It’s been two weeks since I returned to work and though the prospect of PPE, cleaning schedules and medically interrogating my clients about their current state of health was initially daunting, I was pleasantly surprised by how it came together so smoothly.

I attribute a lot of this to the wealth of webinars I have attended over the past five months. Those from The Royal Society of Medicine, Mertz Aesthetics, WHO, CDC – to name a few – have contributed to my knowledge and further enhanced my safe practice procedures.

I also want to thank my clients who have been wonderful and continued to show faith in me and my safety-first regime by resuming their treatments without question. It has made my return to work that much easier: so much so, in fact, that it feels like I haven’t been away.

My business model has long been based upon having a single client only on the premises at any one time. The additional benefit is it makes social distancing easier and facilitates the cleaning regime between between client appointments. Also as many of my clients have been with me for years (in some cases, decades!) it means there is ‘Retreat bubble.’ It is for this reason that I am not currently taking on new clients and – though it has a financial penalty for me – I will ensure this continues until it is safe to relax this policy.

The health and safety guidelines have required longer periods between client bookings and thus fewer opportunities for appointments. Fortunately, this hasn’t proved to be a problem as my clients understand the constraints.

The foreign travel restrictions means some of my clients are taking late holidays, mostly in the UK which has reduced my bookings while I await their return. There has been a steady trickle of appointments coming this way but not enough to keep me fully booked at present.

All in all, my return to work has been a good experience despite the additional measures which are needed in these Covid days. This experience has also been enhanced by the appreciation shown to me by my clients. It has been good to catch up with them to hear their news and learn of the events in their lives and how they have been affected in this unprecedented time. And despite the scary PPE no-one has been put off by the experience!

Thank you, each and every one, for making this an overall positive experience.