Purpose Behind Finding Eden

 M. Rae | Founder of Finding Eden + Voices of Strength

I didn’t grow up with access to therapy. In fact, for most of my life, I didn’t even know what emotional safety felt like. I was disowned at 15, living on my own by 17, and by 19, I had moved to California searching for a fresh start—but instead, I found myself in cycles of survival: abuse, homelessness, trauma, and a silence so heavy it nearly swallowed me whole.

I’ve survived domestic violence, sexual assault, chronic depression, and years of unprocessed pain. I’ve lived through experiences that left deep scars—and I’ve spent over a decade trying to find my way back to myself without the tools or support systems that so many take for granted. Traditional therapy was never accessible to me. I couldn’t afford it, and at times, I didn’t feel safe in clinical spaces. But I learned something through that process: healing doesn’t look the same for everyone. For me, it started with movement. Dance was my sanctuary—my only way of expressing what I couldn’t yet speak. And that’s what led me to create Finding Eden.

Finding Eden is a community built from lived experience, not textbooks. It exists because I know what it’s like to feel completely alone in your pain, to have no roadmap, and to desperately need a place that just gets it.

This space isn’t about quick fixes. It’s about giving people the freedom to explore healing in ways that speak to them—whether that’s through somatic movement, trauma-informed coaching, support groups, journaling, or simply being in community with others who understand. At Finding Eden, there is an option for everyone. It’s a place where you can come as you are, discover what helps you reconnect with yourself, and find genuine support when you need it most.

Voices of Strength, our growing support group and storytelling platform, was born from that same vision. It’s a space for the ones who’ve never had a safety net. A space where vulnerability is welcomed, not judged. A place to speak the truths we were once forced to carry alone.

I became a certified life coach in 2019 not because I thought I had all the answers—but because I wanted to learn how to hold space for others the way I always wished someone had held space for me.

I don’t pretend to be a healer. I’m someone still healing—and in that process, I’ve built a space where we don’t have to do it alone anymore.

So whether you’re here to move, to write, to speak, to feel—or just to be—I hope Finding Eden offers you what I spent years searching for: a place to land when you need it most.

Welcome Home.