Atlas›Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield›Guide 029
Guide XII-029

Psychic healing

United Kingdom
A 39 · L 46 · M 1520 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: UK spiritual (Spiritualist) healing as set out in the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) Core Curriculum for Healing (December 2024) and the Skills for Health National Occupational Standard CNH25 "Provide healing to clients" (version 1, 2010), with the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) Healing Accreditation Scheme for the Spiritualist form, and Harry Edwards' account of contact and absent healing for the historical lineage. Commercial "psychic" services that sell readings, curse removal or energy cleansing are covered as a consumer-protection risk, not as a method to practise.

What it is. "Psychic healing" is an umbrella term, not one method with a single founder or manual. In the UK the organised form is usually called spiritual healing or Spiritualist healing; the SNU calls its practitioners healing mediums. As its organisations describe it, healing is a non-invasive practice addressing body, mind and spirit, in which the healer acts as a channel for a healing energy believed to support the person's own self-healing. It is given with hands on the body, with hands held near the body, or at a distance ("distant" and "absent" healing). [source: Skills for Health CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum; SNU Foundation Course SH1 page; Blackwood Spiritualist Church healing page]

Core idea of how change happens (as practitioners hold it). Harry Edwards (1893–1976), first president of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers (founded 1954), taught that healing is a form of mediumship: through a "chain of attunement", the healer links mentally with spirit healing guides and with the patient, and the guides direct healing energies while the healer is a largely passive channel. He held that faith was not required and that much illness stems from deep distress ("dis-ease"). Present-day curricula keep the language of energy, attunement, intent and the healer as channel, and teach that healers must not diagnose or offer to cure. These are the tradition's own concepts and are described here as it holds them. [source: Psi Encyclopedia, "Harry Edwards"; CNHC Core Curriculum]

Evidence status (one line). The CNHC curriculum itself notes minimal research, mostly pointing to a relaxation response; no health outcome is claimed here, and healing is not a treatment for cancer or any other physical or mental illness. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; ASA advice on religious and spiritual healing]

Regulation and professional positions. Healing is not statutorily regulated in the UK; the CNHC publishes the core curriculum that healer training must meet for its register, and states there are no regulated qualifications in healing. UK advertising rules bar healers from claiming to diagnose, treat or cure conditions needing medical supervision, and from discouraging essential treatment; broadcast rules bar claims that faith healing treats physical or mental health problems; psychic advertisers must not promise to improve health or break curses. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; ASA advice: religious and spiritual healing; ASA advice: psychics, spiritualists, fortune tellers] Edwards' biographer reports that a 1959 code of conduct let federation healers work in many NHS hospitals and that in 1977 the General Medical Council allowed doctors to refer patients to accredited healers. [source: Psi Encyclopedia; uncertain: secondary, not verified against GMC records] The UK Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 was due to be repealed in 2008 and replaced by stricter consumer rules that do not require proof of dishonest intent. [source: Humanists UK press release, 10 April 2008; uncertain: the precise replacement regulations and commencement date were not verified]

For the psychotherapist. A therapist may train as a healer through a recognised route and offer healing as a clearly separate, complementary service, or (more often) meet clients who use healers or commercial psychics. Neither the SNU nor the CNHC materials say how to combine healing with psychotherapy; the guidance on combining below is [synthesis] built on the CNHC standards and the APA Ethics Code (competence 2.01, multiple relationships 3.05, conflict of interest 3.06, informed consent for treatments without established techniques 10.01b). [source: APA Ethics Code]

2. Framework

Training and certification route.

  • CNHC-compliant healer training: at least 200 hours total qualification time over a minimum of two years, including 100 guided learning hours with at least 16 hours of supervised practice with tutor and learner physically present; 50% theory, 50% practice (practice includes reflection, communication and professional issues); at least three case studies of at least three sessions each; written work plus a final practical assessment by at least one independent, occupationally competent assessor. Applicants without a qualifying course may use an experience route requiring three years' practice. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • SNU Healing Accreditation Scheme: the academic element is course SH1 "Spiritualist Healing" (history of Spiritualism, its teachings, responsibilities of a healing medium, healing potential, attunement, the scheme itself, the healing code of conduct, the SNU, trance healing and anatomy and physiology), followed by registration as a trainee healer; churches describe at least two years of practical and theoretical training, after which registered healers carry a card with name, registration number and renewal date. The SNU "Code of Conduct and Healing and the Law" is compulsory for registered healing mediums and insurance applies only when healing follows it. [source: SNU Foundation Course page; Blackwood Spiritualist Church; SNU Code of Conduct shop page]
  • Other organisations: The Healing Trust is reported as the successor name of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers. [uncertain: not verified]

Session structure (as the standards set it out). One session runs through: (1) preparing environment and self; (2) explaining what may happen during and after, including the right to stop; (3) obtaining and recording consent; (4) positioning the client seated or lying; (5) healer attunement, centring and grounding; (6) the healing act, hands on or off the body; (7) monitoring and adjusting to the client's responses; (8) concluding and checking the client is fit to travel; (9) feedback and aftercare advice; (10) records. [source: Skills for Health CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum]

Formats. In-person (contact or near-to-the-body), distant (healing sent to someone present but not receiving contact) and absent (person not present). Settings include Spiritualist churches, healing centres, private practice and, historically, NHS hospitals and staff wellbeing sessions. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church; South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT news item, 2008; Psi Encyclopedia]

Session count and length. The sources set no course of treatment; training case studies require at least three sessions per client. No standard session length is set. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; uncertain: not verified]

Moving between steps or ending a course. The standards make movement depend on the client's state: proceed only with consent; adjust as needs change; stop at the client's request; conclude only when the client is settled and fit to travel; refer when healing is insufficient or a medical referral is needed; decline clients where appropriate. [source: CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum] For a therapist, review after a few sessions whether the client still wants healing and whether it is supporting or substituting for the agreed psychotherapy goals. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

  • Non-diagnosis, no promise of cure. Never name a condition or suggest healing will cure it; describe the service only. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; CNH25]
  • Complementary to medical care. Clients continue prescribed treatment; you never advise on medicines. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church; ASA advice]
  • Invitation and consent. Healing is given only when the person (or their representative) has asked for it, with consent obtained, recorded and renewable at any point. [source: SNU Code of Conduct page; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Right to stop. Tell the client they can stop at any time, and stop at once if they ask. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Healer as channel; intent matters. The tradition holds that the healer channels rather than generates the healing and that intent shapes it; in practice this means a calm, focused, non-directive presence and no claims of personal power. [source: CNH25; Psi Encyclopedia]
  • Respect for beliefs; no imposition. Respect the client's dignity, autonomy, culture and beliefs and do not impose the healer's own; no religious belief is required of the client. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; SWYPFT news item]
  • Avoid dependency. Keep the client's own agency central; no open-ended reliance on the healer. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Confidentiality within the law; accurate records. [source: CNH25]
  • Know your limits and refer. Recognise when medical referral is essential, when supervision is needed and when to decline. [source: CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Honest advertising. No health, wealth or curse-breaking claims; no exploitation of the sick, elderly or bereaved. [source: ASA advice pages]
  • Healer self-development. Regular relaxation, meditation, breathing practice, self-care and reflective practice. [source: CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Role clarity for therapists. Keep healing and psychotherapy as distinct, separately contracted activities, and do not sell healing to existing psychotherapy clients where it would create a conflict of interest. [synthesis; APA Ethics Code 3.05, 3.06]
  • Touch boundaries. Touch only with explicit consent before and during, offer hands-off healing as an equal alternative, avoid any touch that could cause embarrassment, and never sexual or intimate touch. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church ("no cause for embarrassment"); synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

Interventions 4.1–4.14 and 4.20 follow the healing session and professional duties as the CNH25 standard, the CNHC curriculum and the SNU describe them; step detail beyond those headings is [synthesis] unless cited. Interventions 4.15–4.19 are the psychotherapist's own work. [source: CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum; SNU pages]

4.1 Preparing the healing space

  • Purpose / when: before every in-person session, so the room, equipment and materials meet professional codes and health and safety requirements. [source: CNH25 P1; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Steps: check the room is private, warm, quiet and free of trip hazards; have a stable chair and, if used, a couch with easy access; keep tissues, water and a blanket to hand; turn off phone notifications; arrange an unobstructed route to the door for both of you; if working in a church, centre or hospital, follow that setting's rules. [synthesis on CNH25 P1]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You'll stay fully clothed. You can sit in this chair or lie on the couch, whichever feels better, and you can change your mind."
  • Watch for: a setting that feels isolating or unsafe to the client (for example, a closed room with a stranger); offer a door ajar or a second person present. [synthesis]

4.2 Healer self-preparation: relaxation, meditation and breathing

  • Purpose / when: daily practice and before each session, so the healer is calm, fit to work and attentive; the standards list relaxation, meditation, self-awareness and breathing techniques as core healer knowledge. [source: CNH25 knowledge P6; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Steps: take a few minutes alone; settle posture; slow and deepen breathing; notice and set aside your own preoccupations; check you are physically and emotionally fit to work (not ill, not distressed, not under the influence of anything that impairs you); if you are not fit, reschedule. [synthesis on CNH25 P2]
  • Example language (illustrative, self-talk): "I'm here for this person's comfort. Nothing to prove, nothing to fix."
  • Watch for: working while depleted, wanting a dramatic result, or carrying the previous client's material into the session. [synthesis]

4.3 Explaining the session and obtaining consent

  • Purpose / when: at the first meeting and briefly each time; the standards require explaining what may happen during and after the healing, the client's right to stop, and obtaining and recording consent, including attention to mental capacity, children and young people below the age of consent. [source: CNH25 P3–P4; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Steps: (1) confirm the person has asked for healing (SNU healers give healing only when invited by the patient or their representative). (2) Describe the method in plain words as the tradition holds it (energy, channel, attunement) without making health claims. (3) State what it involves: seated or lying, fully clothed, hands on named non-intimate areas or held near the body, or no contact at all. (4) Give the evidence status in one line. (5) State that it does not replace medical care and that prescribed treatment continues. (6) State the right to stop or change at any time and a simple stop signal. (7) Agree fees, if any, and that no further purchases are expected. (8) Record consent in writing. (9) For under-18s, follow safeguarding and parental-consent rules and the child's own assent; for adults who may lack capacity, follow mental-capacity law. [source: SNU Code of Conduct page; Blackwood Spiritualist Church; CNHC Core Curriculum; steps 3–8 detail synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "This is a complementary practice. Healers describe it as channelling a healing energy; research so far mostly shows people find it relaxing. It isn't a treatment for any illness, so please carry on with anything your doctor has prescribed. If I place my hands, it will only be on your head, shoulders, upper back, arms or hands, and only after I ask. You can say 'stop' or raise a hand at any point."
  • Watch for: clients who say yes to please you, who hope healing will replace medical treatment, or who expect a diagnosis; re-explain and, if needed, defer. [synthesis]

4.4 Positioning the client

  • Purpose / when: at the start, to maximise comfort and minimise injury risk to client and healer. Options are seated or lying. [source: CNH25 P5 and knowledge P9]
  • Steps: ask which position the client prefers; for clients with mobility, breathing or pregnancy-related needs, prefer seated or adjust support; seat yourself or stand so you are not straining; keep the client's eyes-open or eyes-closed choice their own. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would you rather sit up or lie down? Eyes open or closed is fine either way."
  • Watch for: lying down with eyes closed can feel exposed for trauma survivors; seated, eyes open, is a reasonable default for a first session. [synthesis]

4.5 Attunement, centring and intention

  • Purpose / when: at the start of each healing; curricula list attunement methods, focusing, intention and centring, and the recognition of attunement's consequences. In Edwards' account, attunement is the healer's mental link with the healing guides and the patient. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; CNH25 knowledge P5, P7; Psi Encyclopedia]
  • Steps: after self-preparation, quietly bring attention to the purpose of the session (the client's wellbeing), hold a calm, non-demanding intention, and, in the Spiritualist form, the healer seeks attunement with the healing source as their tradition teaches it. Specific prayers, visualisations or invocations vary by organisation and are taught in its own courses. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; SNU SH1 page; specific wording uncertain: not verified]
  • Example language (illustrative, to client): "I'm going to take a moment to settle and focus before we begin. You don't need to do anything except rest."
  • Watch for: the healer drifting into their own altered state and losing track of the client; keep part of attention on the client throughout. [synthesis]

4.6 Grounding and "protection"

  • Purpose / when: before and after healing; the curriculum lists grounding, centring and protection, and recognising the presence and flow of healing energy and its effects on the healer. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; CNH25 knowledge P8]
  • Steps: before the session, attend to the feet on the floor and the body's weight; after it, a short closing practice so the healer ends the session clearly and returns to ordinary attention. What "protection" consists of is taught within each organisation and is a concept of the tradition. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; detail synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative, to client at close): "Take your time. Feel your feet on the floor, have a look around the room, and come back when you're ready."
  • Watch for: language about "protection" that frightens clients (for example, implying they carry dark energies); keep the concept the healer's own and do not attribute harm to the client. [synthesis]

4.7 Contact healing (hands on)

  • Purpose / when: for clients who want and consent to touch. SNU healers "seek permission" before placing hands and ensure there is "no cause for embarrassment". Edwards described the hands as "terminal points" for the healing energy. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church; Psi Encyclopedia]
  • Steps: (1) ask again immediately before touching and name where. (2) Place hands lightly on agreed non-intimate areas (for example head, shoulders, upper back, arms, hands). (3) Keep contact still and gentle; move to a new area only after saying so. (4) Check in at intervals. (5) Remove hands at once if the client stiffens, says stop, or seems distressed. (6) Never touch the chest, breasts, abdomen, buttocks, genital area or inner thighs, and never in a way that could be experienced as sexual. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church; CNH25 P7–P10; areas and steps 2–6 synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm going to rest my hands on your shoulders now; is that all right?" ... "I'll move them to your hands next."
  • Watch for: freezing, holding the breath, or a flat "fine" that may signal discomfort; switch to near-the-body or stop. Chaperone and documentation practice: record consent and areas touched; offer a chaperone or open door. [synthesis; specific professional-body chaperone policy uncertain: not verified]

4.8 Near-to-the-body (non-contact) healing

  • Purpose / when: the hands-off alternative and the default where touch is unwanted, culturally inappropriate, or risky for the client. One SNU church describes hands held a few inches from the body without touching. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church; CNH25 knowledge P9 (hands on or off the body)]
  • Steps: explain that you will not touch; hold hands a short distance from the body, usually around the head and shoulders; keep movements slow and announced; avoid hovering near intimate areas. [synthesis on source]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I won't touch you at all. I'll hold my hands a little away from you, around your head and shoulders."
  • Watch for: clients who find unseen hand movements unsettling; keep eyes-open option and narrate. [synthesis]

4.9 Distant healing (client present, no contact)

  • Purpose / when: in the SNU's terms, healing sent by thought to a person who is present but not receiving contact healing, for example in a church healing service or when someone prefers to sit apart. [source: Blackwood Spiritualist Church]
  • Steps: agree with the person that they will sit nearby and receive healing without approach or touch; the healer attunes and holds the person in mind as their tradition teaches; close and invite feedback as for in-person healing. [source: as above; steps synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can stay where you are. I won't come over; just rest, and let me know afterwards how that was."
  • Watch for: the person feeling singled out in a group; offer privacy. [synthesis]

4.10 Absent healing (client not present)

  • Purpose / when: healing for someone who is not physically present; it formed most of Edwards' work at Burrows Lea, where requests arrived by the thousand each week. The curricula cover the environment, preparing the client, the healing act, concluding and feedback. [source: Psi Encyclopedia; CNH25 knowledge P10; CNHC Core Curriculum]
  • Steps: (1) obtain the person's own request or consent, or that of a lawful representative; do not send healing to someone who has refused it. (2) Explain what will happen and that there is nothing they must do. (3) Record the request and consent. (4) The healer attunes and holds the person in mind as taught. (5) Invite the person to report back, and record feedback. (6) Make clear it is not a substitute for medical or psychological care. [source: SNU Code of Conduct page (invitation); CNH25 P10 headings; steps synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've asked for absent healing. Nothing is expected of you. If anything changes in how you're feeling, physically or emotionally, please see your doctor as usual."
  • Watch for: relatives requesting healing for an adult who has not consented; paid open-ended "ongoing" absent-healing subscriptions, which can become exploitative. [synthesis; ASA advice on vulnerable people]

4.11 Monitoring, adjusting and responding to reactions

  • Purpose / when: throughout every session; the standards require adjusting the healing as needs change, responding to reactions and checking wellbeing throughout. [source: CNH25 P8–P10]
  • Steps: check in at the start, midway and before closing; watch breathing, posture, colour, tears, restlessness; if emotion arises, pause the healing and attend to the person; if they feel faint, unwell or panicky, stop, sit them upright, and seek medical help if needed. [synthesis on CNH25]
  • Example language (illustrative): "How are you doing right now?" ... "I notice some tears. Would you like to pause, or carry on?"
  • Watch for: strong emotional release, dissociation or flashbacks (see 4.18 and section 5); physical symptoms that need medical attention. [synthesis]

4.12 Concluding, feedback and aftercare

  • Purpose / when: at the end of each session; conclude appropriately, ensure the client is fit to travel, obtain feedback at their level and pace, and give clear aftercare advice. [source: CNH25 P11–P13]
  • Steps: tell the client you are finishing; remove hands or lower them; invite them to sit quietly, orient to the room and take water; ask open questions about their experience; give aftercare in plain terms (rest, drink water if they wish, carry on usual medical care, contact their doctor about any new or worrying symptom); confirm they are alert enough to travel. [synthesis on CNH25]
  • Example language (illustrative): "That's the end of the healing. Take a minute. What did you notice, if anything?"
  • Watch for: clients who leave light-headed; clients interpreting sensations as diagnoses ("you felt heat on my back, is something wrong?"): do not interpret, redirect to their doctor. [synthesis; CNHC Core Curriculum on not diagnosing]

4.13 Records

  • Purpose / when: after every session, accurately and in enough detail to evaluate outcome and meet professional and legal requirements. [source: CNH25 P14]
  • Steps: record date, format (contact, near-the-body, distant, absent), consent and any areas touched, client's reported experience, any concerns raised, referrals suggested and aftercare given; store securely under data-protection law. For a therapist, keep healing records separate from psychotherapy notes unless the client agrees otherwise. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I keep a short note of each session, including what you agreed to. You can see it if you want."
  • Watch for: recording any diagnosis or energetic "findings" as facts; record only what the client reported and what you did. [synthesis]

4.14 Referral, declining and contraindication screening

  • Purpose / when: at intake and whenever new information arises. The curriculum requires recognising when healing is insufficient or medical referral is essential, when healer or client should seek advice from health professionals or other therapists, when to decline a client and when supervision is needed; it lists pacemakers, diabetes, epilepsy, mental health issues and medication effects among the situations to consider. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; CNH25 knowledge P11]
  • Steps: ask about current medical and psychological care, medication, implanted devices, seizure history and mental health; for any undiagnosed or worsening symptom, advise seeing a doctor before or alongside healing; decline when the request is for cure of a serious illness in place of treatment, when the client is acutely unwell or intoxicated, or when it is beyond your experience; record the reason. [source: as above; steps synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Healing can sit alongside your medical care, but it can't replace it. Before we go further, I'd like you to have that new pain checked by your GP."
  • Watch for: clients delaying medical assessment because healing "helps"; requests for healing for cancer or other serious disease framed as cure. [synthesis; ASA advice]

4.15 Combining healing with psychotherapy (therapist who is also a trained healer)

  • Purpose / when: only after completing a recognised training route (section 2), and only when healing is something the client independently requests. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; APA Ethics Code 2.01; combination guidance synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Keep separate contracts, consent forms, appointments and records for healing and for psychotherapy. (2) Give informed consent for an approach without established techniques: its developing status, risks, alternatives and that it is voluntary (APA 10.01b). (3) Consider whether providing both creates a multiple relationship or conflict of interest (APA 3.05, 3.06); where it does, refer to an accredited healer instead. (4) Never make healing a condition of therapy or a paid add-on that the client feels obliged to buy. (5) Bring material arising in healing back into psychotherapy only with the client's agreement. (6) Review at intervals whether healing is helping the therapy goals or substituting for them. (7) Discuss the arrangement in supervision. [source: APA Ethics Code; detail synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Healing is a separate service from our therapy and entirely optional. Saying no won't change anything about our work together. If you'd prefer, I can give you details of other accredited healers."
  • Watch for: clients who feel they cannot refuse; blurring of roles (talking therapy during healing, or healing during therapy without a separate agreement); idealisation of the therapist as having special powers. [synthesis]

4.16 Asking about use of healers and psychics, without judgement

  • Purpose / when: at assessment and when clients mention healers, mediums, readings, curses or energy work. [synthesis]
  • Steps: ask routinely alongside other self-care and complementary approaches; ask what they use, how often, who provides it, costs, and how it fits with their medical and psychological care; record it. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people I work with see healers, mediums or psychics. Is anything like that part of your life? I ask so I understand what helps you, not to judge."
  • Watch for: shame or secrecy, which may hide high spending or fear-based dependence. [synthesis]

4.17 Exploring meaning, hope and the explanatory model

  • Purpose / when: when healing or psychic contact is significant to the client, including in grief and serious illness. [synthesis]
  • Steps: explore what draws them (comfort, hope, connection with a deceased person, a sense of control, spiritual community, distrust of medicine); what they expect; what they will do if the hoped-for change doesn't come; respect their beliefs (APA Principle E) while supporting informed decisions; with consent, coordinate with their doctor if medical care is affected. [source: APA Ethics Code Principle E; steps synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What does healing give you that other things don't?" ... "What would it mean to you if it didn't change the symptoms?"
  • Watch for: grief work blocked by reliance on mediums; magical expectations around serious illness; decisions to stop medical treatment, which call for a calm, respectful conversation and, with consent, contact with the treating doctor. [synthesis]

4.18 Trauma-sensitive adaptation of healing sessions

  • Purpose / when: with clients who have trauma histories, particularly of physical or sexual abuse, or of spiritual or religious abuse. The healing sources give no trauma-specific protocol; this is [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Start with near-the-body or distant healing; introduce contact only if the client asks and only on agreed areas. (2) Seated, eyes open, client nearer the door. (3) Agree a stop signal and a grounding plan before starting. (4) Keep sessions short and predictable; narrate each step. (5) If dissociation or flashback appears, stop the healing and use orientation and grounding (name the date and place, feet on floor, look around the room). (6) Do not frame trauma reactions as "energy releasing" or "blockages clearing"; treat them as distress to attend to. (7) Process trauma material in psychotherapy, not in the healing session. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's stop the healing for now. You're here in this room with me; it's Tuesday afternoon. Can you feel the chair under you?"
  • Watch for: compliance without true consent, freezing, startle at touch, sudden emotional numbness. [synthesis]

4.19 Recognising psychic-fraud and curse-removal scams, and reporting

  • Purpose / when: when a client describes a reader, psychic or "healer" who says they are cursed, in danger or carrying bad energy, and asks for escalating payments. A state consumer regulator describes a pattern: a cheap reading, then a claimed curse that needs paid removal, then more expensive ceremonies, with the claim that the curse has not yet lifted keeping victims paying; reported losses ran from small sums to tens of thousands of dollars. UK advertising rules bar psychics from promising to break curses or improve health or wealth, and require ads not to exploit the sick, elderly or bereaved. [source: Western Australia Consumer Protection, "Beware the misfortune tellers"; ASA advice pages]
  • Steps: (1) Listen without ridicule; fear of a curse is real distress. (2) Name the pattern gently: curse claim, fear, escalating fees, secrecy. (3) Help the client decide what to stop paying for, with a plan for the fear that will follow. (4) Support them to keep records and report to the national consumer or fraud authority, their bank, and advertising regulators for misleading ads. (5) If the client is an adult at risk or a child is involved, follow safeguarding procedures. (6) Work therapeutically on the fear, shame and any underlying loss or isolation. [source: WA Consumer Protection (report losses to the regulator); steps synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "A lot of people have been told almost exactly this: there's a curse, and it costs more each time to lift. Regulators warn about this pattern. Would it help to look at what's been asked of you so far?"
  • Watch for: continued secret payments, threats of harm if the client stops, isolation from family, and shame that prevents reporting. [synthesis]

4.20 Healer supervision, self-care and reflective practice

  • Purpose / when: ongoing. The curriculum requires reflective skills and personal insight, self-care and wellbeing, recognising when supervision is needed, and reflective case write-ups covering consent, environment and care of client and self. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; CNH25 knowledge P6, P11]
  • Steps: keep a reflective log; bring difficult sessions, boundary questions and any strong feelings toward clients to supervision; maintain your own personal practice; for therapists, take healing-related issues to both clinical supervision and, where relevant, a supervisor experienced in healing. [source: as above; therapist detail synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative, in supervision): "I noticed I wanted this client to feel something dramatic. I want to look at what that was about."
  • Watch for: fatigue, over-involvement, a sense of special power, or clients who seek you out increasingly often. [synthesis; CNHC Core Curriculum on avoiding dependency]

5. Handling problems

The healing standards name the situations to prepare for (referral, declining, supervision, special requests, client reactions) but give few concrete responses; most responses below are [synthesis] built on those duties and the APA Ethics Code. [source: CNH25; CNHC Core Curriculum; APA Ethics Code]

  • Client wants healing instead of medical treatment. Do not argue or prescribe. Restate that healing is complementary, explore the fear or hope behind the choice (4.17), offer, with consent, to contact the treating doctor, and record the conversation. Decline healing framed as cure for serious disease. Never advise on medicines. [synthesis; ASA advice on discouraging essential treatment]
  • Client asks for a diagnosis or what the healer "sensed". Decline to diagnose; reflect back their experience; refer any symptom to their doctor. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum; response synthesis]
  • No felt effect, disappointment ("stuck"). Normalise that many people feel little beyond relaxation; avoid implying the client is blocked or not open enough; review whether to continue. [synthesis]
  • Strong emotional release, panic or dissociation. Stop the healing, ground and orient (4.18), stay with the person until settled, check fitness to travel, and offer follow-up in psychotherapy. [synthesis on CNH25 P9–P11]
  • Discomfort with touch, or touch felt as boundary violation. Stop at once, acknowledge, apologise for any discomfort without defensiveness, switch to hands-off healing or end, document, and discuss in supervision. Any allegation of inappropriate touch follows complaints and safeguarding procedures. [synthesis]
  • Client feels unable to refuse healing from their therapist (ruptures). Name the power imbalance, restate that therapy continues unchanged, and refer to an independent healer; repair openly. [synthesis; APA Ethics Code 3.05, 3.06]
  • Dependency or escalating frequency. Reduce frequency, return focus to the client's own resources, and end healing if it no longer serves them, with referral where appropriate (APA 10.10 by analogy). [synthesis; CNHC Core Curriculum on dependency]
  • Frightening spiritual interpretations (curses, possession, dark energies). Do not confirm or ridicule; explore meaning and fear; assess for psychosis, severe anxiety or OCD presentations and, where present, refer for assessment; check for financial exploitation (4.19). [synthesis]
  • Grief and mediumship. Support continuing bonds the client values while watching for blocked mourning, heavy spending or exploitation of the bereaved. [synthesis; ASA advice on the bereaved as vulnerable]
  • Children and young people. Healing for a minor requires parental consent and the child's assent, a chaperone, and attention to safeguarding; a child deprived of medical care in favour of healing is a safeguarding concern to report under local procedures. [source: CNHC Core Curriculum (consent for children); remainder synthesis]
  • Requests for absent healing for a non-consenting adult. Decline; explore the requester's own worry. [source: SNU Code of Conduct page (healing only when invited); synthesis]
  • Healer or colleague making cure claims or charging escalating fees. Raise it with the healer's organisation or register, and report misleading advertising to the advertising regulator and exploitation to consumer or fraud authorities. [source: ASA advice; WA Consumer Protection; synthesis]
  • Non-adherence to medical advice discovered during therapy. With consent, coordinate with the GP or pharmacist; without consent, consider risk and confidentiality limits per your code. [synthesis]

Sources

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