch/News.aspx#1



They try to gather Therapists speaking English.
One of the members is from Vancouver and the other is a medical massage therapist.
Both are in Lausanne

I think it would be best to start working from home, depends where you will live though. If you live among many expats it should be fine. Swiss massage therapists are not that great, at least this is what my clients tell me so if you are good they will come back and stay with you. Also Swiss charge Swiss prices and most expat clients who compare currencies and will not be always willing to pay 130chf for one relaxation session which for me is understood. They are also looking for someone who can hold a conversation in English and lots of Swiss therapists don't feel comfortable with it so you have chances to beat the competition fast. After 3-4 months you could think of bringing your clientele somewhere else, maybe opening a massage/physiotherapy or massage+beauty salon would a good idea? Finding a partner with fluent German sounds like a good plan.
I am thinking of renting something else now as I still work from home but got really busy recently. The problem for me is that if I decide to open a practice somewhere in Zurich which seems to be excellent option, then most of my Zug's clients will not go to see me there as it's too far so for me it would mean starting from the scratch in a new place so I would say working from home is OK as long as you have other options to rent a studio in same area in case you become really busy.

SPA might not be a good idea for now as you don't speak German yet so focus on building up your clients base as well as on good advertising. Sort your taxes and AHV but give yourself 2-3 months before you proceed into it. It's nonsense to start paying taxes if you have no clients or only 2-3 and no stable income. If you need more help please PM me.

Hi there,

I'll try to be of some help based on my wife's experience as we came here with no knowledge of how things worked and we are having difficulties.

First, she has a massage therapist diploma from a massage college in Manitoba (http://www.wellingtoncollege.com/), she's a Swiss citizen (born in Switzerland and moved to Canada when she was 5), she speaks fluent Swiss German, pretty good High German and fluent English. She is now in school here in Switzerland to become an Osteopath.

From our understanding....(we live in the Canton Bern... town of Burgdorf so this is what we know based on our experience in this area. Other cantons may be different)

As a massage therapist in Switzerland, if you want to take on patients with benefits (in Manitoba, 80% of her clients used benefits), you need to pay to join multiple insurance companies. If you want to practice medicinal massage, you must apply to the Red Cross to have your diploma/education recognized. If you don't want to practice medicinal massage, you can stick to classical (spa treatment, etc). Massage benefits are not as popular here but it will still improve your client base.

When she came here, she had to apply to the Red Cross to get her diploma recognized. Everything costs money here so of course we supplied them with endless amounts of paperwork showing her hours, diploma, etc and provided a hefty sum. She was rejected with little to no reason. So now, she plans on applying to the insurance companies as a classical massage therapist. There are two main insurance companies(ASCA and EMR) in our canton (Bern) and the first year costs about 500franc each to join. The price goes down per year afterwards.

Unless you know someone from your college/institute who has applied here and has succeeded in getting the proper classification, I'd be careful. And remember, all this application crap that we had to go through, she was able to do it using her German skills.

She works at a local gym doing about 1 or 2 massages a week. She lucked out a bit and the manager has been really nice.

Altogether a gong show. The key to working in Switzerland is getting a modality. Once you have that, you can basically work and choose how you want to go about treating your patients based on your skill level. Obviously, you don't want to try techniques you are completely unfamiliar with but I figure that goes without saying.

We plan on applying to the insurance companies soon and my wife will start advertising in the summer when she's not in school. Let's hope she gets a few more customers. I can let you know how it goes as soon as we do that.

If you have more questions, PM me. There is a list of designations on one of the insurance company's websites for a person to browse.

If you search through this web site, you'll see how many people struggle to find work if:

A) they don't speak German (or they only know English)

B) they don't have a valid Swiss Work Visa

C) their education is not recognized.

I lucked out by learning High German at a break neck speed to get a job in IKEA. I now work for an international English school. But I was down to my last 11 franc in my bank account... it was almost 'going home' time.

Quinn