Feature
Volunteer therapists bring natural healing to homeless
Homeless young people in tattered jeans sit on the steps of a church in the University District. Others stand in the alley or lie in the dirt under a tree.
Most are hoping to get one of the 27 sleeping mats that staff will lay out at the ROOTS young adult shelter, inside the University Temple United Methodist Church.
A few are waiting for something more often given away at for-profit spas, not nonprofit shelters — a massage.
As leader of the Alternative Healthcare Access Campaign, Saralynn Finn brings healing therapies to those who need but can’t afford them.
The grassroots group includes massage, acupuncture and naturopathic providers.
On this day Michael, a 20-year-old with wavy blond hair and a goatee, takes a seat, tucking his face into the chair’s doughnut-hole cushion.
Finn begins, kneading the muscles of Michael’s shoulders and knuckling along his spine. She finishes by massaging his outer thighs.
Fifteen minutes after he sat down, Michael feels like a new man, he said.
Since losing his job installing cable, Michael has gotten by on handyman work while applying for jobs. He hopes to finish a double major started at North Seattle Community College in electrical and mechanical engineering.
Until he started getting massages from Finn, he didn’t realize how much tension he was carrying around all day with his 50-pound pack, he said.
In the days following the massages, he feels he does better on interviews and has noticed he gets more call-backs from potential employers, he said.
“It’s possible that it’s just me feeling more comfortable in my skin,” Michael said. “I’m actually happier.”
Started in 1999, Alternative Healthcare and its 15 volunteer practitioners now operate afternoon and evening clinics once or twice a month at six locations, including ROOTS (Rising Out of the Shadows), Angeline’s day shelter for women and the Frye Apartments.
Altogether, the clinics see 300 to 400 people a year who couldn’t afford to pay for the therapies they receive.
“As practitioners, it’s important for us to take responsibility for making sure that our craft is accessible to everyone,” Finn said. “I say, ‘Do you want what you do to only be accessible to people who are wealthy and privileged, or do you want everyone to have access to what you do?’”
Finn runs her massage clinic at ROOTS every other Tuesday night and gives eight to 10 massages to the 18- to 24-year-olds who stay there. Like Michael, many who sit in her chair already suffer from shoulder strain brought on by carrying their belongings around in backpacks. She also works on calves worn out by walking.
The volunteer naturopaths who run clinics at the Angeline’s and the Frye work on the longer-term affects of homelessness: overworked adrenal glands and digestive problems caused by stress, and for those fighting addiction, livers in need of detoxification.
Nancy Mercer, a naturopath who runs a monthly Alternative Healthcare clinic at Angeline’s, said she provides homeopathic medicine and herbal supplements.
“Just increasing a woman’s nutritional status can do a lot in terms of helping her cope with stress and warding off infections,” Mercer said.
The volunteers plan to expand their offerings. One is working to start providing free acupuncture to low-income smokers looking to quit.
In order to help a greater number of people, Finn is trying to recruit more massage therapists.
Not all of those in the healing arts have understood her mission. She said some have scoffed at her, asking why 19-year-olds need a massage.
“I want to say [to them], ‘What do you need a massage for in your fancy home in your suburb walking your dog?’”
Comments
what is wrong with america now days we have living we should all give a thing called respect i mean i grew up on the streets and if i were to have a home i would not let a young person has to lay on the streets but i cant im homeless with nothing but jus myself and God but i dont think we need anything in this world but love i mean its not like we need to suffer the way one man wants to see us we need to jus stay in faith in what God has on our hearts if im correct you should jus let everyone know how you feel
to bad there is only 27 mats for the youth… notice how real change doesnt report on the foresaken of the streets silenced voice that makes it unsafe , cuz the same predators are right outside the shelter waiting for the desperate and unlucky at a lottery , where the non profit money pocketed acts like its sad they can do more, like Find the denied a safe place….but, its not the shelters job to help any more than 27 in order to get paid acting like the homeless problem is solved ,as long as they get govt money…
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