We recently connected with Christina Hamman and have shared our conversation below.

Christina , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I believe we are not meant to move through life alone. Ironically, it took feeling profoundly alone in my own profession to fully understand that. When I became a psychotherapist years ago, I was met with a lack of substantial connection within a group practice, misaligned values, and poor supervision. All of these things contributed significantly to my loneliness and disillusionment. I spent my days helping clients navigate a terrain of suffering, yet I was in a valley unheld and inadequately supported. I felt deeply honored and privileged (and still do) to do this work, but I was yearning for something else.

This became even more apparent when I opened my own practice, Embody Healing Collective. Building EHC was rewarding, but it also underscored how much I didn’t have spaces of genuine peer connection and shared humanity. I was creating clinical and professional infrastructure, yet still searching for places to simply be human. I needed people in my life who understood what it was like to see seven clients in a row and then come home to dissociate into my dinner. I needed humans like me to be human with. That realization led me to take one of the most meaningful risks of my career: creating No Lonely Therapists Club.

NLTC is intentionally not a clinical space. It is a human space. There are no therapeutic agendas, consultations, or professional expectations. Therapists can arrive without their “therapist hat” on. They can exist as people who are naturally imperfect, tired, curious, and longing for connection without the pressure to perform. The goal is simple: a trauma-informed space for genuine human interaction and community.

Taking this risk meant naming my loneliness publicly and stepping into uncertainty. I worried no one would come. I was concerned colleagues might judge me or question my professionalism. I mulled over whether it might fail after investing time and emotional energy into something that could fall flat. But the responses were immediate: “This is so needed.” “I’m lonely. I’ll be there.” It became clear that the experience I had felt so deeply was shared by others.

No Lonely Therapists Club didn’t just confirm that I wasn’t alone in my loneliness. It created space for others to realize they weren’t either. That made the risk worth it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a social worker, psychotherapist, entrepreneur, and community builder in West Michigan. I own Embody Healing Collective, a trauma-informed and holistic healing space dedicated to integrative care that honors the whole person: mind, body, and community. Our services include psychotherapy specializing in complex trauma, dissociation, and relational healing, utilizing EMDR, somatic approaches, and parts work. We also offer massage therapy and yoga as complementary modalities because healing is embodied and multidimensional. I believe recovery and growth are not solely clinical processes; they are relational and experiential, shaped by safety, connection, and opportunities to engage the body in healing.

I entered social work because I am passionate about advocating for those directly impacted by unjust systems. I became a psychotherapist because I understood what it was like to feel alone in struggle and wanted to show up for others. I have always been fascinated by human resilience and the ways we heal in relationships, with ourselves, with others, and with communities. Early in my career, I worked in group practice settings where I valued the clinical experience but noticed significant gaps in professional connection, holistic care, and trauma-informed presence. Those experiences shaped my vision for EHC: a space where therapy, wellness, and community coexist. As owner, I focus on creating an environment where clients are seen as whole people and where healing addresses individual experience alongside broader systems and relationships.

Over time, I recognized the profound loneliness many professionals experience in helping fields. Therapists often hold space for others while lacking spaces to be held themselves. That awareness led me to create No Lonely Therapists Club, a human-centered community for therapists to gather without clinical agendas or professional expectations. NLTC exists because I believe connection is fundamental to wellbeing and that professionals deserve spaces to be human, imperfect, curious, and relational without the pressure to perform. It is also rooted in values of collective liberation and community care, recognizing that healing is intertwined with social and relational systems.

What sets my work apart is the integration of clinical expertise, holistic wellness, and community-centered values. At EHC, we prioritize trauma-informed care and the mind-body connection through psychotherapy, massage therapy, and yoga. At NLTC, we prioritize human connection and peer support. Both initiatives reflect the belief that healing happens in relationships — with ourselves, with others, and with communities that value belonging and liberation. I am deeply committed to these values and to continuous learning. I welcome feedback, including that which is uncomfortable or challenging because I want EHC, NLTC, and myself to evolve. Growth requires humility and openness, and I strive to approach all feedback as an opportunity to learn and improve.

I am most proud of taking risks to create spaces that address real human needs. Owning EHC and building NLTC required vulnerability and uncertainty, but they also created opportunities to support individuals and professionals in meaningful ways. EHC has become a space where people can pursue healing, and NLTC has become a reminder that none of us are meant to navigate life in isolation.
If you encounter my work, I want you to know it is grounded in compassion, authenticity, and growth. My goal is to help people feel less alone and more capable of navigating their lives with resilience and meaning whether through therapy, community, or both.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

From my observations and lived experience, resilience has never meant pushing through. It has meant staying connected to myself while navigating both professional and personal challenges. As a social worker, psychotherapist, and entrepreneur, I have carried my own experiences of trauma and emotional difficulty while holding space for others. That dual role can be demanding, and it has required me to practice what I believe: healing is relational, embodied, and ongoing.

I do not expect myself to handle everything alone. I attend therapy twice a week because I believe deeply in professional support and relational healing. I intentionally engage with my nervous system, noticing when I need care and practicing skills that help me return to groundedness. Sometimes that looks like breathwork or somatic awareness; other times it simply means pausing instead of overriding what I feel.

Community and co-regulation sustain me. Time with my husband, family, friends, and even my cat is foundational. Beyond community, I rely on creative practices that anchor me: writing to process, reading to expand perspective, and creating art without striving for perfection. These practices remind me that growth and healing are ongoing processes.

I show up to my clients as a whole human. I hold professionalism and ethics firmly while honoring that vulnerability and leadership can coexist. Running a business and supporting others while tending to my own healing has deepened my empathy and humility.
Resilience, for me, is integration. It is not the absence of struggle, but a commitment to returning to care, curiosity, and connection again and again.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Yes, I would absolutely choose this profession again, and I would continue to evolve within it.
I didn’t begin as a psychotherapist. My early work was in direct care and advocacy. During my internship, I facilitated group support spaces for survivors of human trafficking, teaching wellbeing and coping skills. It was humbling, formative work that showed me how deeply trauma and systemic injustice shape human lives and how healing often happens in relationships and community.

I later worked as a case manager, helping individuals access housing, employment, and essential resources so they could rise from circumstances influenced by unjust systems. Those experiences strengthened my commitment to advocacy and reinforced that practical stability is often the foundation for deeper healing.
I eventually moved into psychotherapy because I wanted to engage more deeply with the internal and relational dimensions of trauma recovery. My professional journey has been one of continued evolution. I host workshops on nervous system care because regulation and embodiment are foundational to sustainable healing, and that knowledge continues to expand through both research and lived experience. Because of my position within this profession, I had the opportunity to create No Lonely Therapists Club, which has been both deeply meaningful and stretching in ways I did not anticipate.

This career has allowed me to advocate, to witness resilience, and to build communities rooted in compassion. What I value most is its flexibility and capacity for growth. Social work and psychotherapy are not static paths; they invite curiosity, adaptation, and ongoing learning. I have been able to move between direct care, clinical practice, education, and community building and I continue to explore new ways of contributing.

My work has also supported my development as a writer. It gives me the time and reflective space to explore ideas, contribute to conversations about healing beyond the therapy room, and expand the reach of my voice. Ultimately, the way I engage with this profession aligns deeply with my values: compassion, advocacy, curiosity, and connection. It’s a path I would choose again without hesitation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.embodyhealingcollective.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embodyhealingcollective?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
• Other: https://nolonelytherapistsclub.com/

  https://www.instagram.com/nolonelytherapistsclub?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Image Credits

Holly Roberts of In the Window Photography