Atlas›Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield›Guide 028
Guide XII-028

Distant and absent healing

Harry Edwards1937Shere, Surrey, England
A 35 · L 50 · M 1518 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: spiritual healing as The Healing Trust (the UK charity that grew out of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, NFSH) publishes it, including its distant healing service and its two-year healer training; Harry Edwards' absent healing at Burrows Lea is given as the historical origin; Reiki second-degree (Okuden) distance healing is named as a variant only. [source: The Healing Trust, Healing and Training Overview pages; Psi Encyclopedia, Harry Edwards] [uncertain: the Trust–NFSH succession is stated from the Trust's site navigation and the Psi Encyclopedia, not from a dated Trust history page]

What it is. Distant (or absent) healing is spiritual or energy healing “sent” to a person who is not physically present: at an appointed time, at random times by a pool of healers, by phone or video, or by reading a name from a healing list in a group sitting. The Healing Trust offers healing in person, by home visit, by video or phone, and as remote healing at an appointed time; its free distant healing service needs only the recipient's first name, and a pool of healers sends healing daily at random times for one month. [source: The Healing Trust, Healing] Spiritualist churches run similar lists: one SNU church sent healing to a growing list (120 names and rising) every evening at a fixed time during the COVID-19 lockdown, using “thoughtful intention and prayer”. [source: SNU, Unlocking healing]

Core idea of change, as the method holds it. The Healing Trust describes healing as spiritual because the energy is said to come through the healer from a source higher than physical, emotional or mental energy; the healer attunes to a “Source of Healing”, and the body's own intelligence is said to use that energy to rebalance itself. [source: The Healing Trust, Healing] Harry Edwards (1893–1976), who gave his first absent healing in 1937 and ran absent healing from Burrows Lea near Shere, Surrey, from 1946, held that the healer attunes to discarnate healing “guides” and conveys a mental request with the patient's details; the guides were said to reach the patient directly, often during sleep, and to influence the body's “bodily intelligence”. He saw healing as a form of mediumship, not dependent on faith, prayer or ritual, and called “absent healing” a misnomer, preferring “distant healing”. [source: Psi Encyclopedia, Harry Edwards] These are the tradition's own accounts, given here as attributed beliefs.

Evidence status (one line). A Cochrane review of 10 randomised trials of intercessory prayer (7,646 people) found it neither significantly beneficial nor harmful and the evidence inconclusive (Roberts, Ahmed & Davison, 2009). [source: Cochrane CD000368] No form of distant healing is presented here as a treatment for any physical or mental disorder; the Healing Trust itself says healers do not diagnose and cannot promise a cure. [source: The Healing Trust, Healing]

For the psychotherapist. This is a spiritual practice that a therapist may train in and offer only as a clearly separate, consented, complementary service, or (more often) meet in clients who request, receive or send it. Most of the clinical work below is about consent, role clarity, meaning and risk. [synthesis]

2. Framework

Phases of one distant healing contact (assembled from the Healing Trust's published service and training topics and the Skills for Health National Occupational Standard SFHCNH25 Provide Healing to clients, 2010, whose knowledge item on distant healing lists: environment, preparing the client, dos and don'ts during the healing act, concluding, and eliciting and responding to feedback). [source: Skills for Health SFHCNH25; The Healing Trust, Healing and Training Overview] The standard lists these topics but not their content; the step detail in section 4 is marked where it is [synthesis].

  1. Request and consent. Goal: a clear request, an informed recipient (where possible) and agreed format (appointed time, call, or list/pool). Move on when the recipient (or a legitimately authorised person) has agreed and knows it is complementary, non-diagnostic and no substitute for medical care. [source: SFHCNH25 P3, P4; Healing Trust, Healing] [synthesis: the recipient-consent emphasis]
  2. Healer preparation: grounding and attunement. Goal: the healer's own readiness; the Trust teaches grounding and attunement in Part One and “attunement with words” in Part Three. Move on when the healer judges themself settled and fit to heal. [source: Healing Trust, Training Overview; SFHCNH25 P2, K7–K8]
  3. The healing act at a distance. Goal: the healer holds intention for the recipient; the recipient (if one-to-one) rests in a quiet place. Formats: one-to-one appointed time; phone or video; pool/list healing at random or set times. [source: Healing Trust, Healing; SNU]
  4. Concluding, feedback and records. Goal: end deliberately, gather feedback at the client's pace, give aftercare, record. [source: SFHCNH25 P11–P14]
  5. Review or renewal. The Trust's distant service runs one month per request. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] [uncertain: renewal procedure not verified]

Typical format and count. Pool distant healing: daily for one month. One-to-one remote sessions: by appointment, number set by the individual healer. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] [uncertain: no published standard session length or count]

Training and certification route.

  • The Healing Trust: an accredited two-year programme in four Parts (Part One Understanding Energy, incl. chakras, energy field, grounding and attunement, self healing and distant healing; Part Two Developing a Professional Approach, incl. Code of Conduct, risk assessment, seated healing; Part Three Roots of Illness and Fostering Health, incl. anatomy and physiology, imagery, forgiveness, couch healing; Part Four Deepening Energy Awareness, incl. listening skills and healing into death and dying). Each Part is followed by tutor-led assignments and supervised practice; students keep a log of training and clinical practice and pass an assessment panel to become a Registered Professional Healing Practitioner. Students may not charge for healing during training. In person or online (online pilot from 2023). [source: Healing Trust, Training Overview] Healers work to a Code of Conduct, carry professional liability insurance and are registered with UK Healers, which the Trust calls the regulator holding an independent register. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] [uncertain: UK Healers' status is a voluntary register; statutory status not verified]
  • Reiki variant: distance healing is taught at Reiki Level 2 (Okuden) with a distance symbol; UK courses state alignment with the UK Reiki Federation and the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and review the UK Reiki Federation Codes of Ethics. [source: City Lit, Reiki 2 Certificate; Usui Reiki Level 2 CNHC-accredited course listing] [uncertain: the Federation's code text on distant-healing permission was not verified]
  • National standard: Skills for Health SFHCNH25 (version 1, 2010; indicative review 2012) sets performance criteria for healers. [source: SFHCNH25]

Combining with psychotherapy. None of the sources gives a protocol for combining distant healing with psychotherapy. [uncertain: no published guidance found] The default recommended here [synthesis]: keep healing and therapy as separate services with separate consent, time and records; prefer referral to an independent registered healer; never send healing to a client or anyone in the client's life without explicit, informed request and consent; do not charge for healing within a therapy fee.

Professional-body positions. The APA Ethics Code (2002, amended 2010 and 2016) applies to any psychologist offering it: competence (2.01), basing judgments on established knowledge (2.04), multiple relationships (3.05), conflict of interest (3.06), informed consent including, for treatments without established techniques, their developing nature, risks, alternatives and voluntariness (3.10, 10.01), no false or deceptive statements (5.01), confidentiality (4.01), records (6.01), and respect for religious difference (Principle E). [source: APA Ethics Code] [uncertain: no specific statement on distant healing by a psychotherapy body was found]

Informed consent (what to tell a client). It is complementary, not a substitute for medical or psychological treatment; it involves no touch when given at a distance (in-person healing at the Trust involves touch only with permission and the client may decline it); it is described by its practitioners in spiritual terms; healers do not diagnose or promise cures; evidence status as in section 1. [source: Healing Trust, Healing; Cochrane CD000368]

3. Guiding principles

  • The healer is a channel, not the source. Practical meaning: no claims of personal power; outcomes are not promised. [source: Healing Trust, Healing; SFHCNH25 K1]
  • No diagnosis, no cure claims. Practical meaning: never interpret symptoms or predict outcomes; refer medical questions to the doctor. [source: Healing Trust, Healing; SFHCNH25 K3.4]
  • Consent is obtained and informed. Practical meaning: explain what may happen and get consent before healing, including at a distance. [source: SFHCNH25 P3–P4, K3.7]
  • Respect for autonomy, beliefs and culture. Practical meaning: work within the client's own spiritual frame; neither push it nor mock it. [source: SFHCNH25 K3.1; APA Principle E]
  • Confidentiality within the law; minimal data. Practical meaning: hold only what you need (the Trust's service takes a first name only). [source: SFHCNH25 K3.2; Healing Trust, Healing]
  • Complementary to medical care. Practical meaning: ask about and support medical treatment; know when referral is essential. [source: SFHCNH25 K11.1–K11.2; SNU]
  • Intent and the healer's own state matter. Practical meaning: prepare (grounding, attunement), and do not heal when unfit. [source: SFHCNH25 P2, K5–K8; Healing Trust, Training Overview]
  • Feedback and records. Practical meaning: ask at the client's pace and record outcomes. [source: SFHCNH25 P12, P14]
  • A healer may decline. Practical meaning: decline when inexperienced, when medical referral is essential, or when the request is unsuitable. [source: SFHCNH25 K11]
  • For the therapist: one role at a time. Practical meaning: never blend sending healing into therapy, never do it unasked, never sell it to clients. [synthesis; APA 3.05, 3.06]

4. Intervention inventory

Part A covers the healing procedures as the healing organisations publish them, for a therapist who has completed recognised healer training and offers healing as a separate service. Part B covers the psychotherapist's own work when distant healing comes into therapy. The sources name the topics of distant healing (environment, preparation, the healing act, concluding, feedback) but do not publish step-by-step scripts; where steps go beyond the source, they are marked [synthesis]. [source: SFHCNH25 K10; Healing Trust, Training Overview]

Part A. Healing procedures

A1. Taking a distant healing request

  • Purpose / when: at the start of any distant healing, for self, for another person, or (in the Trust's service) for a pet. [source: Healing Trust, Healing]
  • Steps: (1) Note who is asking and for whom. (2) Collect only what is needed; the Trust's service asks for a first name only, explaining that fuller data would have to be retained for years under data-protection rules. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] (3) Agree the format: appointed time, phone/video, or pool/list. (4) If the request is for someone else, ask whether that person knows and agrees; if not, explain that you will not send one-to-one healing without their agreement and offer the requester support for themselves instead. [synthesis] (5) Confirm the person is under medical care where relevant. [source: SFHCNH25 K11]
  • Example language (illustrative): “Before we arrange anything, does your sister know you're asking, and would she want this?”
  • Watch for: requests that are really the requester's anxiety or guilt; requests for a person who has refused help; requests for a child (see B7); pressure to promise results. Working: a clear, agreed request with realistic expectations.

A2. Informed consent and expectation-setting

  • Purpose / when: before the first healing, and again if format changes. [source: SFHCNH25 P3–P4, K3.7]
  • Steps: (1) Explain what may happen during and after (most people simply rest; reactions vary). (2) State that healing is complementary, that healers do not diagnose or promise cures, and that it does not replace medical or psychological care. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] (3) Describe the spiritual framing in the tradition's own words, as a belief. (4) Give the one-line evidence status. (5) Confirm no fee conflicts and that they can stop at any time. (6) Record consent. [source: SFHCNH25 P14] [synthesis: items 3–5]
  • Example language (illustrative): “Healers describe this as channelling healing energy from a spiritual source. It isn't a medical treatment and I can't promise any outcome. You can stop at any point.”
  • Watch for: the client hearing a promise; a plan to drop medication or appointments; consent given only to please you. Working: the client can say back what it is and is not.

A3. Healer preparation: grounding and attunement

  • Purpose / when: before every healing; the Trust teaches grounding and attunement in Part One, and the national standard lists relaxation, meditation, breathing, self-awareness, the importance of intent, and the source and route of healing energy as healer knowledge. [source: Healing Trust, Training Overview; SFHCNH25 K5–K8]
  • Steps: follow the method taught by your training body; the specific attunement sequence is taught in class and not published. [uncertain: steps not verified] General outline [synthesis]: settle in a quiet place, slow the breath, release your own concerns, set the intention for the named person's highest good without a fixed outcome, and check you are fit to heal.
  • Example language (illustrative, self-talk): “I'm not the source; I'm offering what I can for her wellbeing, with no outcome attached.”
  • Watch for: healing while distressed, rescuing, or wanting a particular result for your own reasons. In Edwards' account attunement was a mental link to the guides and to the patient, not dependent on faith, prayer or ritual. [source: Psi Encyclopedia]

A4. Preparing the recipient (one-to-one, appointed time)

  • Purpose / when: when healing is sent at an agreed time; the standard lists preparing the client and the healing environment as distant-healing knowledge. [source: SFHCNH25 K10; Healing Trust, Healing]
  • Steps (synthesis): agree the time; suggest the recipient sits or lies somewhere quiet and safe, phone silenced; no special beliefs required; they may simply rest, notice, or sleep; agree how you will end (text, call, or simply a time).
  • Example language (illustrative): “At 7 o'clock, just find a quiet seat. You don't need to do anything or believe anything. I'll message you when we've finished.”
  • Watch for: recipients with unstable dissociation or psychosis being alone and unsupported; driving or caring duties at the time. Working: the recipient knows what to expect and feels in control.

A5. The healing act at a distance

  • Purpose / when: the core of the session. Formats published: remote one-to-one at an appointed time, phone or video, and pool healing sent daily at random times for a month (Trust); list healing in a group at a fixed evening time with intention and prayer (SNU church). [source: Healing Trust, Healing; SNU] In Edwards' version the healer passed the patient's symptoms and condition to the guides as a mental request. [source: Psi Encyclopedia]
  • Steps: as taught by the training body; the standard names “dos and don'ts during the healing act” without listing them. [source: SFHCNH25 K10] [uncertain: content not published] For phone/video, keep the conversation brief before and after, and keep silence during. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative, on video): “I'll be quiet now for the healing. If you need anything, just speak and I'll stop.”
  • Watch for: the recipient's distress or strong emotion on a call (pause and check in); your own urge to interpret sensations as diagnosis (don't). [source: SFHCNH25 K3.4]

A6. Reiki distance healing (variant)

  • Purpose / when: for Reiki practitioners trained to Level 2 (Okuden), where a distance symbol is taught for sending Reiki at a distance. [source: City Lit, Reiki 2 Certificate; Usui Reiki Level 2 course listing]
  • Steps: as taught in a Level 2 class by your lineage; symbol use is not reproduced here. [uncertain: method detail not verified] Apply A1, A2 and A7 unchanged.
  • Example language (illustrative): “In Reiki this is called distance healing. Would you like to receive it, and at what time?”
  • Watch for: the same consent questions; practitioners who send Reiki without the person's knowledge — the ethics of “permission” are debated within Reiki communities. [uncertain: secondary, not verified]

A7. Concluding, feedback, aftercare and records

  • Purpose / when: after each healing. [source: SFHCNH25 P11–P14, K10]
  • Steps: (1) End deliberately (message or call at the agreed time). (2) Ask for feedback at the client's pace without leading. (3) Give clear aftercare: rest, water if they wish, contact their doctor for any medical concern. (4) Record date, format, consent, feedback and any concerns. [source: SFHCNH25 P12–P14] [synthesis: aftercare content]
  • Example language (illustrative): “How was that for you? Anything you noticed is fine, including nothing at all.”
  • Watch for: reports of new or worsening physical symptoms (route to the doctor); over-reading feedback as proof. Working: the client feels respected, unpressured and medically connected.

A8. Declining or referring a request

  • Purpose / when: when you lack experience, medical referral is essential, supervision is needed, or the request is unsuitable. [source: SFHCNH25 K11]
  • Steps: decline kindly; say why in plain terms; refer to medical care or to an independent registered healer; record. [synthesis: wording and referral routes]
  • Example language (illustrative): “I'm not the right person to send healing to you while I'm your therapist. I can give you details of an independent healing service if you'd like.”
  • Watch for: the client experiencing refusal as rejection (work with it in therapy).

Part B. The psychotherapist's own work

The items below are clinical practice for the therapist, built on the APA Ethics Code and general psychotherapy practice; they are [synthesis] unless a source is named.

B1. Asking about healing and prayer without judgement

  • Purpose / when: at assessment and whenever illness, crisis or spirituality comes up; clients often receive or send distant healing (healing lists, church circles, online groups) without mentioning it. [synthesis; SNU for the existence of such lists]
  • Steps: (1) Ask routinely alongside other supports. (2) Ask what form it takes and who provides it. (3) Ask whether any cost is involved. (4) Record it neutrally. [APA 6.01; Principle E]
  • Example language (illustrative): “Some people find support in prayer, healing circles or distant healing. Is anything like that part of your life right now?”
  • Watch for: shame or defensiveness (normalise); reluctance to tell the doctor. Working: the client speaks about it freely.

B2. Exploring meaning, hopes and expectations

  • Purpose / when: when a client receives, requests or sends distant healing, especially for someone who is seriously ill.
  • Steps: explore what draws them (hope, control, connection, faith, helplessness at a distance, distrust of medicine); what they expect; what it would mean if nothing changed; how it fits with medical care.
  • Example language (illustrative): “When you put your dad's name on the healing list, what were you hoping for — for him, and for yourself?”
  • Watch for: magical responsibility (“if I stop, he'll get worse”); guilt after deterioration; a spiritual frame that comforts versus one that frightens. Working: the client holds hope and realism together.

B3. When a client asks you to send healing

  • Purpose / when: a client knows you are a healer, or assumes a therapist can “send energy” or pray for them.
  • Steps: (1) Thank them and explore the request in therapy first (what they want from you, what it says about the relationship). (2) Explain the dual-role risk: healing and therapy are kept separate. [APA 3.05, 3.06] (3) If you are a trained healer, the safer default is referral to an independent registered healer or free distant healing service. (4) If, after consultation, you offer healing at all, do it outside therapy time, with separate written consent, no fee within the therapy fee, and records kept separately and noted in the clinical record. (5) Discuss in supervision.
  • Example language (illustrative): “I'm glad you felt able to ask. I keep my therapy and any healing work separate, so the therapy stays clear. Could we look at what you're hoping for, and I can point you to a healing service if you still want one?”
  • Watch for: idealisation of the therapist as healer; dependence; the client attributing therapy gains to “energy” rather than their own work. Working: the request becomes material for therapy, not a boundary breach.

B4. Not sending healing unasked

  • Purpose / when: the temptation to “send something” to a struggling client between sessions, or to add their name to a healing list.
  • Steps: do not send healing to a client, or to anyone named in therapy, without their explicit request and consent; never place a client's name on any healing list (confidentiality). [APA 3.10, 4.01; SFHCNH25 P4] Notice the urge and take it to supervision as countertransference. Private personal prayer is a matter of the therapist's own conscience, but it must not be disclosed, used to steer the client, or substitute for clinical action. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative, supervision): “I keep wanting to send her healing at night. I think it's about how helpless I feel with her.”
  • Watch for: disclosing “I've been sending you healing” (can feel intrusive or controlling, especially to trauma survivors).

B5. Coordinating with medical care and managing risk

  • Purpose / when: whenever healing is used during physical or serious mental illness.
  • Steps: (1) Confirm medical care is ongoing. (2) Ask directly whether anyone has suggested stopping or delaying treatment. (3) With consent, liaise with the GP or treating team. (4) Never advise on medicines; route to the prescriber. (5) If a client is delaying urgent care, use decision-support conversations that respect autonomy while stating your concern clearly. [synthesis; SFHCNH25 K11 on medical referral]
  • Example language (illustrative): “Healing can sit alongside your treatment. Has anyone suggested you might not need the chemotherapy or your medication?”
  • Watch for: paid healers promising cures; family conflict over treatment; a client who stops medication. The Trust itself states healers cannot promise a cure. [source: Healing Trust, Healing]

B6. Grief, dying and healing lists

  • Purpose / when: a loved one dies while on a healing list, or the client is dying; the Trust teaches “healing into death and dying” as a training topic. [source: Healing Trust, Training Overview]
  • Steps: explore whether the client feels healing “failed”, or that they failed; separate the meaning of healing as comfort from cure; support grief work; liaise with palliative teams with consent.
  • Example language (illustrative): “Some people find that healing gave peace even though it didn't change the illness. How does it sit with you now?”
  • Watch for: self-blame, anger at healers or faith, complicated grief.

B7. Children and people who cannot consent

  • Purpose / when: a parent requests healing for a child, or a family member for an adult lacking capacity.
  • Steps: support the parent's own coping; check the child receives all needed medical care; seek age-appropriate assent where healing is in person; follow safeguarding procedures if medical care, nutrition or vaccination is being withheld in favour of healing. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): “It makes sense to want every kind of help for her. Alongside that, is she still seeing the consultant?”
  • Watch for: medical neglect, which is a safeguarding matter.

B8. Clients who feel targeted by unwanted distant influence

  • Purpose / when: a client believes someone is sending energy, curses or healing at them against their will.
  • Steps: (1) Listen without endorsing or dismissing. (2) Assess cultural and religious context (shared community belief) versus signs of psychosis, OCD or trauma-related hypervigilance. (3) Assess risk to self and others. (4) If the belief is culturally shared, consider consulting a trusted figure from the client's tradition with consent. (5) Treat underlying distress with established approaches; refer for psychiatric assessment if psychotic features are present.
  • Example language (illustrative): “It sounds frightening to feel someone is acting on you from a distance. Tell me what you notice when it happens.”
  • Watch for: fixed, escalating beliefs, command hallucinations, plans to confront the supposed sender.

B9. Money, groups and conflicts of interest

  • Purpose / when: a client pays for distant healing, is sold tiered courses, or is under group pressure.
  • Steps: ask about costs and pressure neutrally; contrast with free services (the Trust's distant service is free, donations welcomed) [source: Healing Trust, Healing]; explore financial strain and coercion; never sell healing or courses to clients. [APA 3.06, 3.08, 5.01]
  • Example language (illustrative): “How much has the healing cost so far, and how do you feel about that?”
  • Watch for: escalating payments, cure promises, isolation from family or doctors; report misleading cure advertising to the advertising regulator. [synthesis]

B10. Documentation and supervision

  • Purpose / when: whenever healing features in therapy or the therapist also practises healing.
  • Steps: record what the client reports, your responses, any consent and liaison; keep any separate healing records apart; bring all dual-role questions to supervision. [APA 6.01, 3.05]
  • Example language (illustrative, note): “Client reports receiving distant healing via a charity list; continues GP care; no cost; discussed meaning.”
  • Watch for: notes that read as endorsement or ridicule.

5. Handling problems

The healing sources address unexpected situations only in outline (inexperience, essential medical referral, seeking advice, declining clients, supervision, special requests). [source: SFHCNH25 K11] Everything else below is [synthesis].

  • The client expects a cure or a sign. Restate what healing is and is not; explore what a “result” would mean; keep medical care central. (illustrative) “I can't promise any change in the illness. What would help you feel you'd done enough?”
  • Nothing seems to happen, or the client feels worse. Normalise; do not blame the client's belief or “blocks”; route new physical symptoms to the doctor; review whether to continue. [source: SFHCNH25 K11.1 on medical referral]
  • Third-party request without the recipient's knowledge. Decline one-to-one healing; offer the requester support; note that group lists and charity pools may accept third-party requests (the Trust's form takes a first name) and that this is the requester's own choice outside therapy. [source: Healing Trust, Healing] [synthesis]
  • Stuck therapy where healing becomes a substitute. If the client relies on healing to avoid painful therapy work, name it gently and link it to their goals. (illustrative) “I notice we talk about the healing when we get near your anger at him.”
  • Rupture after you decline to send healing. Acknowledge the hurt, explain the reason in terms of protecting the therapy, and repair. (illustrative) “I can see that felt like a no to you, not just to the healing. That matters to me.”
  • Overwhelm or dissociation during an at-a-distance session (if you practise healing). Stop, speak, orient the person to their surroundings, agree a contact person, and do not continue alone with someone unstable; for clients with active trauma symptoms, prefer in-therapy stabilisation over healing sessions. [synthesis]
  • Trauma history with intrusion or control themes. “Being worked on” unseen can echo abuse; always seek explicit consent, give the right to stop at any time, offer the choice of format, and never surprise a client with “I've been sending you healing”. In-person healing involves touch only with permission and may be entirely hands-off. [source: Healing Trust, Healing on touch] [synthesis]
  • Non-adherence to medical care. Explore reasons (fear, side-effects, distrust, cost); with consent contact the doctor; respect capacity; involve safeguarding where a child or adult at risk is deprived of care. [synthesis]
  • Magical thinking, scrupulosity or OCD-type rituals around sending healing. Treat as you would other compulsions: map the fear, reduce safety behaviours, work on responsibility appraisals (see Domain II). [synthesis]
  • Psychotic or grandiose experiences of “healing powers”. Assess carefully and culturally; refer for psychiatric assessment if there are other psychotic features, sleep loss or risk. [synthesis]
  • Financial exploitation or group pressure. Discuss costs, isolation and promises; support the client to step back; report misleading health claims to the relevant advertising or consumer regulator; report a registered practitioner's misconduct to their register (for Healing Trust healers, UK Healers). [source: Healing Trust, Healing for the register] [synthesis: reporting routes]
  • Your own wish to heal the client. Treat it as countertransference: supervision, not action. [synthesis; APA 3.05]
  • The client asks your beliefs. Answer briefly and honestly if useful, then return to their frame; do not proselytise either way. [APA Principle E] [synthesis]

Sources

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