Meet Dr. Erin T Murphy | Acupuncturist, Massage Therapist, CEO & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Erin T Murphy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Erin T, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I already knew I could not go to the police when a professional NFL football player trapped me in his house and refused to hear the word “No.” I was a massage therapist, a woman, and about 5 feet tall. Have you ever stood next to a professional NFL player? This man was a wall that nobody was getting past. If I reported, I would be destroyed. by society.

And this was not my first experience with the system failing me.

The year before, I called the police on a new client. He had purchased a prepaid discount voucher for massage services. When I refused to provide sexual services, he spit in my face and threw rocks at me. I called the police as I stood in the parking lot crying and hyperventilating.

The Police officer took over 90 minutes to respond. I explained why I called, what happened, and what this man asked for. The responding police offices asked me, “Isn’t that part of your job?” and then refused to file a report.

Humiliation and a physical attack was not the end of the punishment. The discount tech company refunded him for three hours of services. 90 min massage for him and a 90 minute massage for his brother in law. There was no issue with the brother in law, I provided the services and there was no issue. The tech company decided that I should be required to work without compensation.

I was physically attacked, financially punished, and treated like I was the problem for refusing sexual services.

That moment permanently changed how I viewed the wellness industry and the systems surrounding it. I realized that wellness providers — especially women — are often expected to tolerate harassment, intimidation, and exploitation while corporations, tech platforms, and even institutions continue profiting from our labor.

I entered massage therapy in 2002 to pay for college. At the time, providers could still build sustainable careers. Over the years, I watched the industry become increasingly exploitative. Venture Capitalist squeezing margins. Tech bro’s charging high fee’s for access. Commission cutting from 40-60% down to 15-20%.

Provider pay dropped, corporate profits increased, and wellness professionals were treated as disposable despite being the people actually delivering care.

I created Local Healing House because I was tired of watching wellness providers get financially exploited, physically unsafe, and professionally disrespected while billion-dollar companies marketed “self care” to the public.

The Local Healing House exists because I refused to stay quiet. It’s my goal to become know as an industry disruptor by proving we can provide quality without taking advantage of providers or the clients.

This shaped how I built Local Healing House.

Our providers keep up to 97% commission. They set their own prices, control their schedules, and choose the services they want to provide. We believe wellness professionals are skilled providers, not disposable labor for corporations and apps trying to squeeze every dollar out of both workers and clients.

We also do not allow tipping.

Many people are shocked by that policy, but I view tipping culture in wellness as part of the exploitation model. Companies underpay providers and then shift the responsibility of fair compensation onto the client. The provider feels financially unstable, the client feels pressured, and the corporation still profits in the middle. We reject that system.

Safety is another core part of our mission.

Every client is screened and interviewed before gaining access to providers. We limit direct access to therapists and wellness professionals, follow structured safety protocols, maintain communication checkpoints, and actively follow up with both providers and clients after services.

And this conversation is not just about women. Men in the wellness industry can also become victims of harassment, assault, coercion, and exploitation. Safety should not depend on gender. We believe every provider deserves protection, respect, boundaries, and the ability to work without fear.

Our mission is simple: put more money back into providers’ pockets, create safer working conditions, and rebuild wellness around ethics instead of exploitation.

What should our readers know about your business?
Sometimes I feel like a balled-up sock getting tossed around in a washer and dryer. Some days I have no idea what I am doing. Some days I realize I need to completely change direction. Some nights I go to bed crying because I cannot figure out what the next step is supposed to be.

People love to romanticize entrepreneurship, but for many of us, business ownership starts with survival.
I accidentally opened my first business location in Florida. I answered an ad for a treatment room rental with another classmate because I thought splitting the rent would make it affordable while I was in acupuncture school. At the time, I was also working as a massage therapist at a spa. What could go wrong?

About one month later, I showed up to my full time job and the doors to the spa were locked. The owner had sold a large amount of gift cards and disappeared. At the same time, the person who agreed to split the treatment room rent vanished and never paid their portion of the lease.

Suddenly I was trapped in a business lease I never intended to carry alone. So I became successful because failure was not an option. I built the business, eventually sold the location, and moved across the country. I never planned on becoming a business owner again. I was exhausted.

But people kept calling me for help.

One woman kept begging me to reopen. Then another person called. Then another. Eventually I became tired of telling people “No.”

At the same time, my best friend in China was warning me about cities shutting down and a growing infection spreading across the world. One month before COVID shut everything down, I rented a tiny treatment room in a small Colorado town.

Because I held a clinical doctoral degree in my profession, I was allowed to continue working during portions of the pandemic. I secured two VA contracts serving veterans, and slowly started rebuilding again (by accident – I have always felt like an accidental business owner)

One room became two. Two became five. Eventually we expanded into mobile and at-home wellness services. Now, the physical location is considering a co-op model where providers work in cooperation with shared resources.

What makes Local Healing House different is that we were not built by investors looking for margins. We were built by providers who lived through instability, exploitation, burnout, and survival.

I know what it feels like to lose everything overnight. I know what it feels like to be underpaid, unsafe, exhausted, and unsupported inside the wellness industry. That is why my business focuses so heavily on provider safety, fair pay, autonomy, ethics, and collaboration instead of exploitation.

The biggest lesson I have learned is that resilience is not glamorous. Most of the time it looks like adapting while terrified.

I want the world to know that Local Healing House was built by real people, through real hardship, with the goal of creating something more ethical, more human, and more sustainable for both providers and clients.

The heart of our passion is our clients, but the fire that shaped us was forged through our experiences within the wellness industry.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my friends came into town, we would probably skip the big city experience completely and head straight into the outdoors. We would spend part of the week camping in the White River National Forest, exploring the mountains, cooking over a fire, and disconnecting from normal life for a while.

We would absolutely stop at some local hot springs because soaking in mineral water after hiking is basically part of Colorado culture. Depending on the weather, we might explore waterfalls, mountain trails, or take an off-roading trip through the backcountry. There is something grounding about being surrounded by mountains, rivers, and silence.

At some point, we would probably road trip over to Moab because it feels like another planet compared to Colorado. Between the red rock landscapes, hiking, camping, and outdoor adventure culture, it is one of the most unforgettable areas in the region.

What makes this part of the country special is not fancy nightlife or luxury experiences. It is the connection to nature, adventure, and community. Colorado culture is built around hiking, camping, off-roading, rafting, hot soaks, and people helping each other outdoors. The best memories here are usually made sitting around a fire after a long day outside.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Suzi was my mentor when I first became a massage therapist. She was an occupational therapist who owned a lymphatic clinic focused on lymphedema treatment. Working with her completely changed how I viewed healthcare, wellness, and client care.

She always told me, “There are plenty of clients. We do not need to compete against other providers. We need to treat the clients in our office with respect and care. Sometimes we may discover their condition is better treated by another provider or service. When we refer properly, everyone builds a stronger reputation.”

That mindset stayed with me for decades.

She also taught me something that shaped the foundation of Local Healing House: “Just because we are a clinic does not mean we cannot look like a spa and treat clients like they matter.”

She believed healthcare environments could still feel beautiful, calming, and human. That patients deserved both clinical skill and compassion.

Another group I want to recognize is The Blox and Wes Bergmann.

What Wes and his team gave me was something I had honestly never experienced before: access.

They connected me with hundreds of other entrepreneurs, gave me business education I never received in college, and helped me better understand how to grow and structure a company. They created an environment where entrepreneurs shared information instead of gatekeeping it.

As someone coming from the wellness industry — where many providers are overworked, isolated, and trying to survive — being surrounded by people openly discussing systems, marketing, scaling, finance, and leadership was incredibly impactful for me.

Both Suzi and The Blox shaped how I approach Local Healing House today: collaborative instead of competitive, community-focused instead of exploitative, and built around long-term relationships instead of short-term profit.

Website: https://www.localhealinghouse.us

Instagram: @local_healing_house

Linkedin: dr-erin-t-murphy-lhh

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocalHealingHouse

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-local-healing-house-rifle

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Local_Healing_House

Image Credits
I took all photos