Community is an essential factor in my success as a self-employed healer. As a Healing Touch Practitioner, I have a local community of active Practitioners to call on for my own self-care and to refer clients to when I am on vacation. I also belong to the Healing Touch Program (HTP), an international association for professional development that supports me in growing my business and provides me with resources for learning to become an even more grounded, present, and effective healer.
Many years ago I realized how important community was as a self-employed business owner when I had a massage client who was a chef in a stressful, high-pressure restaurant. She worked long hours and professional cooking was very hard on her body. Being a chef is a very physical activity.
She finally quit that job and started her own catering company. She did very well right from the start, was always busy and could choose her clients and schedule. Yet in just under two years after she started working for herself she went back to full-time restaurant work. I couldn’t believe it. Why did she give up her successful business?
When I asked her, she told me she found working for herself to be too lonely.
I realized then how important my friends, family, colleagues, and community were to the success of my business and my overall sense of well-being.
So, as a self-employed healer, I belong to several healing communities. The Healing Touch Network of the East Bay/San Francisco is one of them. We meet quarterly on the first Monday of each month in Lafayette, California. Healing Touch Practitioners attend from all over the San Francisco Bay Area to share a potluck dinner and catch up on Healing Touch events in the area. There is also a talk or presentation on a related healing subject. We support each other on all levels: personal and professional.
I am always incredibly inspired by these meetings. I learn what other Healing Touch Practitioners are doing in their practice and which hospitals, clinics, and hospice facilities have Healing Touch available. This is valuable for my clients when they are interested in finding Healing Touch for themselves, friends and family who may be staying in local medical facilities.
As I mentioned above, I also belong to the national Healing Touch Program (HTP). HTP has a worldwide Healing Touch Conference every year that I am planning to attend next year. Every year I attend the Healing Touch regional conferences and this year we will be in Santa Barbara. The Healing Touch Program is a great resource for staying connected with the current healing trends and learning new skills. It’s also really a fun weekend.
HTP also has a free online periodical, Energy Magazine that I think is the most interesting and relevant energy periodicals published.
Another very important benefit to being connected to my healing community is that I am able to refer my clients. When I go away on vacation, or get a cold and can’t work with clients who have a compromised immune system, I can send them to another local Certified Healing Touch Practitioner in the San Francisco Bay Area and I know they will be in good hands. I can’t imagine the responsibility of feeling like I was the only person who could help someone feel better during a long round of chemotherapy.
I’m so grateful for my Healing Touch community. Without my community support, I know being a solitary healer would be stressful and lonely. I wouldn’t be able to truly help my clients in the best possible way.
Community helps me realize I’m not alone. Today there is a whole consciousness shift in the world and people are opening to the potentials of energetic healing that is inherently available to all of us. I’m very excited to be a part of this community and this awakening.