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 HEALING TOUCH

What is it?
DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION OF HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch is a form of energy therapy that relieves stress and nurtures the physical body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Healing Touch utilizes the client’s own energy field to facilitate the individual’s own innate ability to heal. It may be used on its own or in conjunction with other forms of treatment and medical care, and may be used with clients of all ages.

What is it used for?
CONDITIONS HEALING TOUCH HELPS
Research has shown that Healing Touch is useful in:

- Reducing pain
- Improving and hastening wound healing, including surgical healing
- Assisting immune system functioning
- Supporting cancer treatments
- Aiding relaxation
- Easing the dying process
- Reducing anxiety and stress
- Regulating and supporting the immune function
- Encouraging healing in all aspects of the body 

Various studies have shown that Healing Touch can be helpful in addressing a wide variety of conditions.

Where did it come from?
HISTORY OF HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch was founded twenty years ago by Janet Mentgen, RN. She was a practicing nurse for over forty years, and as she practiced nursing she noticed she was able to sense the energy of her patients. In 1980 Mentgen began to use a variety of energy techniques with her patients, and observed that this enhanced and strengthened the connection with her patients.  She began teaching her methods to other nurses in Colorado, and was named Holistic Nurse of the Year in 1988 by the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA).

Mentgen officially created Healing Touch in 1989, and in 1993 it was certified by the AHNA.  She also founded The Colorado Center for Healing Touch to provide information on this practice.  Three years later she created Healing Touch International, Inc., as a non-profit organization, and in June 2005 this organization’s name was changed to the Healing Touch Program to acknowledge the worldwide use of Healing Touch in a variety of settings. Today Certified Instructors and Certified Practitioners deliver instruction and service to millions of students and patients throughout the world.

What is it based on?
THEORY OF HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch is based on concepts of energy medicine. Although the specific mechanisms of energy work have not been fully identified, substantive research on the use of energy in medicine and healing indicate that patients can benefit from energetic healing.

Energy therapies work to clear energetic blockages that that occur in our energy fields, which are known as auras, and our major energy centers in the body, which are called chakras.  These energetic fields and centers are critical in uniting the physical, mental and spiritual to promote health, wellbeing, and healing.   By integrating and facilitating the flow of energy in the body, healing occurs and illnesses and ailments are prevented.

Healing Touch emphasizes client-centered care in which the practitioner and recipient of Healing Touch work together to attain harmony and healing.  Healing Touch is easily integrated with other healthcare treatments and modalities.

How is it done?
CLINICAL PRACTICE OF HEALING TOUCH
Healing Touch is a non-invasive, gentle practice that is generally done while the client lies on a massage table fully clothed. A session may be approximately 30 to 60 minutes. With the client’s approval, the practitioner uses his or her hands to examine the energetic field and detect any areas of blockage. The practitioner then clears and harmonizes the field using either off body touch (holding the hands close to the body but not making direct contact) or a light touch over differing areas of the body.

Clients receiving Healing Touch typically feel a removal of stress, a heightened sense of wellbeing, and a deep state of relaxation throughout their physical body, mind, and spirit.  However, the practice of Healing Touch may hasten the process of healing, causing an individual’s symptoms to heighten. This is usually brief and generally indicates that the individual will become well more quickly.

Who does it?
PRACTITIONER STATUS
Healing Touch is taught in five levels with level 6 serving as the instructor level. Each level in the program includes both classroom learning as well as practical application, and students are encouraged to undertake their own learning in holistic health practices.  After successfully completing each level from the Healing Touch Program taught by a Certified Healing Touch Instructor, the student receives a certificate of attendance. Those who complete all five levels of the program are given a Certificate of Completion issued by the Healing Touch Program Director.  Receipt of this certificate allows the use of the title Healing Touch Practitioner (HTP).

Those attain HTP are then eligible to apply for certification through the Healing Touch Certification Board.  Healing Touch Certification indicates substantial learning and demonstrated proficiency as a Healing Touch Practitioner.  However, the Certification Board does not provide licensure for the practice of Healing Touch.

Massage therapists, nurses, mental health practitioners, physicians, other health care workers, as well as anyone who is interested in energetic healing practices may attend Healing Touch trainings.  Janet Mentgen noted that any interested individual could learn and apply the principles of Healing Touch, and found that outcomes of the practice were the same whether given by lay practitioners or trained medical professionals.