Year-old therapy practice gets new name and significantly expands with new address

A year after opening Soma Recovery, Jenny Helms is out of space and moving.

“It’s been kind of a really crazy blessing,” says Helms, who has a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.

She started Soma in February 2019 with two therapists and one employee and now has 12 therapists and psychologists, one medication manager, one yoga instructor, one dietitian and two other employees.

“We’ve just grown a ton this past year,” Helms says.

She also found a need to change the name of the practice to Soma Therapy. Too many people confused Soma Recovery with a substance abuse center.

Helms and Soma are all about treating trauma with a holistic approach.

“The root of a lot of mental health concerns I’ve seen have been trauma,” she says.

That impacts the way people see themselves, relationships or the world, Helms says, and various kinds of therapy can help patients with those concerns.

“When we treat trauma, people really heal.”

Soma currently is in about 2,500 square feet at 700 N. Market. It’s moving to 4,900 square feet at 825 N. Waco on Feb. 24.

The building is on the Arkansas River.

“That’s a big deal for us because we like to be close to nature,” Helms says.

She says there are therapeutic benefits being close to water.

Helms says the building also has easier access, with an elevator instead of a small set of stairs, and there is good parking, too.

“We know that’s a rarity.”

Helms says taking a collaborative approach to treatment at Soma is important to her.

“As a team, we’re really communicating with each other,” she says of clients and care.

Though she now spends part of her time running a business, Helms says she still practices therapy three days a week, which she says is beneficial for others who work there.

“I fully empathize with where they’re coming from.”

Helms says she’s open to adding physical therapists to the practice as well.

“My intention was to create a center that would treat people holistically and have really good resources in our community for trauma therapy.”

She says there will be room to grow at the new space.

“We would like to grow even more and add some practitioners that fit our mission,” she says. “We’re really trying to build out this holistic team . . . that treats people as a whole.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 12:01 PM.