Trans Healing Support
I’m here to support you at every part of your trans journey.
Our caring body work approach supports trans folks in understanding and managing the physiological, somatic, and emotional impacts of the trans experience. Providing a safe, affirming space for healing and transformation, meeting you at any part of your trans journey. We utilize all three effective modalities whether you’re ready to process stored trauma in the body, exploring safe touch, preparing for gender affirming surgery, or looking for post surgical care to help with optimal recovery.
Trauma Touch Therapy™
A PATH TO HEALING, AT YOUR OWN PACE
Reclaim your autonomy over gender dysphoria and other traumas, while also developing boundaries, gaining tools to stay present in your body, and restoring lost identity due to trauma.
Trauma Touch Therapy ™️ also helps minimize the nervous system effects before and after surgery optimizing healing results.
Massage Therapy
FIND SAFETY IN TOUCH
Massage therapy is not only great for stress and anxiety relief but it also relieves tension caused by binding, femme shapewear, and other gender affirming modifications and increases your range of motion.
Before surgery, massage can ease muscle tension and increases flexibility minimizing the effects surgery will have on your range of motion (ROM). Post-surgery, it helps scar healing and ROM, as well as regaining nerve sensation and increases blood flow to the surgical areas.
Manual
Lymphatic Drainage
FOR AFFIRMATIVE CARE AND PHYSICAL TRAUMA
Pre-surgery, manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) reduces swelling by preparing the body for surgery, aiding in the recovery process, and expediting recovery time.
Post surgery, MLD is instrumental in supporting the healing process by aiding in the flow of lymphatic fluid helping reduce inflammation and promoting healing. MLD sessions can start as early as 48 hours after surgery and usually consist of 2-3 sessions per week for the first few weeks. It’s also great for scar healing and fibrosis prevention.
Rooted Resistance Fund
** Now in phase one: crowd sourcing and grant seeking!**
The Rooted Resistance Revive Fund (R3F) is a back-to-body mutual aid fund created by Roc Rochon, PhD and Zest Schumacher, LMT/TTT giving BIPOC, queer, trans, and non-binary folks access to bodywork and intentional movement. Zest provides free massage therapy and Roc provides regular no-cost workouts in the outdoors known as “Root Camps”. Funding is crowd sourced from people looking to support historically marginalized populations through financial donations and through grant writing. We have seen the power of people coming together and the impact it makes on our community.
Roc will begin small group workouts for queer, trans, and nonbinary people in a local Portland park (rain location TBD). Currently, Roc is studying for their NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer). This certification will allow Roc to have access to part-time work at a local gym—supporting clients through movement.
Zest specializes in helping release trauma stored in the body and relieving the effects it has on the body through Massage Therapy, Trauma Touch Therapy™, and Manual Lymphatic Drainage in a safe and empowering environment. He utilizes these range of services to support trans folks at every stage of their journey, helping with understanding and managing the physiological, somatic, and emotional impacts of living the trans experience. Many of his trans clients, especially trans women, are coming in with the intention of finding safety in touch for the very first time.
As a group we want to get into a collaborative practice hosting our regular events e.g. Root Camps and Massage Therapy and Trauma Touch Therapy. Additionally we want to host quarterly weekend events where Roc visits Seattle to connect with community organizations and lead a Root Camp and Zest will visit Portland to provide massage therapy to trans movement leaders and the communities they serve. We will plan these quarterly events closely with other values aligned groups, some of which we highlight later on.
These ideas first started manifesting in Florida when Roc and Zest first met. Roc received bodywork from Zest for four months on a bi-weekly basis. Through this bodywork experience we formed a friendship over our shared work and organizing within our communities, that is how the Rooted Resistance Revive Fund was created. Roc brought it to fruition with a $1,000 donation in 2023 and Zest started providing trauma informed massage to the community. The results were incredible with clients sharing similar feedback that the bodywork offering they received allowed for relaxation, comfort, pain relief, and enhanced their quality of life. All without the stress of cost barriers.
We’re hoping to make R3F big enough that we can fund other local back-to-body practitioners who can make a positive impact on our communities.
To learn more about Rooted Resistance and the incredible things they’re doing visit www.rootedresistance.com or their Instagram @rootedresistance.
Donate
Consider making a donation to help us continue the Rooted Resistance Fund. Your generosity is vital in helping us make a meaningful impact in our community.
Please put “Revive Fund” in the notes
Gofundme
Deeper understanding of myself
Zest Schumacher is an incredible human, talented massage therapist, and brilliant Trauma Touch therapist. I’ve worked with Zest for 2+ years for massage and TTT In that time, he’s helped me to develop a deeper understanding of my body and how it speaks to me.
– Anonymous
Start Your Healing
Journey Today.
Take the first step towards reclaiming your inner peace by booking a bodywork session today.
