BELTON, Texas — Co-owners Kacie Owens Channing and Demarr Thomas of the Retreat Therapeutic Massage in Belton believe that self-care is the new healthcare and they want to provide that same service for free to first responders in Central Texas with their non-profit.
"What other job what other job can you have that people usually leave always in a good mood feeling better," Channing said.
They opened their business in April with the intent of helping people improve their quality of life.
"A lot of people don't realize is how in need they are of simple things to kind of just re-center and that's why were here to help with that," Thomas said.
Thomas was transitioning out of the Army and Channing had been a licensed therapist for 10 years. That's when the idea came about to open a business.
They both said they love what they do because it's rewarding.
"Every person I interact with is a positive interaction and they leave hopefully better than they came in," Thomas said.
In addition to providing therapeutic, medical and clinical massage to the public, they also offer free services to first responders through their non-profit, The Retreat Front Line Support.
"The intent of the nonprofit is to help those individuals to be able to continue to help us," Thomas said.
They both believe that self-care is essential and they hope to expand their business and non-profit to be able to help more people.
"The human touch is powerful it's definitely healing, you know, it's just like a giant hug. You need to feel good and massage is really beneficial for all aspects of life," Channing said.
The Retreat Therapeutic Massage website: trtm.org
Facebook page: Facebook.com/TRTM.ORG/
The Retreat Front Line Support website: trfls.org
Non-profit Facebook page: Facebook.com/TRFLS.ORG/