Healing

There was a fatal plane crash last night. Forty nine souls were lost. Many family, friends, and co-workers are grieving today.

How do we reach out and help them? There are no hard rules, but there are some guidelines.

Reach out to the grieving without expectations about what should happen or what they should be feeling. Be a companion. Be a friend.

The Companioning Model of Bereavement care giving developed by Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt is a helpful model. Using this model of bereavement caregiving, the helper:

When a child is born the lives of parents are changed forever. Their lives become centered around the safety, happiness and success of this new person. Plans are made for their future, and days are spent thinking about soccer practice carpools, piano recitals and college tuition payments.

As we age, getting off the couch to exercise gets difficult, and even a little noisy. Sometimes creaky bones and muscles can make more noise than a busted spring in the sofa, but there is a way to break the cycle, and you don’t have to join a health club to do it.

Often, a gentle hand on your shoulder when you’re upset is all it takes to ease your mind and calm your nerves. Now, UC researchers are looking at a similar occurrence by pairing a complementary therapy known as Healing Touch with mild sedation to see if the technique truly calms patients undergoing minor procedures.

Healing Touch is a series of techniques that balance energy for wholeness within a person’s body, mind and soul. It is an energy therapy that can be used in conjunction with other traditional medical treatments.