Talking to… HAYLEY SNISHKO

The multiawardwinning therapist and educator tells Ellen Cummings about her career, the lessons she’s learned and her aspirations for the future of massage therapy

Hayley Snishko’s love for the beauty industry began from an early age. “My dad used to give me little head and hand massages,” she recalls. “Even at that age, I could tell the impact it had on my body and my nervous system – so it’s always interested me.”

This connection to the industry increased even more with her own experiences of benefiting from it. “I have PCOS, so I was waxing from quite a young age, then later on I’d get my nails done every month. This industry has been present and inspired me throughout my whole life,” she says.

Snishko began her beauty career as an advanced spa therapist at The Spa at Pennyhill Park in Surrey, an experience she says was formative: “I started at Pennyhill straight from college, and I think that was the best thing for me to have done. Pennyhill is an amazing business, and they’re very client focused. Their customer service really reflects that.”

Her time there gave her firsthand experience of the profound impact of massage. “I remember being asked to massage a client with terminal cancer, and I was really nervous because, back in those days, there was a whole thing around massaging clients with cancer. A lot of therapists didn’t want to do it,” she shares. “But my manager said it would be really beneficial for the client. I remember seeing the difference in her after her treatments – it was really impactful.”

Launching a mobile business

Just three years after qualifying as a therapist, Snishko took the leap to start her own business, inspired by her husband, Carl. “The decision to start a mobile business actually happened when I met my husband when I was working as the spa manager at the Weybridge Health Club, and obviously I knew straight away I was going to spend the rest of my life with him,” she laughs.

“He left the health club where he was working as a personal trainer to start his own mobile performance coaching company. Not long after, I thought, ‘this could actually be a great opportunity for me’. I was only 21, so it was a good time to do it when I didn’t have massive financial commitments. We’re lucky enough to work in an area where people have lots of expendable income, so I could get myself busy.”

She adds, “Funnily enough, I was only going to do a year or so mobile, but 13 years later here we are!” Her Surrey-based business, Home Sanctuary, offers a range of treatments delivered to clients in the comfort of their own surroundings.

"SETTING UP BOUNDARIES is a big part of the training, because IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT STAYING WITHIN OUR ROLE as a therapist, it’s also about our own MENTAL WELLBEING"

“When I first started, I did everything – manicures, pedicures, the whole beauty range. Now I specialise in massage and also offer facials,” she says. “Specialising has had a big impact on my business.”

The impact of recognition

Throughout her career, Snishko has earned multiple awards for her work, including Therapist of the Year and Mobile/Homebased Business of the Year at the Professional Beauty Awards in 2024, alongside accolades from Babtac and Cidesco. “On a personal level, the awards are validation that I’m on the right track,” she says. “I’m someone who has a lot of anxiety, so I do worry about whether I’m doing a good job all the time. Winning the awards was such a confidence boost.”

The awards process also provided an important opportunity for self-reflection. “It helped me to grow and plan where I wanted to go next – I think that’s the good thing about awards; they really get you to focus on yourself and your business, and you can identify what is and isn’t working. It’s invaluable and I think everyone should go through an awards process.”

Even if you don’t win the first time, Snishko says, the Professional Beauty Awards process offers a huge learning curve. “You have to look at yourself and think, ‘OK, how can I change this?’ It’s about how you present yourself as a therapist to the judges – finding and highlighting your strengths and making sure the judges understand them and understand you as a therapist.”

Advocating for mental health

A significant part of Snishko’s career has been dedicated to raising awareness of the impact of massage on mental wellbeing. Her Massage4MentalHealth campaign, launched in 2022, aims to have massage therapy recognised as a credible treatment for mental health conditions.

“The response has been amazing,” she says. “So many therapists have reached out with their own stories and experiences. People are really starting to look at the link between the physical symptoms of mental health conditions and how you can help them through massage. It’s such a good industry because it’s full of therapists who care and have so much empathy.”

Snishko’s dedication to mental health advocacy also led her to create a training course for therapists, The Therapeutic Relationship. “The course is about bringing awareness to how our actions as therapists can impact our clients’ mental health in both negative and positive ways,” she explains.

A key element of the course is a hierarchy of needs, inspired by the original framework of US psychologist Abraham Maslow. “For example, the basic level is safety – this is the ultimate thing someone with a mental health condition needs. So, we look at how we make sure our client feels safe in the environment we create,” says Snishko.

One challenge she has encountered is maintaining professional boundaries with clients, especially when conversations touch on mental health topics. To address this, her training includes strategies for guiding discussions while staying focused on the treatment.

Snishko explains, “Setting boundaries is a big part of the training, because it’s not just about staying within our role as a therapist, it’s also about our own mental wellbeing, because there is such a thing as secondary trauma where you take on the trauma of your clients.”

The course provides practical guidance for therapists who may encounter clients seeking emotional support, with Snishko recommending a three-step approach: listen and acknowledge what the client has said, bring the focus back into the treatment, and have the numbers of local or national mental health services on hand and give them to the client if appropriate.

She adds, “Therapists can be so caring and want to help everyone who comes in, but we need to really nail down our boundaries to make sure it doesn’t affect our own wellbeing.”

Snishko’s dedication has led to collaborations with major brands such as Guinot. She says, “I met Ellie Tidy [Guinot’s national franchise manager] at a Professional Beauty show, and we got talking. I’ve been delivering my Therapeutic Relationship training online to Guinot therapists and franchises across the UK and Ireland, and there’s more training dates planned in the coming year.”

Finding a balance

As any business owner will know, balancing a busy career with a personal life can present challenges – and Snishko has a lot of plates spinning with her business, campaign and training course. “The biggest thing I’ve had to learn is to let go of perfection. We’re juggling balls all the time, and I’ve come to realise that it’s OK to drop balls because you can pick them back up,” she advises.

She also acknowledges that self-care is as important for therapists as for clients. “This has come through trial and error, and there have definitely been times when I’ve had burnout,” she shares. “It’s so easy to get caught up in your work and be like, ‘Oh, my daughter has gone to bed so I’m going to get some work done’ or ‘I’m just going to look at this email quickly’ – but I realised that work had encroached on every single moment of my time. It wasn’t good for my wellbeing, so I put time boundaries in place.

“Now, once my daughter goes to bed, I’ll put on a film or read a book. I have designated periods of ‘me time’ where I detach myself from work. It is hard when you have children but you don’t need much time – just half an hour a day to drop everything and focus on yourself.”

Looking to the future

Over her 15-year career, Snishko has seen public perceptions of massage therapy evolve. “When I first started, massage was seen as a complete luxury. But now, it’s seen as more of an upkeep,” she says.

However, there are still challenges to overcome. “I’d love to see the whole ‘happy ending’ culture change,” she says. “Anyone who’s a therapist will know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve been in the industry long enough to have had it said to me on numerous occasions. Not only is it completely unprofessional, but it degrades us as therapists. Worse than that, I feel that it creates a dangerous working environment for us.”

As Snishko prepares to return from maternity leave after having her second child in December, she is already planning the next chapter of her business.

She says continual learning will form a key part of her work over the next few years. “Training should never be secondary or put on the backburner. At the beginning of every year, I decide on the training I want to do and book it in advance.” She adds, “Once I go back to work, I’d like to do the second part of my training course by developing a treatment protocol. I’ll be continuing the Massage4MentalHealth campaign, and I’ve been thinking about doing a podcast.”

Looking even further ahead, Snishko considers the legacy she wants to leave. “I’ve always loved this industry, even before I was working in it. I know the impact it can have on both a professional and personal level.

“One of the best things I’ve done is meeting all the other therapists and seeing how amazing everyone is, so to help push that forward as much as I can to be recognised by the public and the medical community as credible would be an honour.”