The line between mental health care and bodywork blurs at a specialized massage therapy clinic in Milford, Ohio, where clients experiencing grief, trauma, and anxiety find relief beyond what traditional therapy alone can offer.
Cincinnati Massage for Mental Health (CMMH) represents the vision of Carrie Riley, whose personal journey through devastating loss led to creating a groundbreaking approach to healing. After her husband, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, died by suicide following deployment, Riley channeled her grief into developing a practice that addresses trauma where it often resides unnoticed—in the physical body.
“Trauma doesn’t just live in our memories or thoughts,” Riley observes. “It manifests physically in how we carry ourselves, where we hold tension, and how our nervous system responds to perceived threats.”
What distinguishes CMMH is Riley’s rare combination of credentials as both a Licensed Master Social Worker and a Licensed Massage Therapist with specialized training in Manual Lymphatic Drainage. This dual expertise allows her to recognize and address the psychological dimensions of physical symptoms while providing evidence-based bodywork techniques.
The practice operates from a foundation in polyvagal theory and somatic psychology, approaches that examine how the body’s nervous system influences emotional regulation. By applying gentle, deliberate touch within a framework of nervous system regulation, Riley helps clients experiencing anxiety, depression, and trauma achieve physiological states conducive to emotional processing and healing.
Veterans and first responders comprise a significant portion of CMMH’s clientele, though the practice also serves individuals coping with grief, burnout, and chronic stress. These populations often benefit particularly from trauma-informed care, as their experiences frequently involve both psychological and physiological components that standard treatment approaches may not fully address.
One of the clinic’s signature offerings is Brazilian Lymphatic Drainage (BLD), a specialized massage technique for which Riley was recently recognized as one of the top five practitioners nationwide in 2024. This technique, along with traditional Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD), helps reduce inflammation and promote detoxification while supporting overall emotional balance.
“The lymphatic system plays a crucial role in both physical and emotional health,” Riley explains. “When we improve lymph flow, we’re supporting the body’s natural detoxification processes while creating physiological conditions that support emotional well-being.”
Perhaps most innovative among CMMH’s offerings is Emotional Body Mapping, a technique that helps clients identify specific locations where emotional experiences manifest physically. This awareness creates opportunities for targeted release, forming a critical bridge between sensation and emotional processing.
Research increasingly supports this integrated approach. Studies show that trauma-informed massage can help reduce stress hormones while increasing mood-regulating neurotransmitters, creating physiological conditions that support emotional healing. This scientific foundation distinguishes CMMH’s approach from more conventional massage practices.
The physical space itself reflects Riley’s trauma-informed philosophy. Unlike typical spa environments, CMMH’s office atmosphere is described by clients as a sanctuary—quiet, private, and intentionally crafted to support nervous system safety. This attention to environmental details helps clients feel secure enough to release both physical and emotional tension.
Beyond direct client care, Riley is expanding her impact through professional training. She supervises a select team of massage therapists, each equipped with advanced training in trauma-informed approaches, ensuring that her methodology can reach more individuals in need of this specialized care.
The practice’s growth reflects increasing recognition within healthcare of the limitations of treating mind and body separately. As research continues validating connections between physical touch and mental health outcomes, integrated approaches like Riley’s represent a promising direction for treating conditions that have traditionally proven resistant to single-modality interventions.
For individuals seeking support with grief, trauma, anxiety, or burnout, Cincinnati Massage for Mental Health offers an approach that honors the inseparability of physical and emotional experience. Through this integration, Riley and her team are redefining the potential of massage therapy as a component of comprehensive mental health care.
As healthcare evolves toward more holistic understandings of wellness, CMMH’s evidence-based, emotionally supportive, and integrative model offers a compelling example of how traditional boundaries between disciplines can dissolve in service of more effective healing.