Complementary therapies at CSI

BIDDEFORD, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Roberta Wentworth had an epiphany ten years ago while she was going to school for massage therapy.

Wentworth is a psychotherapist at the community mental health agency, Counseling Services, Inc.

"What was happening at massage school," says Wentworth, "was that a lot of us that were receiving and giving massage had major breakthroughs with remembering and experiencing pains, emotional and physical, of the past."

She says research now shows that "touch" therapy is a way to relieve some of that buried pain. It also helps relieve depression and anxiety. Sometimes, says Wentworth, talk therapy isn't enough, and that may be especially true in cases of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

Today at CSI, clients are able to have massage, acupuncture and other healing therapies.

Licensed massage therapist Diane Whiteside-Peck says massage helps people feel better about their bodies.

"And their self-esteem is so low sometimes that they wouldn't even ask for massage. They wouldn't think they're good enough to relax. They wouldn't think...they don't deserve to feel good. That's how they feel. That's what abuse does. So now they're feeling good enough, and that's wonderful," says Whiteside-Peck.

CSI has offices in Biddeford, Kittery, Springvale and Westbrook.