Meet Kerri Tom of Rock + Rose Wellness in Euless

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerri Tom.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kerri. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always been interested in mental health; as a child, I knew I wanted to be a psychologist. I began working in the field of mental health in 1997, doing respite care at a halfway house in Chicago. Over the years, I have worked in many different capacities in a variety of different settings and facilities. I have provided services in a day treatment program for behavior management, an assessment center for children in foster care, community mental health care centers, a prison setting for children and teenagers, residential treatment with an attached inpatient unit, chronic pain programs, brain injury treatment programs, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and in multidisciplinary private practice. The common underlying thread in the various settings and a variety of presenting issues and thousands of people I have treated has been unmistakable: trauma. The more chronic and persistent the trauma has been, the more unlikely the person has either internal (their own coping skills) or external resources (a supportive network) to deal with life stressors, and the more likely they are to struggle to regain balance after any major life event. I also am aware that many of the people I have served, while they have indeed reached out for help, have either not received adequate treatment or have struggled to deal with the fallout of the prescribed treatment (e.g., side effects and chain reactions from prescribed medications). My goal since graduate school has been to develop a holistic wellness practice, where people can access multidisciplinary treatment from a range of providers, all housed in the same space. While efforts toward this have presented me with a variety of challenges, I am thrilled to be offering a range of services and products, which I hope I can expand, moving forward.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has definitely been bumpy, at times! Sacrifices have been made, lessons have been learned, and this is ongoing, I’m sure. The initial struggle was to deviate from family and religious expectations and pursue higher education, which was frowned upon, to put it mildly. While my childhood friends were getting married, having children, and buying houses, I was navigating strange and sometimes unfriendly cities by myself, living in tiny roach-infested apartments, and trying to figure out how to pay rent and buy food, when my student loan disbursement automatically went to my tuition first. While I did get married after my Master’s degree, starting a family was put off until even later, at which point I had fertility issues. I encountered my fair share of challenges raising children without a supportive family nearby, while trying to continue building my career, often working for companies, facilities, or having supervisors or colleagues with whom I did not share the same values or philosophy. I have always been a strong patient advocate, which has presented some challenges and occasional conflict. I am not someone who enjoys conflict or confrontation, but I am also someone who can’t stomach the idea of sitting idly by, while a patient or client is not treated with the respect and dignity that we all deserve. However, the challenges I have encountered have allowed me to progressively clarify my vision and focus on the kind of services I want to provide, the team with which I want to do that, and the environment in which I can see that best being done.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Rock + Rose Wellness – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My company, Rock + Rose Wellness, is a multidisciplinary holistic wellness practice. While the primary focus of the practice currently is counseling/psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, and trauma, we also offer services such as yoga for trauma recovery, consultations for using aromatherapy, herbs, or homeopathy, and a variety of wellness and other products, many of which are hand made by local women. So, in addition to providing a range of services, I am also pleased to be able to support women who are trying to build their own businesses.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My ongoing goal is to add other providers who are similarly passionate about providing affordable holistic care to a population that is chronically under-served, often misdiagnosed, or for whom prior care has been one-dimensional, unsatisfying, unsuccessful, or outright harmful. In particular, I would like to add chiropractic care, massage, sound therapy, another kind of movement or somatic therapy, reiki or another energy healing modality, and other counseling services, such as play therapy, family therapy, and couples counseling. I am also interested in continuing to expand the availability of products and providing a platform for more women to grow their own businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rockandrosewellness.com
• Phone: 214-732-3395
• Email: drkerri@rockandrosewellness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockandrosewellness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockandrosewellness

Image Credit:
Ronni Haslett

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