Washburn -- After almost 30 years of serving her community as an obstetrical nurse, Jan Perkins is now helping restore health through Healing Touch energy therapy.

Perkins recently opened a home-based business in Washburn, Springfed Energy, which she operates in addition to working as a registered nurse at Memorial Medical Center and Northern Lights Health Care Center.

As a practitioner of the noninvasive Healing Touch therapy, Perkins uses her hands to "clear, energize and balance the human energy fields," she said.

Some of the positive effects that Healing Touch therapy can yield include reducing stress, calming anxiety, decreasing pain, easing chronic conditions, strengthening the immune system and creating a sense of well-being, Perkins said.

"It helps me to support people's own efforts to heal themselves," she said.

Developed by nurses in the late 1980s, the Healing Touch program is endorsed by the American Holistic Nurses Association, she said. Because Healing Touch is integrative, Perkins works in conjunction with her clients' other health care providers, she said.

"It complements…therapeutic interventions by physicians and other licensed providers," Perkins said in a recent release.

Perkins began studying Healing Touch three years ago, and has since advanced to the program's fourth level. She is working towards reaching the fifth level and becoming a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner, she said.

In addition to home-based practices like Perkins', Healing Touch is used in settings like hospitals, hospices and spas, she said.

A client's first visit with Perkins will last approximately two hours and will include a thorough intake evaluation and setting of mutual goals.

"That could be anywhere from feeling more relaxed to decreasing pain to helping any chronic medical conditions," she said.

After this initial check-in, Perkins will use her hand and a hanging pendulum to assess her client's "energy centers." Depending on the assessment's results, she proceeds to administer different Healing Touch techniques.

As a longtime nurse with well-established ties to the local medical community, Perkins was in a unique position to help a friend who recently underwent knee-replacement surgery. At the hospital, her friend's team of doctors allowed Perkins to be her Healing Touch support person through the whole surgical process, she said.

"So I balanced the energy fields in the pre-operative area, and I was allowed to be present in the operating room during the surgery as well as in the recovery area of the intensive care unit," she said.

"My nursing background helped me lay the groundwork for this to happen, to be effective in the different departments," she added, "And to be able to differentiate between when Healing Touch was indicated and when just sitting and holding her hand was what she needed."

Health Matters: Saturday, May 8, 2010

Reprinted with permission from the Ashland Daily Press, Ashland, WI

In 2004 I learned of a workshop being offered at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, Healing Touch Level 1. The brochure described learning techniques with funny names such as Magnetic Clearing; but as soon as I started to read about this energy therapy, I knew that I was meant to study it. I had had the same strong feeling when I was in nursing school in the early 1970's, and started to learn Maternity Nursing. I am blessed to have not one, but two callings in life.

I learned that, according to the Healing Touch Program, this "is an energy therapy in which practitioners consciously use their hands in a heart-centered and intentional way to enhance, support and facilitate the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and self-healing." The goal in Healing Touch is to "restore harmony and balance in the energy system, placing the client in a position to self-heal." It is "complementary, integrative" and can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies.

Their philosophy of respecting and supporting the individual's abilities to take responsibility for their own wellness resonated with my personal practice in supporting birthing women, in classes and in labor, for over 30 years. I was impressed that this program is endorsed by the American Holistic Nurses Association. And I am very pleased that all 90 hours of my classroom training are approved continuing education hours in my nursing profession.

So what happens when I do Healing Touch with a person? First of all, I always obtain permission to work with him/her, and also to utilize light or near-body touch during a session. We agree on a mutual goal, such as decreasing stress or pain. Having said that, at the beginning of a treatment, I keep that goal in mind, but set my intention for the person's highest good, knowing the energy will go where it's needed. I might add that, according to Healing Touch Program's Code of Ethics, "no specific religious/spiritual belief or practice is promoted in Healing Touch." But it certainly is a holistic therapy, incorporating the spiritual, as nursing has done throughout its history.

For the treatment, the healee may be sitting or lying down, and remains fully clothed. In my home business, Springfed Energy, a massage table is utilized, but Healing Touch is not massage. A full-length session is commonly at least 45 minutes, and usually involves starting with a full-body centering technique such as the Spiral Meditation. Next there may be such interventions as a Pain Drain or Spinal Cleansing. At the end of the session, I ground the person by touching the lower legs, and consciously recall the healee's intention for healing, and visualize what that wholeness feels like.

I am pleased to report that my employer, Memorial Medical Center, has been extremely supportive during this journey, including providing the registration fee for 4 out of my 5 levels of training in Healing Touch. I currently incorporate this therapy into my nursing practice on the Obstetrical Unit, and hopefully will be able to expand this to other areas of the hospital. Healing Touch is offered in several hospitals in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and research is coming out of that area that demonstrates that patients who receive this therapy have shorter hospital stays.

Two weeks ago I completed Level 5 in Saint Paul, and am now authorized to call myself a Healing Touch Practitioner! Preparing for that intense, 3-day workshop included working with a mentor for over a year, documenting on 100 sessions with clients; and reporting on my experiences in receiving treatments from 10 practitioners of other healing modalities. In November of this year, I plan to apply for Certification from the Healing Touch Program, which involves more reports, and some educational activities in the community.

And this Fall, I'm looking into bringing the first class, Healing Touch Level 1, to the Chequamegon Bay area. This class is appropriate for a variety of people besides nurses: chaplains, parents, Certified Nurse's Assistants, to name only a few.