Under the Umbrella
Health cooperatives bring together providers
In November of 2013, AMY BRITE (left) opened the doors to CAPE FEAR MASSAGE AND WELLNESS, a cooperative of practitioners, which includes massage therapists, an esthetician, and a wellness coordinator. Each licensed practitioner brings a different area of expertise to the space, but all work toward a similar goal: wholesome health and wellness for their clients and themselves.
"I bring the anti-inflammatory aspect of what you ingest, and they work on the topical side of things,” says LORETTA KOETH (below), the certified personal trainer and wellness coach at the co-op. “So when you put the two together, we have a very powerful medicine here.”
Unlike a typical business model, the practitioners at the space are not employees of Cape Fear Massage and Wellness. Rather they operate as individual business owners, using the shared space to collaborate with each other’s different specializations without any sense of competition.
“When people come here initially, they’re looking for maybe a waxing or massage, but what ends up happening is that whatever is causing them stress stems from other aspects of their life as well,” says Brite, owner and licensed massage therapist. “We can collaborate and work on the entire person and their wellness.”
The clustering effect of having different practitioners for different aspects of the healing journey offers the clients who visit the space a more wholesome perspective of their needs. Rather than visiting specialist after specialist to address specific areas of their health and wellness, the space offers a variety of professionals who can address numerous areas of need.
“We can have more success with the whole person because the focus is not so narrow,” Koeth says.
The practitioners agree that not only does the sense of cooperation facilitate a richer sense of healing, but also helping the clients in turn gives them a sense of fulfillment and healing.
“I believe I heal as I heal others,” says BILL MCALL, the sports and medical massage therapist. “It’s a mutual healing.”
Cape Fear Massage and Wellness also strives to create a network of like-minded professionals even beyond those working out of the space. The team of practitioners has a growing list of connections that they can refer a client to if their needs transcend what they offer at the center.
“There are many facets to the healing process, and that requires a community,” Brite says. “That’s the whole point of the co-op.”
Another space, this one in downtown Wilmington, offers a similar clustering of health professionals in the same building. Though it is technically not under the business umbrella term of a cooperative, THE OPEN SPACE mirrors the same principles and strives toward similar goals of creating an environment of wholesome healing.
The building at 411 Chestnut Street was once slated for demolition by the city. But ELENA PEZZUTO, founder of The Open Space and MATT SCHARF, the property developer, set out on a yearlong restoration and renovation of the building.
The Open Space opened its doors in March of 2009 with a new look. The original hardwood floors and original staircase from the 1800s remain in the historic building.
“The space was prepared very consciously in regard to adding the atmosphere of peace and tranquility,” Pezzuto says. “As you walk in, it’s very enlivening.”
The shared space houses a number of professionals including massage therapists, psychologists, and a social worker to name a few.
“This is a community-oriented healing space,” Pezzuto says. “Each of us has a different role, but each of those roles are important at different segues of a person’s healing journey.”
Much like the professionals working at Cape Fear Massage and Wellness, Pezzuto and her team believe having multiple practitioners in a single location enriches a client’s perspective on their journey toward healing.
“We do not believe in an outmoded notion of competition,” says Pezzuto, who believes the clustering of practitioners in a singular space is becoming more and more of a trend in the Wilmington area. “Each and every center, each and every practitioner, and each and every person that walks through the door has a different need to be fulfilled.”
To view more of photographer Terah Wilson’s work, go to timelessfotographie.com
