BIDDEFORD — Before taking part in alternative therapies at Counseling Services, Inc., “Maggie,” a client with the counseling center who had been sexually abused throughout much of her life, said she didn’t like her body. She said she didn’t feel comfortable being touched.

That was before she took part in CSI’s unique Complementary Therapies program, which provides hands-on therapies like massage, acupuncture and energy medicine.

“When I first started I was frightened,” said Maggie, who asked that her real name not be used. “I felt my body was not any good.”

Since receiving numerous massages, first as a CSI client, and then paying for them herself, Maggie said she now feels “it’s okay to be touched and not be frightened. I now feel my body is good.”

This is the tenth year the Complementary Therapies program has been offered at CSI. Despite its age, according to Roberta Wentworth, the program’s founder and director, CSI is the only community mental health service provider in the country ”“ that she is aware of ”“ to offer such a program.

These alternative therapies are offered in conjunction with traditional mental health therapies like counseling and medication, she said.

The program started serendipitously, said Wentworth. About five years into her time at CSI, Wentworth started massage school. While there, she said, she witnessed a number of her classmates having “break-throughs” about their life experiences during massage sessions.

As a result of this, Wentworth thought massage and other hands-on therapies might benefit clients who had been traumatized by physical and sexual assault.

Like Maggie, these clients, she said, “talked about not liking themselves when looking in the mirror, not wanting to be touched.”

She said she believed, and found research to back her up, that for these clients, hands-on therapy would “complement” traditional treatments and speed up their recovery.

Wentworth then took her proposal for a pilot program to the agency’s executive director at the time, Sharon Sabo, who has since retired. Sabo agreed it sounded like a good idea.

If Wentworth could find the money, Sabo told her she could proceed. After gathering $1,500 in donations, the program started in 1999 with a few massage therapists who were willing to participate.

Now the program offers up to six sessions of massage or other alternative therapies for clients who are referred to the program by their CSI counselor.

Although six sessions are not usually enough to provide a therapeutic break through, said Wentworth, “the biggest thing we do, is provide them (clients) with an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Some clients, like Maggie, decide their alternative therapy is so helpful that they find a way to reprioritize their budget.

During Complementary Therapy sessions, therapists also teach the clients ways to help themselves such as showing them how to do stretches, how to eat a nutritious diet and explaining ways they can relax ”“ like taking a warm bath.

Without this program, many of the clients who have participated would have never thought about getting body work, said Diane Whiteside-Peck, a licensed massage therapist, who was one of the first to provide services in the Complementary Therapies program.

An important aspect of the program, she said, is empowering the clients to decide how much contact they are comfortable with.

Since its inception, the program has also expanded by providing services to children who are victims of physical or sexual abuse. Wentworth said young people are able to respond to these therapies more quickly than adults.

Now, more than 900 clients have been referred to the program and nearly 700 have been served, said Wentworth.

With more money and more awareness among mental health counselors at CSI about the program, Wentworth said she is confident she could easily double the number of those participating in the Complementary Therapies program.

At present, there is only enough money to authorize four new adults and four new children a month to participate in the program.

Ideally, Wentworth she would like it to be part of a large research study that would serve more children, offer more sessions and teach more self-care.

Wentworth said she is also hopeful more community mental health service providers will offer similar services elsewhere. When she gives a talk about the program, she said, she gets many inquiries. Lack of funding is usually the stumbling block for most providers.

However, she said, she’s hopeful the situation will change.

“I think in a few years this won’t be so radical and out of the box,” she said.

— The Journal Tribune does not to identify victims of sexual abuse or sex crimes. Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.