Check Out Renee Houston’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Renee Houston.

Hi Renee, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Imagine a licensed massage therapist, with several years of professional experience under her belt, suddenly recognizing in herself an intense fear of touch. It would be quite a paradox, wouldn’t it? Yet that is precisely where I found myself several years ago, following a severely traumatizing event in my life.

As I navigated my path to recovery, I realized that there wasn’t really any hands-on help for people like me–people who had experienced things that made them feel disconnected from their own bodies, and for whom touch just wasn’t a safe concept.

I decided that I would become that resource: I would use my “license to touch” to help other survivors feel safe and connected in their bodies.

Reconnect DFW exists today as the fruition of that decision all those years ago. It is my utmost honor and privilege to serve my clients and hold space for them as they explore their own healing journeys.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say that the two biggest challenges for me have been difficulty finding quality training to equip me for this specialty, and overcoming “imposter syndrome” (that inner voice that tells me that I am not worthy of what I want to do; that I have nothing of value to offer).

As I have diligently pursued trauma-informed training applicable to my field (and shall continue to do so), the imposter syndrome has dissipated accordingly. While I am not perfect and will never claim to be, I do believe in the work that I am doing; that what I have to offer to survivors in the Denton and DFW area is unique, valuable, and worthy of sharing.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) since 2009. I have advanced training to serve clients living with the immediate and long-term effects of cancer, burn injuries, autoimmune disorders, and other complex medical conditions. This means that I can safely provide touch therapy to just about anyone living with PTSD and many other mental health challenges, [overlap between mh and medical conditions]

My unique approach provides a safe, structured environment in which survivors can explore their relationship with and learn how to listen to their body, gently improving body awareness and increasing understanding of how their past experiences continue to impact the body in the present.

Safe touch improves nervous system regulation—activation of parasympathetic response and reduction of the sympathetic (fight or flight)—thereby balancing cortisol production and increasing feel-good hormones. This can assist in the processing of traumatic memories that are associated with certain physiological responses, such as anxiety, depression, physical pain, irritability, sleep disturbances, disordered eating and digestive issues, et cetera.

It is an excellent adjunct to counseling or therapy, to help support survivors as they practice using their voice, rebuild bodily autonomy, and experience being present in their body. The collaboration and choice they enjoy in this safe, nurturing environment helps to build trust in themself, their body, and others.

Some things my clients have said about the work that we have done together:

“As someone working through trauma and sexual abuse body memories, I needed more than just technique—I needed someone who could create a space where my body could finally feel safe to heal.”

“Renee helped me connect with my body by learning about it, trusting it, and being comfortable with it. I’ve been ignoring it for years after trauma, and Renee helped me a lot in my healing process.”

“I have been going to Renee for a few months to try to heal [my] physical and emotional pain. Each session is different. Sometimes it is reconnection and sometimes it is medical massage. However, each session has helped me tremendously to listen to my body and to be kinder to myself. . . . After a lot of work with Renee, I am nearly pain free.”

Nothing is as satisfying as hearing that I am making a real difference in my clients’ lives.

One of the most exciting parts of what I do is building a bridge between the massage community and the mental health community. This gets me out networking with a wide array of mental health professionals, from solo providers in private practice to directors of residential treatment facilities across north Texas. To my surprise, it has also led me into the arena of public speaking!

I have a heart and a passion for connecting well-qualified, trauma-informed massage therapists with those in the mental health world who want to incorporate a more hands-on somatic experience to their clients and program participants. To that end, I will soon be creating classes for my peers on how to work efficiently, safely, and effectively with the mental health community.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Finding good, solid, trustworthy mentors is hard! In my experience, as I intentionally seek out good *teachers* I find myself invited more deeply into what I think of as “circles of safety.” To me this means that the more people with the qualifications I have in mind I interact with and surround myself with, the more of those good, quality resources I end up meeting (it is kind of like a snowball effect).

I have learned that no one person can meet all of my mentoring needs. That would be an enormous burden to put on anyone! For instance, I have mentors for pathology, for specific medical conditions, for orthopedic techniques, etc., along with Trauma Touch Therapy™ and other trauma-informed aspects of my work.

Then there are those for the running of my business. For this, I have both industry-specific and more general and local to this area, mentors.

Overall, I think that things really started opening up for me in this area when I realized that “I don’t know what I don’t know,” and began attending every training, meeting, and event that I could in order to start learning what I didn’t know. I discovered that Denton has a rich, vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and I have been learning so much since getting plugged in here!

There is still a lot that I don’t know. And that’s okay. I can learn. I am always learning.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.reconnectdfw.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconnectdfw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReconnectDFW
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reconnectdfw/