People
Staff:
- Mary Ann Finch, CMT (founder, director and practitioner)
- Pamela Magers, PhD, CMT (administrator and practitioner)
Practitioners:
Anyone who has gone through one or more of CTI’s trainings is invited to serve in the Tenderloin Community by providing massage and compassionate presence, serving as a life-coach in the Empowerment Program, or helping with development. Most of our practitioners are volunteers, although some receive a small stipend.
Collaborations:
CTI has developed intimate partnerships with many agencies in the Tenderloin Community, including Tenderloin Aids Resource Center (TARC), Central City Hospitality House (CCHH), Tom Waddell Clinic, and St. Boniface Neighborhood Center. These and other agencies offer physical space for CTI practitioners to work, and encourage their constituents to participate in CTI’s programs.
CTI has formed a special partnership with the Empowerment Institute (EI) and the Grace Group in New York. The CTI/EI relationship has been invaluable in the development of our unique Empowerment Program for Homeless and Marginalized People. The Grace Group continually shares its spiritual, financial and intellectual resources with CTI, as well as challenges us to remain true to our mission and vision. For more information about the Empowerment Institute and the Grace Group, please go to www.empowermenttraining.com.
Massage Recipients:
Feeling one’s heart being “broken open” is no small miracle when everything about poverty and homelessness causes one to guard not only her possessions, but also her human capacity for love.
One client at one of San Francisco’s healthcare clinics for homeless people came for a massage because she had fallen and hurt herself. The doctor gave her some pills and arranged for a cab to take her home. She said to the doctor, “That’s not what I need. I need someone to touch me where I hurt….” The doctor ushered her to the CTI practitioner working in the clinic. When the massage was over the woman said to her, “You didn’t give me pills. You touched me where it hurts, and it feels better. That’s good medicine.”
One day each week we provide massage to homeless women who have breast-cancer. As one woman took of her wig and settled upon the table, she reached her hand out to the practitioner and said, “You make me feel beautiful. How do you do that?” “We do it together,” the practitioner replied, “You are beautiful, my hands just warm mirrors, helping your body remember what she looks like….” The recovery of hope, one touch at a time. This is our call.
- Residents of Tenderloin Community
- Vietnam Veterans
- Recent Immigrants
- Seniors
- People Suffering from Mental and Addictive Illness
- Sex Workers
- People with HIV/AIDS
- Women and Children
- Low-Income Women with Breast Cancer
- Women who work on the streets
- Women and Children who are Victims of Domestic Violence
- Agency Staff
Participants in Empowerment Program
- Residents of the Tenderloin Community
Participants in Massage and Social Justice Trainings
- Friends and Advocates of Homeless and Marginalized Communities
- Healing Arts Practitioners
- Master of Divinity Students
Board Members
To speak with a member of CTI’s staff, a current practitioner, CTI alumni, or a member of the empowerment program, please call!
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