About Care Through Touch Institute
Care Through Touch Institute provides free, trauma-informed massage to unhoused and marginalized communities in San Francisco.
Learn about our 40-year history, mission, and holistic approach to healing, dignity, and human connection through compassionate touch and long-standing community partnerships.
CTI meets people where they are—shelters, clinics, drop-in centers, transitional housing, and community spaces—providing short, focused chair massage sessions that relieve physical pain, reduce stress, and affirm dignity. Our long-term, relationship-based approach fosters trust, emotional safety, and human connection, often in communities facing chronic hardship, isolation, and limited access to care.
Through nearly 40 years of consistent presence and collaboration with local organizations, CTI has become a trusted partner in San Francisco’s social service and healthcare landscape. Our practitioners are trained to respond with skill, care, and cultural awareness, ensuring every session is trauma-informed, compassionate, and empowering.
What We Do
Mission
To be present with human suffering and promote healing through human connection.
Vision
CTI envisions a world shaped by justice, kindness, and compassion—where stigma rooted in poverty, homelessness, racism, age, or gender is erased, and healing, dignity, and hope are available to all.
Our Mission & Vision
Our Values
Unconditional love and respect for all people, regardless of age, race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, substance use, illness, disability, or income.
Recognition of the inherent dignity and sacredness of every human being.
Commitment to never giving up on people, even when they have been marginalized or abandoned by others.
Choosing connection over isolation, stepping into relationships with those alienated by society.
Meeting suffering with presence, compassion, and courage.
Affirming the strength and resilience of every person and honoring that healing does not require dependence on us or any system.
Holistic understanding of health, encompassing physical, emotional, spiritual, and environmental well-being.
Advocacy for integrative, compassionate care and recognition of the vital role of healing touch within broader healthcare systems.
Commitment to community well-being, including access to housing, employment, transportation, and safety.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
CTI advances diversity, equity, and inclusion through a no-barrier service model. We provide trauma-informed massage without requirements for identification, insurance, sobriety, or documentation, ensuring access for individuals often excluded from traditional healthcare systems. CTI serves people of all genders and backgrounds, supporting this commitment through ongoing training in trauma-informed and culturally responsive care. We emphasize consent, autonomy, respect, and responsiveness to the lived experiences of the communities we serve.
About Our Founder
Mary Ann Finch is the founder of Care Through Touch Institute and a pioneer in embodied, compassionate care. With a background in education, communications, spirituality, movement therapy, and massage, she developed a lifelong commitment to healing that honors the whole person.
In 1983, Mary Ann founded what would become Care Through Touch Institute, initially serving people affected by HIV/AIDS during a time of profound fear and isolation. A formative sabbatical in Calcutta, where she practiced hospice care alongside Mother Teresa, deepened her dedication to serving those most marginalized.
In 1993, Mary Ann formally established Care Through Touch Institute and later moved its work to San Francisco’s Tenderloin, where she designed trauma-informed massage programs for people impacted by poverty, illness, aging, and homelessness. For more than 40 years, she and CTI have grown alongside the community, offering compassionate presence and healing touch that addresses physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
How Your Support Matters
A small donation creates a big impact. Your support helps provide free massage to unhoused and marginalized communities, train trauma-informed practitioners, sustain volunteers, and expand CTI’s reach to new neighborhoods.