Inspiring Conversations with Denette King of Beauty for Ashes Sound Sanctuary

Today we’d like to introduce you to Denette King.

Hi Denette, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey as a trauma-informed sound healer began with a question that wouldn’t let me go: Who supports the helpers and the healers?

I experienced burnout and extreme fatigue with nowhere to turn for respite, after working in inner city schools for over a decade and another seven years as a trauma-informed therapist. Like many helping professionals, I showed up consistently for others, without questioning the sustainability of the work or my own limitations. Everything shifted during the pandemic. I was faced with the dilemma of providing better care for my patients than I was receiving as a patient. I was experiencing debilitating fatigue, high work demands, physical ailments, and dismissive medical practices as a patient in need of care with nowhere to turn. I looked into the eyes of my medical providers and saw the same burnout I was experiencing. There seemed to be an unspoken expectation that helping professionals should hold space for everyone else with little to no consideration, as we navigated our own collective and personal crises.

During the pandemic, I had to manage high clinical demands and navigate homeschooling while living 600 miles away from my family to complete my clinical training. I also contracted COVID multiple times and lost loved ones. The experience forced me to confront my own limits in a very real way, providing opportunity to process how my commitment to help others had to include a commitment to my own self-care if I were to remain in the profession I loved. After facing my own health crisis, I began to explore holistic practices and discovered the healing power of sound, eventually completing two sound healing certifications and developing the practices of meditation and breathwork. My seminarian training and therapeutic experience cultivated a greater understanding of integrative wellness practices that led me to start my sound healing business, Beauty for Ashes Sound Sanctuary, a safe space where those who care for others can rest and process all they carry on a daily basis. I believe that if we want sustainable systems of care, we have to take care of the individuals who make those systems possible.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Working in trauma-informed community mental health and medical settings, I was consistently exposed to high levels of need within systems that were often under-resourced and where providers were overextended. There is a profound emotional weight that comes with bearing witness to so much pain while navigating environments that often lack the infrastructure to truly support employees. Over time, I noticed a pattern across spaces where the messaging, whether explicit or implied, was to work harder and stretch yourself further to compensate for systemic gaps. The pandemic didn’t create these dynamics but made them impossible to ignore. It exposed cracks in our systems and highlighted a difficult truth: many helping professionals are trained to care for others but not taught to prioritize their own self-care in sustainable ways. Far too often, I had no safety net, no union, limited space for rest, and worked with an unspoken expectation to push through burnout. As I pursued professional excellence, it became necessary to advocate not only for my clients, but for myself. That meant engaging in difficult, and at times courageous conversations about systemic shortcomings. While that advocacy was necessary, it often came at a significant personal cost.

As a Black faith-based sound healer, I carry a deep commitment to bringing holistic healing practices into communities that have historically been denied access to rest or taught that rest must be earned. Part of my work involves gently challenging inherited beliefs that have often been shaped by racial, historical, and intergenerational trauma. This work raises an ongoing question: How do we begin to shift mindsets that have been generations in the making?

My journey has not been easy, but it has been deeply meaningful and transformative. It has required clarity, courage, and a willingness to align my work with my values, even when the path forward has not been the one of least resistance.

As you know, we’re big fans of Beauty for Ashes Sound Sanctuary. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I am a trauma-informed community healer and founder of Beauty for Ashes Sound Sanctuary, a restorative space for healing, reflection, and renewal through sound. Rooted in spiritual formation, mental wellness, and holistic care, I honor the transformative power of vibration, community, and intentional presence. I endeavor to partner with corporations and community organizations committed to cultivating spaces of wellbeing, belonging, and human flourishing, where individuals are supported in prioritizing joy and sustainable work-life balance. I believe rest should not be earned because it is a basic human need. Stillness and contemplation are medicine for the soul that support nervous system regulation and help reduce burnout. In these environments, sound healing becomes more than a wellness offering; it becomes a tool for shifting workplace culture and promoting sustainable ways of working and relating. I question performance at the cost of wellbeing, as I believe we can do our jobs without paying the price of our own health and wellbeing.

I’m known for creating space for courageous conversations, asking thoughtful questions that invite reflection and growth. I am most proud of raising three grounded children who dream audaciously and of my intergenerational healing work that supports nervous system regulation, connection, and restoration across the lifespan, from very young children to older adults. This year, the work continues to expand through caregiver-and-me sound sessions at Full Steam Ahead Early Childhood Education Center, a trauma informed and mental health focused preschool. In addition, I will be teaching a sound healing course at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) this Spring.

What sets me apart is my trauma-informed mental health training, intergenerational lens, and deep understanding of the nervous system, shaped by years of interdisciplinary work. I have learned that regulation is developed within the context of safe relationships and that safety can be co-created. I offer more than a sound bath experience; I hold space for participants to learn how to recognize when they are in a survival state and gently shift toward a state of safety and rest.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My journey has been sustained by a village of mentors and meaningful friendships that remind me of the power of community. Through mentorship, I’ve learned to embrace my limitations with honesty and show up vulnerably in spaces where I feel safe and supported. Mentorship is essential, not just to receive, but to give. When we invest in one another, we don’t just grow individually; we create spaces where everyone has the opportunity to flourish.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bfasoundsanctuary.online
• Instagram: @Beauty4AshesSoundSanctuary
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583224276227&mibextid=wwXIfr

Image Credits
Shaunta Montgomery
Martini Crew Media