Doctor Healer Network Promoting healing in medicine

Healers Working in a
Medical/Clinical Setting


Working with the medical profession requires a high degree of professional commitment. The following are offered as guidelines for consideration by professional healers who would like to work in a medical setting.

Questions Healers Should Ask Themselves

The patients passing through a doctor's surgery may present a wider variety of illnesses of greater severity than I am likely to have encountered in a healing centre. Am I a sufficiently stable person to deal with the illnesses and concerns of others sometimes under pressure?

  1. Why do I want to work with a doctor? Do I have the life experience, maturity, integrity, time and commitment?

  2. Can I relate to other health professionals in a mature and diplomatic way given their beliefs and style of working may be different from mine?

  3. Can I explain and demonstrate healing in a practical, meaningful way to those unfamiliar with it? What can I say about the effects of healing and my personal experience of it?

  4. Will I be able to cope with the administrative aspects of working in a medical environment, for example patients' records?

  5. Can I provide references and testimonials attesting to my skills if asked for them?

  6. Will I be able to discuss the progress of a patient in a concise and relevant way given pressure of work and constraints of time?

  7. Healing may expose emotional issues for which the doctor is unprepared. Do I have the necessary skills to deal with such a situation?

  8. There may be no suitable space in a doctor's practice in which to work. Do I have suitable space?

  9. As a healer, I am normally responsible to the patient. In a doctor's practice, I am responsible to the doctor. Am I ready for that responsibility?

  10. Why am I drawn to this work? Are there any personal issues I should be addressing? For example, in hospice work, can I handle grief, death and dying with confidence, compassion and understanding?

These are demanding questions but working with the medical profession is demanding and healers need to be prepared.



Questions Healers Should Be Prepared to Answer

It is usually best to approach the doctor in person, although in some cases it may be valuable to have a basic information leaflet available and give it to him or her in advance. This should be clear, simple and intelligible, and avoid any kind of healing "jargon". It should include an answer to the question "What is healing?" and also refer to the UK Healers Code of Conduct, professional indemnity insurance cover and the importance that organisation attaches to training and professionalism. If such a leaflet is given the healer should be prepared to answer questions on it.

It may be helpful to consider the first meeting with the doctor as an interview situation. The healer is well advised to prepare in advance for this. He (or she) should consider how he will present himself and find out as much as possible beforehand about the practice situation being approached. The doctor is likely to be pressured for time, so a clear, concise, well-considered presentation is advisable and will be appreciated.

The healer's personal approach should be sensitive, professional and restrained. Abrasiveness, over-enthusiasm, philosophising and jargon should be avoided!

The doctor may be interested in some of the following areas which the healer should have considered in advance of the meeting:

  1. What is healing? (Refer to the UK Healers Code of Conduct if appropriate)

  2. Why do you want to work with a doctor?

  3. What kinds of patients do you think you can help and why?

  4. How long does the effect last? When will patients know they are getting better?

  5. Can you cure X? (you should make no claim to cure and may have to think about ways to measure effectiveness.)

  6. If there is no improvement in the patient's condition after a certain time, what should you do? (Re-refer to the doctor, not direct to another practitioner.)

  7. What is your experience of working with healing? How long? Types of healing practice?

  8. Relevant professional experience e.g. nursing or counselling training.

  9. Previous experience of working in a clinical setting? (For example work in a hospital, hospice or GP practice?)

  10. What are your needs working in a practice? (Consider your needs as a healer, what you can offer, how you can offer it - but be adaptable and flexible. Think about issues of finance and the possibility of working at first on a trial basis.)

  11. Be prepared to give a demonstration (but only if there is interest in your doing so.)

Good preparation by the healer in advance of the meeting with the doctor should help the healer feel more confident in her ability to present herself. It will also convey to the doctor her competence and professional approach and thus help to produce a positive outcome to the meeting for both parties.


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