Healing Touch: The Priceless Gift
by Donna Chicoine

Healing Touch Instructor
Betty Minifie, RN, BScN, HTCP/1, QM
Betty has many years of nursing and teaching experience. She is a Certified Spiritual Healer, and a Past President of the Canadian Holistic Nurses’ Association (CHNA). She has completed Level 3 of the CHNA Specialization Program and has studied a variety of other energy therapies, such as Educational Kinesiology which she uses in her independent nursing practice called Therapeutic Balancing in Calgary, AB.

The Healing Touch Program (HTP) was developed by Janet Mentgen, RN, BSN, a holistic nurse who was awarded the Holistic Nurse of the Year by the American Nurse’s Association in 1988. This program is an accredited provider of nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and is the first organization exclusively providing Energy Medicine Continuing Education Programs to hold not only one, but two, national accreditations: ANCC and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).

It is estimated that over 100,000 students in thirty-two countries have studied Healing Touch.

What is Healing Touch (HT)?

It is an energy therapy in which practitioners consciously use their hands in a heart-centred and intentional way to support and facilitate physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Healing Touch is a biofield hands-on therapy that is an energy-based approach to health and healing. It uses light or off-body touch to influence the human energy system, specifically the energy field that surrounds the body, and the energy centres that control the energy flow from the energy field to the physical body. These non-invasive techniques utilize the hands to clear, energize, and balance the human energy field, thus affecting physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and self-healing. It is based on a heart-centred caring relationship in which the practitioner and client come together energetically to facilitate the client’s health and healing. The goal of HT is to restore balance and harmony in the energy system by placing the client in a position to self heal.

Why are Hospitals Offering Healing Touch?

It reduces pain; accelerates postoperative recovery; improves mobility after surgery; decreases anxiety, tension, and stress; provides symptom relief during chemotherapy and radiation therapy; reduces the effects of trauma and chronic pain; leads to shortened hospital stays; and eases the dying process.

How Does Energy Healing Work?

Energy therapies focus on removing energy congestion that forms in our energy fields (auras) and energy centres (chakras). Once these imbalances and disturbances are cleared, the energy channels resume their task of integrating the body, mind, and soul to restore health and/or promote healing. It may also help prevent future issues by restoring balance to energy field disturbances, which could later result in illness if left unbalanced.

To gain a deeper understanding of the science supporting energy healing, please refer to the many books, journal articles, and research findings written on this subject. Scientific evidence does exist, which supports the premise that energy healing is effective. However, an experience is worth a thousand words, so receiving an HT treatment can do more to promote an understanding of this phenomenon than all the writings in the world.

Some Practical Benefits of Healing Touch

Non Invasive—Healing Touch is done without the use of invasive procedures such as injections, inserting tubes, medication, or surgery.

Effective—Research has shown that HT facilitates the relaxation response and enhances the healing process. HT research has been conducted in a wide variety of settings and with a number of different problems and situations including cancer, cardiovascular disease, endocrine/hormone function, pain, patient satisfaction and experience, psychotherapy/psychology, post operative recovery, and stress. See www.HealingTouchResearch.com for a complete list of research.

Non Toxic—Medications can cause side effects and be monitored. HT restores balance and harmony to our natural biofield without the use of pharmaceuticals.

Economical—It does not require the use of equipment or substances and can be done in any setting. An open heart and willing spirit are all that is needed.

Standardized Curriculum and Practice—The curriculum means that practitioners all over the world can be expected to use the same methods and to follow the HT Program Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice.

What to Expect from a Treatment

Healing Touch is a gentle biofield (energy field) therapy that facilitates a deep sense of calm and relaxation in the body-mind-spirit. The treatment is typically administered while the client, fully clothed, lies on a treatment table. With the client’s permission, the practitioner uses his/her hands to assess the biofield using a hand scan (off body). S/he then proceeds to clear and balance the energy as needed, using off-body touch (near body but no direct contact), or a gentle (still) touch over various areas.

Occasionally, a person may experience an acceleration of the healing cycle and his/her symptoms may actually intensify for a brief time. When this happens, the total recovery period of the illness is usually shortened.

Who Can Practice HT?

Janet Mentgen believed that anyone with a compassionate heart and a desire to be of service to others could become a practitioner. All that is needed is a commitment to learn and
to grow.

Learning HT is an invaluable gift, in the following ways:

• To yourself, providing a way to elevate your personal growth to the next level
• To your loved ones, giving you a tool to support your children, spouse, friends, parents, and pets
• To your patients and/or clients, if you are a healthcare practitioner

Taking a Level 1 HT Program class is a great way to fulfill your desire to make a difference in the world. For more information, go to www.HealingTouchProgram.com. For class information in Saskatchewan, go to Healing Touch Saskatchewan facebook page.

Nicole Masson-Greenhorn, an RN and soon to be Certified Healing Touch Practitioner, organizes the practice groups and HT classes in Saskatoon. Contact her at 306-975-3974 or knghorn@shaw.

Donna Chicoine is a retired nurse with 35 years experience and a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner. Her mission is to support you on your path to health and well-being through education and the use of many modalities including Healing Touch, Thought Field Therapy, Guided Meditation, and Thai Foot Reflexology. Contact: casadg51@yahoo.com.