Why We Built a Studio Where You Laugh So Hard You Cry.

We Built This from Our Scars

And yet, somehow, we've been laughing the whole time.

You're about to read about some heavy things. Violence. Loss. The kind of hardships that reshape people. But here's the thing: we're not broken. We're healed. And we're telling you this because it matters.

We share our story so you know who's holding space for you. When you walk into Wicked Rae's carrying grief, rage, trauma, or that thing you can't quite name - we've been there. We know the terrain. And we know the way through.

Here's What We Learned Over 18 Years of Healing Together

Even in the darkest moments, there's light. And that light shows up in the strangest way - through laughter.

When you finally let it all out - whatever you've been holding in - something magical happens. You laugh. You cry. Sometimes both at the same time. And it's the greatest feeling of relaxation you've ever experienced.

That's not just relief. That's your nervous system completing the cycle. That's your body remembering how to be free.

We didn't heal by sitting still or staying small. We healed through creating, moving, traveling, helping others, and giving ourselves permission to be gloriously messy. We turned pain into paint. Chaos into art. Scars into invitations.

That's why Wicked Rae's exists.

This is a sanctuary built by people who survived and came back with maps. We know what it's like to need safe spaces. We know what it's like when words won't reach. We know what it's like to be told you're "too much."

And we're here to tell you: You're not. You're exactly enough. And your mess is welcome here.

What you're about to read is real. It's raw. But it's also full of joy - because our stories don't define us, they refined us. And now we use them to help you find your way through yours.

Welcome to Wicked Rae's. Welcome to our story. Welcome home.

Meet the Team

Somatic Release Specialists | Survivors | Artists | Humans Who Get It

Oakley Rae McVey

Co-Founder, Owner, Creative Director

Oakley didn't have an easy path. She survived domestic violence, assault, crippling anxiety, and bullying - both in-person and online, the kind that follows you everywhere and never stops. She fractured her back. She lives with Complex PTSD. The world tried to break her in every way it knows how.

But here's the thing about Oakley: she found her way to heal through embodied creation.

She started with crochet - the repetitive, rhythmic motion that calms the nervous system and creates something tangible from chaos. Thread by thread, she stitched herself back together. Then came drawing, texture work, and art that let her express what words couldn't hold.

She healed through movement: hiking (putting one foot in front of the other when everything felt impossible), traveling the USA (proving to herself she could be free), helping others (turning pain into purpose), and volunteering (finding meaning in service). She works with all ages - kids, teens, elders - and learned that everyone's carrying something.

And somehow, against all odds, she still sees the good in people.

Not because she's naive. Because she's wise. Because she knows that hurt people hurt people - and that healed people can heal people. Because she's done the work of not letting trauma control her life.

What Oakley Brings to Wicked Rae's:

Deep understanding of what it's like to need safe spaces when the world feels unsafe
Expertise in sensory-based regulation (crochet, texture, art as nervous system medicine)
Co-designer of every experience at Wicked Rae's - the studio layout, the sensory elements, the vibe
Advocate for trauma survivors, especially young people
Lived expertise in neurodivergent-affirming spaces
Living proof that you can survive hell and still choose joy
The person who makes sure no one feels alone in their mess
Pioneer in multi-modal integration: combining athletic movement patterns + expressive arts + texture-based sensory work + nervous system science

She co-owns everything at Wicked Rae's with Jules. Not as a side project. Not as "mom's business." As equal partners who built this sanctuary together, from lived experience and shared vision.

When She's Not Covered in Paint:

Oakley is an incredible baker - the kind who experiments with recipes and somehow makes magic happen in the kitchen. She loves animals (especially her dog Bones-Fish, who she adores), anime, her friends (fiercely), and traveling - she can't wait to see the world beyond the USA.

She's into psychology thriller video games (like Little Nightmares - the darker, the better), forensic science, and true crime.

She's the kind of person who watches crime documentaries while trying new recipes, calls her friends to talk about the latest anime, and dreams about backpacking through Japan.

She's also incredibly protective of the people she loves, has a wicked sense of humor, and brings a lightness to heavy spaces that only people who've survived darkness can carry.

Julie "Jules" McVey

Co-Founder, Owner, CEO

Jules was born without oxygen and couldn't see or hear clearly until age 6 or 7 (after glasses and ear tube surgery). Her first years were lived in sensory darkness, teaching her early that the body holds its own kind of knowing - and that reality is more flexible than most people think.

She grew up building homes with her family.

Not new construction - they bought broken, abandoned houses and made them whole. The family lived in the wreckage while they worked, moving on just as each house became beautiful. Jules learned that transformation IS the home, not the destination. That you can take something broken and make it breathe again.

Despite early challenges, she became a varsity athlete and straight-A student. By 16, she was a freelance artist for History Channel and Discovery Channel, creating visual stories while barely old enough to drive. But at 18, everything changed: she died in a car accident. She came back, but not as the same person.

You can't cross that threshold unchanged.

After death, Jules studied aerospace engineering, fell in love with the human brain, and transitioned into EEG epilepsy monitoring and then sleep medicine. She spent the next 20 in sleep medicine and management, helping people breathe while unconscious, managing the vulnerability of sleep, holding lives in their most undefended states. She learned to speak the language of the nervous system.

During her early twenties, she was also a wildland and structure firefighter - running toward fire while others ran away. Crisis became her classroom. She learned to stay regulated when everything around her was burning.

But the path wasn't linear.

Jules survived domestic violence, assault, and the kind of hardships that break people who don't find their way to transform the breaking. She carried it. She studied it. She turned it into medicine.

Academically, she couldn't stop learning: communication studies, gender studies, anthropology, neurology, art, philosophy, archaeology. She earned her Master's in Psychology and was one dissertation away from a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology when COVID hit.

During the pandemic, she took safety roles at the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. But something shifted. The longer she worked in traditional systems, the more she realized: this wasn't her path anymore.

So, she made a choice that shocked everyone: she walked away from the doctorate to open Wicked Rae's with her daughter, Oakley.

For the first time in her life, she was exactly where she belonged.

What Jules Brings to Wicked Rae's:

Somatic Release Specialist with 20+ years clinical experience in nervous system dysregulation (sleep medicine, neurology, EEG monitoring)
Firefighter training in crisis response and staying regulated under pressure
Master's in Psychology with extensive study in organizational psychology, communication, and human behavior
Currently integrating Jungian depth psychology, polyvagal theory, Chinese medicine, sensory integration, and somatic trauma work
Threshold Facilitation expertise: lived experience surviving extreme thresholds including sensory deprivation, domestic violence, assault, clinical death, and rebuilding
Pioneer in multi-modal integration: combining athletic movement patterns + expressive arts + texture-based sensory work + nervous system science

Every threshold Jules has crossed taught her something about transformation. Now she helps others cross theirs - through explosive movement, sensory-rich creation, and permission to be fully expressed.

When She's Not Covered in Paint:

Jules is a surrealist artist who works in oil painting, drawing, and texture-based arts. She loves traveling, hiking, running, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), and camping - her wildland firefighter roots run deep, and she still craves the outdoors like oxygen.

You'll find her playing old-school board games (the kind that take hours), watching movies, or just... breathing. Alone time is sacred to her. After years of holding space for others, she needs space to just be.

She's the kind of person who can hold your most intense emotions without flinching, then disappear into the woods for three days to recharge.

Why Our Dynamics Work.

We're:

Mother and daughter.
Survivors.
Artists.
Co-founders.
Partners in creating spaces where people can be whole.

Our dynamic is what makes Wicked Rae's work. Here's why:

Jules brings the nervous system science, the clinical experience, the deep study. Oakley brings the younger perspective, the sensory design, the lived experience of what Gen Z needs. Jules understands trauma from a practitioner lens. Oakley understands it from a survivor lens - right now, in real time.

Together, they create experiences that work for all ages because they KNOW all ages. They understand neurodivergence because they've lived it. They get trauma because they've crossed those thresholds. They know how to hold space for intensity because they've been intense and had nowhere to put it.

But here's what makes them truly special: Throughout the last 18 years of healing together, they've laughed. A lot. And they are here to share this roadmap with you.

They're not just business partners. They're proof that transformation is possible. They're not just facilitators. They're survivors who turned their scars into invitations for others to heal.

Why They Do This:

From Jules:

"I've been unmade and remade so many times that I understand the architecture of transformation. Every time I died - literally or metaphorically - I came back different. Not better or worse. Just... evolved. I know what it's like to be stuck at a threshold you can't cross. I know what it's like when talking doesn't move it. I know what it's like to need your BODY to help. That's why I do this work. Because bottom-up, embodied transformation saved my life. And I can help others find their way through." And I can help others find their way through."

From Oakley:

"I know what it's like to feel broken. To think you'll never be okay again. To need help and not know where to find it. I also know what it's like to heal through creating. Through moving. Through being witnessed without judgment. Wicked Rae's is the space I needed when I was 14 and drowning. Now I get to create it for others. That's the whole point. We turn our pain into portals for other people's healing. And we make it fun as hell while we do it."

Together:

"We're not here to fix anyone. We're here to create space where people can unfold into who they actually are - messy, powerful, creative, alive. And here's what we know: when you finally let out whatever you've been holding in, your nervous system completes the cycle. You'll laugh and cry and feel more relaxed than you've felt in years. That's not just catharsis. That's your body remembering freedom.Come as you are. Leave changed. Or don't. Either way, you're welcome here."

What Makes Wicked Rae's Different

We're not traditional art therapy. We're not just somatic work. We're not standard expressive arts.

We're at the intersection of:

Athletic movement patterns
Expressive arts therapy
Sensory integration
Nervous system science
Depth psychology

This combination doesn't exist anywhere else.

We facilitate what happens when you throw paint-filled balloons with full athletic power - when destruction creates art, when your insides become visible on canvas, when your body completes what talk therapy couldn't reach.

For Researchers & Trainers:

We're pioneering an integrated approach that addresses gaps in current trauma treatment modalities. Our methodology combines validated somatic, movement-based, and expressive arts interventions in a novel configuration designed for nervous system regulation and trauma completion. If you're interested in collaboration we'd love to connect.

Wicked Rae's: Where transformation is messy, powerful, and often comes with laughter.

Come throw something. Come create something. Come home to yourself.

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