Healing Touch: A nursing intervention

Healing Touch is a nursing therapy, an energy-based treatment, developed in the late 1980’s by a nurse, Janet Mentagen. It has expanded beyond nursing, to other health care professions- even laypeople are learning & practicing this healing modality².

Healing Touch was based on the ancient, Eastern philosophies where health is believed to be impacted by the level of balance in energy between the physical & the metaphysical, or energy field surrounding the body². Some related therapies include Reiki and Therapeutic Touch.

The most notable outcome of Healing Touch sessions is a sense of relaxation, often profoundly, thus delivering a multitude of benefits, such as decreased pain, shorter hospital stays and increased inter-personal relationships¹´³. These benefits are supported by the growing area of research in the scientific community.

It can be used as adjunct therapy, meaning in addition to conventional therapy, like surgeries, cancer treatments, and pain medications. Healing Touch aims to preserve individual dignity at all stages of life, prenatally to the end of life.

Healing Touch Program can help provide information on learning HT techniques as well as finding practitioners and self-care measures. They also publish a journal, Energy Magazine with articles focused on Healing Touch practice. Find out more including a video regarding the uses, benefits, and learning process for Healing Touch therapy by visiting their website at http://www.healingtouchprogram.com.

¹MacIntyre, B., Hamilton, J., Fricke, T., Ma, W., Mehle, S., & Michel, M. (2008). The efficacy of Healing Touch in coronary artery bypass surgery recovery: A randomized clinical trial. Alternative Therapies, 14, 24-32.

²Mentagen, J. & Bulbrook, M.J. (Eds., 2007), Healing touch notebook level 1 (5th ed.). Golden, CO: Healing Touch Program.

³Waddell, D.W., & Weymouth, K.F. (2004). Review of studies of Healing Touch. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 36, 147-154.