Get to know Katrina Rachuy, a licensed acupuncturist and somatic coach supporting complex trauma recovery in East St. Paul.
Tell us about your business. What do you do?
I help people in all the difficult and beautiful stages of trauma recovery and post traumatic growth. When life is heavy and you are feeling stuck I can help you reconnect to yourself, what you most desire and what is getting in between you and the life you most want for yourself.
How do you approach your area of expertise (what makes you different?)
I am a creative healer and I work within a few different modalities. I am a licensed acupuncturist (Practitioner of East Asian Medicine is a much better term but folks don’t always recognize what that means) but I am also a somatic coach. From the very beginning of my career as a practitioner in the acupuncture clinic at my school I could tell that the clients coming to me wanted to resolve much deeper issues than mere physical symptoms.
My clients were dealing with anxiety, self worth issues and deep depressions. All of these had their root in complex trauma.
I was working with the spirit of the person and the spirits of their trauma even while I was “just an acupuncturist” but this deeper work led me to seek further training that would give shape to how I approached these multilayered symptoms in my clients. I completed the training in the Neuroaffective Relational Model (NARM) in 2021, which is a beautiful and humane approach to unpacking complex trauma in adults. I now offer coaching sessions with NARM as the framework and Acupuncture/bodywork sessions.
Some clients see me for one and not the other but more and more my clients are recognizing that everything is connected so they see me for both. Some days a particular client will want to work on a more physical level and the same client may need a more verbal and relational approach on a different day.
What drew you to this work?
The greatest project of my adulthood has been my ongoing trauma recovery and post traumatic growth. I have spent two decades in various phases of trauma recovery and post traumatic growth while earning undergraduate, graduate degrees and launching my career as a practitioner at the same time. I was not so much drawn to this work as this work has always drawn itself to me. I have spent years seeking deeper knowledge of exactly what happens to the brain, body and spirit during complex trauma and the aftermath. And beyond that I have intimately studied the factors necessary for healing from this type of trauma. The greatest factor is relationship. We lose core aspects of ourselves through relational trauma and so we regain connection with these core aspects through relationship and healthy attachment. This is what I offer to my clients: a brave space to be seen, loved and ultimately learn to offer this to themselves.
This is largely a new frontier. Complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is soon to be acknowledged in Europe as an official diagnosis, but not in North America. This means that the early environmental failures that many adults remember from their childhood can be driving their nervous system but we are not talking about it. I want to change that. I create brave spaces where clients share what they believe to be their darkest side and I see it all with love.
“Complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is soon to be acknowledged in Europe as an official diagnosis, but not in North America. This means that the early environmental failures that many adults remember from their childhood can be driving their nervous system but we are not talking about it. I want to change that.”
Katrina Rachuy, L.ac
What do you love about your job?
I love the moment when a client first recognizes that all of them is acceptable and loved: their anger, grief, fear, sadness, jealousy. When they are able to be seen and see themselves with love their whole body relaxes and they are finally able to just be themselves.
Describe the person that is best fit for you and your services.
I believe that everyone is capable of healing and connecting with the truth of what they most want for themselves. But it is hard work and it does involve feeling a whole lot, often feeling a lot that has been buried for a long time. I work slowly and conscientiously, I work at the speed of trust (see the work of adrienne maree brown for more on moving at the speed of trust). This work is also deeply and powerfully transformative so it can shake up your life. If life is heavy and you are feeling stuck I might be a really good fit. I feel like this happens to most of us at least once in our lives: something is holding us back and we don’t know what it is. So I try not to be too specific about a ‘type’ or ‘buyer persona’ as these ideas are rooted in capitalism and are therefore exploitative.
What results can people see when they work with you? What’s possible?
Coming home by belonging to yourself. This is work that fortifies your connection/attachment with yourself, others and spirit so that you are not dependent on changing external factors for your ultimate comfort and security.
What do you wish more people understood about what you do?
From the East Asian Medicine side of things I really wish people understood the amount of education and training I hold. I have a four year Master’s Degree in Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine. I had to sit four board examinations-its no joke. I hold detailed knowledge of the human body from a western anatomical and an eastern energetic-anatomical viewpoint. I use everything that I know when I work with my clients. I don’t offer a spa approach where you choose from a menu of services and the same process is ‘done to you’ no matter who you are and what your symptoms are. Instead, I work to understand your whole context and provide a treatment that is best for you in the current moment.
From the mental health, spiritual coaching/somatic coaching, complex trauma work side of things I wish that this were simply something that we talked about more openly in our society. We live in a traumatized and traumatizing world, as long as we keep it hidden and unspoken we will continue to perpetuate this reality. My work is about building a new world one human spirit at a time, I think there are a lot of people out there who already understand this idea and I am passionate in engaging in this work so I wish for more connections with folks who are engaged in trauma recovery and post traumatic growth.
What’s fascinating you right now?
I am working on an educational offering titles: “Trauma, Animism and the Nervous system” which melds knowledge I have gained from my spiritual practice and my intellectual practice of studying trauma and the nervous system. I want this offering to excite minds and spirits about what is possible when healing gets juicy and rich.
In what ways do you find yourself working alongside other health + wellness professionals?
There are so many amazing practitioners in the Twin Cities area. I am currently building collaborative offerings with practitioners who hold similar ideas on spirit and healing but have very different approaches. Together we can provide multi faceted experiences where support is abundant like breath work circles with acupuncture treatments or yoga classes with acupuncture during savasana. Watch out for some additional witchy offerings as well in 2023 with ritual fires, light trance work and communing with spirit.
What does self care look like to you right now?
I am the love of my life. That is a daily practice: returning over and over again to unabashed self acceptance, self love, self compassion.
What do you love about living and working in the Twin Cities?
I love this region for her seasons, for her trees, lakes, rivers and animals. I speak to the earth here and she answers back. I grew up on Pikwedina Sagainan (Ojibwe name for lake of the woods) this cold land made me tough and resilient. I am who I am because of and for this land, I strive to belong here by building regenerative structures in the forms of community (clients, friends, fellow practitioners), vocation (my work that I love so much it doesn’t feel like work) and ecology (gardening, communing with nature, tending).
Favorite local restaurants?
I don’t eat out much. I cook for myself a lot and I love the farmer’s markets here. I do love Naveya’s in Linden Hills.
Other favorite local businesses in the Twin Cities?
What’s your favorite social media platform, and where can people connect with you on social media?
Instagram @patchworkhealing
How can people work with you?
Schedule a session through my website https://www.patchworkhealing.com
If you still have questions reach out to me at katrina@patchworkhealing.com I am always happy to share more about my work and help you decide if work with me is a good fit for you right now.