Calliope Massage - Trauma Informed Touch

07/01/2022

Have you met Andy of Triangle Wellness Collective ? He is one of the trusted referrals listed on my site now that I've moved from working with massage clients to consulting with businesses.
In St. Louis-is-a-ridiculous-small-world news... his new space is right next to the ORIGINAL Calliope Massage Studio (some of you might remember that lil' space).

Go check him out!
Appointment booking: https://www.trianglewellnesscollective.com/book-an-appointment

We are thrilled to announce that Triangle Wellness Collective will be materializing into a private massage practice! We will be located in Shanti Yoga in Maplewood, sharing a suite with (we couldn't dream of a better suite partner!). We will be operating on Saturdays, Sundays, and Tuesdays.

We officially have a business page on Google now! If you've gotten a massage from Andy before, we would greatly appreciate it if you could leave us a 5 star review.

Massage appointments are available in 60, 90, and 120 minute sessions. Modalities include Swedish, deep tissue, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, lymphatic drainage, scar tissue release, energy balancing, and hot stone massage.

Energy balancing sessions are also available in 60, 90, and 120 minute sessions. Modalities include reiki, sound healing, crystal therapy, and aromatherapy.

Andy will guide you into a state of deep relaxation and healing, and hold space for you to release negative energy, open yourself to positive energy, or simply take some time to get in touch with the hidden parts of you and get a deeper understanding of what you might need to move forward.

You can find the link to book an appointment in our bio.

06/23/2022

Excited to have more tools for helping touch-based businesses incorporate Trauma Informed principles.
Being trained as a GRIT Coach helps me to promote wellness and resilience in the community and incorporate that strength and support at an organizational level.
*GRIT- Greater Resilience Intervention Team



Image ID: Text reads- GRIT Resilience Support Coach, Certificate of Completion. The National Institute for Human Resilience, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, awards this recipient a Certificate of Completion for successfully completing the GRIT Resilience Support Coach Training. We thank you for your time and commitment to spreading support, education, and resilience!

06/20/2022

Next Monday 6/27 at 4pm CST!

Stay tuned for an event page to RSVP to!

Pride month 2022 has been such a great opportunity to support and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community, however as we celebrate the community it is important to be mindful of the year round challenges and dangers this community faces. LGBTQ+ individuals encounter sexual harassment, assault, and violence at disproportionately higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts. Because of this, it is crucial that prevention efforts and safer spaces are inclusive of gender diversity.

The GAP Initiative invites you to join our special PRIDE month community panel designed to help allies and the community support and advocate for the lives of our LGBT+ community year round. This panel invites professionals in the realm of supporting the LGBT+ community in creating safer spaces and supporting survivors through community education on the topics surrounding assault and gender based violence. Together we hope to help allies and community members in going beyond the PRIDE celebration and into real support and safety for the q***r community year round.

05/20/2022

I had the fantastic opportunity to 'sit down' with Bijay Poudel of Physio Radio Nepal to discuss trauma informed care and it's applications in touch centered fields like physiotherapy and massage therapy.

Podcast: https://youtu.be/TCta-dVHx7s?t=580

The podcast is in Nepali and English, so for those in the audience who are not fluent in both, the questions I answered were:
1) Could you tell my audience how did you incorporate TIC in your practice both at a clinical level and an organizational level?

2) I read somewhere that TIC isn't a separate clinical skill set that you perform during a set time but it is a shift in paradigm. Could you elaborate more on this?

3) One of the most important principles of TIC is collaboration between service providers and service seekers. Collaboration also entails levelling power differences. In the context of Nepal, both clinicians and clients engage in a clinical interaction from a perceived place of power and powerlessness respectively. How do we begin to decrease power discrepancy and create an environment where collaboration can be facilitated?

05/19/2022

Gentle reminder that being Trauma Informed is not an intervention to treat or heal trauma. For most of us in touch-based fields, that is way out of our scope of practice.
Trauma Informed care is a framework that informs every level of interaction with your clients; by focusing on not causing harm and sharing power, you can create the conditions for more effective and inclusive care.
I like to think of it as 'universal precautions' for trauma- approaching everyone with the same level of care and caution, so no matter what their history, you do your best to make them feel safe and empowered.

05/18/2022

Day 6 of trauma informed principals applied in a touch centered setting: CULTURAL COMPETENCY

I could talk all day about the myriad of ways this comes up. In a lot of trauma informed literature, this category is referred to as 'cultural, historical, and gender issues'. You may not get it right all the time, but being mindful about language (both using inclusive language and being wary of excusive language), being ready to investigate your own biases, and creating an environment where your clients feel safe and comfortable sharing information with you, will help you learn and adjust.

Image ID: Yellow and white text on blue box with background image of a rubber plant. Text reads: " CULTURAL COMPETENCY: Be aware of (and ready to adjust for) cultural variations in modesty,
Reflect and investigate personal biases and stereotyping, Gender spectrum inclusive language and practices, Recognize social power dynamics,
Acknowledge financial barriers"

05/09/2022

Day 5 of trauma informed principals applied in a touch centered setting: EMPOWERMENT

How does it feel for you to say no? How does it feel hearing no?

Image ID: Yellow and white text on blue box with background image of a rubber plant. Text reads: " EMPOWERMENT: The success of the treatment is attributed to the choices, actions, and nervous system of the client- not the practitioner's ego, skill, or gift. Support in self advocacy and self care options. Encourage client to notice what feels good and works for their body. "

05/04/2022

Day 4 of trauma informed principals applied in a touch centered setting: COLLABORATION

Power dynamics are always present, but inviting your clients into the process helps bring those swinging scales twards neutral.

How do you collaborate?

Image ID: Yellow and white text on blue box with background image of a rubber plant. Text reads: " COLLABORATION: Appropriate, informed referrals,
Power dynamics are addressed and minimized,
Feedback is encouraged and informs treatment,
Working 'with' the client rather than 'on' the client "

04/27/2022

Day 3 of trauma informed principals applied in a touch centered setting: TRUST

To build trust, it takes more than just opening the door for client feedback, it's showing them, consistently, that their feedback will be honored.

Image ID: Yellow and white text on blue box with background image of a rubber plant. Text reads: " TRUST: informed consent. Client confidentiality, clear boundaries, client requests and responses are honored and upheld, consistency"

04/22/2022

CHOICE: Let's talk about how trauma informed principals can be applied in a touch centered setting.

How do you invite your clients to speak up?

Image ID: Yellow and white text on blue box with background image of a rubber plant. Text reads: " CHOICE: shared decision making, explicit permission and language offered to direct the session and to speak up for preferences"