Your Past Does NOT Define You

   Whenever I tell people the story of how I grew up, their response is always, "How are you so normal??"  I grew up in a dysfunctional home.  I was raised primarily by my father while my mother spent the majority of my life in a mental hospital.  She suffered from bipolar disorder with psychotic episodes, alcoholism, and drug addiction.  She was also incredibly violent, which required numerous restraining orders. Visits from the police and frequent suicide attempts became familiar scenes for our family.  Up until the age of 18 however, she was still part of our family, wreaking havoc and tormenting our family under our roof.

   My mother enjoyed her attempts at sabotaging my schooling, repeatedly telling me I "was going to be nothing and be fat and ugly just like her", and attacking me while I slept.  The teenage years that were already difficult enough with getting bullied in high school were ten times more challenging when your home life was chaotic and downright scary.

   As I watched her failures in life, my aspirations to succeed only grew stronger.  When she told me I was going to be "fat and ugly", I joined a gym and learned how to care for my physical body.  When she told me I wouldn't amount to anything, I strived harder in school to get great grades and was granted multiple scholarships to attend Boston College.  I focused so much on my education, I became the Valedictorian of Boston College's School of Nursing.    I never believed the lies that she told me.  I knew I was a smart, beautiful, talented woman who was destined for great things.  Thank god, many wonderful people were in my life to tell me those positive things.

   I never looked at the circumstances of my childhood as a crutch or an excuse as to why I couldn't accomplish my dreams, live a healthy, happy life,  or love another unconditionally.  I don't feel tainted or gipped of a childhood.  Despite the dysfunction, I still felt I had a great childhood with lots of wonderful memories with my 3 siblings.  I refused to let my life be defined by my mothers mental illness and the adversity I faced.

   Often times, young people in this type of situation create dysfunction in their own lives because that is all they know.  They don't know another way to live.  They succumb to drugs, alcohol, depression, criminal activity, and a lack of motivation to succeed in life.    

   So how am I normal?  Easy.  I never let my past define me.  I believed enough in myself to know that I could be and do whatever it was my beautiful heart desired.  I am my own person, creating my own future.  Most importantly, I have the capacity to forgive.  I forgive my mother for being who she was, as I'm sure her behavior and disease stemmed from her own childhood traumas.  She did only what she knew, how to live a dysfunctional life.  The cycle of dysfunction stops here with me.  I strive to be the best person I can be.

   My mother will always be my mother, but I choose not to have her in my life because it is not what is healthiest for me.  As an adult, I can make that decision without guilt or regret.  I choose to have happy, healthy, positive people in my life that help me to be a better person.  I wish her happiness in wherever her life takes her.

   Everyone has a past.  Many people deal with trauma, tragedy, and adversity.  It's how you grow from these events, learn from them, and move forward in your life with a healthy attitude, perspective, and determination.  There is strength in acknowledging the past, and especially acknowledging the lessons learned from your past.  But never let the events of your past hinder your future or prevent you from your dreams.  Your past does not define who you are today.  YOU define who you are today by being the best version of yourself right NOW.

10 Steps to Better Self-Care

   Today's world is fast paced, on the go, and more, more, more. We are contantly lighting the candle at both ends, exhausting ourselves with work, social outings, and family obligations. Too often we forget to take good care of ourselves. The words "Self-Care" are foreign to many busy people out there. Self-Care are the things you do for yourself to help your mind, body, and spirit work harmoniously. Taking care of yourself should always be your priority. Once you burn yourself out, you are no good to the rest of the people in your life. Here are 10 steps to better Self-Care.

1. Listen to Your Body

   This is the number one problem I see with a lot of my clients. Your body is giving you clues on a daily basis and it is up to you to listen to it. If you are tired, then you need to get more sleep. If your bowel movements are erratic, then you need to pay better attention to your nutrition. Have you ever ignored your body for the entire stressful, overwheling week and by the weekend you are sick and can barely get out of bed? Burning yourself out will certainly lead to a weakened immune system and set yourself up for illness and injury. By listening to your body, you can give your body the proper nutrients, relaxation, and rest it needs.

2. Get Adequate Sleep

   This is referring to number 1. If you are yawning all day long and lacking energy to go about your day, your sleep habits may very well be the culprit. You may think that 6 hours of sleep is enough to get you through your day, but on average you should be getting 8-10 hours of sleep. Your work and productivity will flourish during the day if you are well rested and clear headed.
    If your loved one says that you snore or stop breathing when you are sleeping, then you may have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where you periodically stop breathing during the night. Your body does not get adequate oxygenation. When your oxygen levels drop, your body will wake up in order to take a deep breath to correct itself. This will cause frequent periods of waking up during the night and a very poor night of sleep. This condition can lead to heart and lung disease and requires a visit to your doctor ASAP!

3. Physical Activity
   
   Sitting all day can cause you to gain weight, become depressed, and increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes. When you exercise, your body releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins and serotonin. These chemicals will help you to feel happier, balanced, and less anxious. Exercise can consist of weight lifting, cardio, yoga, hiking, walking, running, or even sex. You also will get stronger muscle tone, a cardiovascular workout, and a decrease chance of heart disease. So get your body moving, it will thank you!

4. Alone time

   We are so used to having every minute of our day planned out, that we rarely take the time to just be alone. Taking time away from friends and family for a night is completely ok and in no way selfish. It's important that you find time to just be you. No one to please, no one to answer to, and no one to entertain. In this alone time, do something that nourishes you. Whether that is taking a long bath, listening to music, or reading a book, do something that is purely just for you. Your significant other and children will appreciate the calm and relaxed version of you in place of the stressed out workaholic.

5. Stop trying to please

   People pleasing can become a huge burden. With your constant drive to make everyone happy, you forget to make yourself happy. It takes you away from what is best for you. Plus, realistically, you can't please everyone, so stop trying to please people at all. Focus on what makes you happy.

6. Be Kind to Yourself

   We are all so hard on ourselves for each mistake we make or forgetful moment. None of us are perfect. So be kind to yourself when you veer off your path. Pick yourself up and do better tomorrow. Forgive yourself for whatever you feel you did wrong. Stressing and worrying constantly about the past is only going to bring more stress and more worry. Be kind to yourself on a daily basis and remember you are human, just like the rest of us.

7. Laugh

   Laughter really is the best medicine. Many times, people get stuck in their uber professional, serious mode. They forget how to have fun and laugh. Even if nothing is funny, just start laughing. It shockingly increases your mood and releases feel-good chemicals. Laugh at yourself once in awhile, it can be very humbling.

8. Pamper Yourself

   This can be getting a massage, a Healing Touch treatment, a facial, or pedicure. Do something that requires someone else to service you. When you feel relaxed, your body has time to reset, rejuvenate, and heal. When you are so used to doing everything for your loved ones, it's nice when someone else is doing something for you. Schedule these sessions at least once a month.

9. Meditate 

   Meditation can be extremely beneficial if done for just 5 minutes a day. Shutting your mind off from outside distraction, noise, and ruminating thoughts will help to calm, relax, and center you. Focus on your breathing. Try and take slow, deliberate inhalations and exhalations. Relax all of the muscles in your body. If you find that you can't stop your mind from wandering, say a simple mantra of 3 words to keep you focused. I like to use, Healing, Happiness, and Love. Meditation is essential for a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

10. Love

   Love yourself and everyone around you unconditionally. The more you love, the more love comes back to you. Love is the core of our existence. So go ahead and spread the love. Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you.

15 Nursing Tips and Tricks

   For the past 11 years, I have been an Intensive Care Unit Nurse in 7 different hospitals around the country. Along the way, I've picked up some life-saving tips and tricks in my nursing practice. And by life-saving, I mostly mean smell-saving, back-saving, and sanity-saving tips and tricks.

   Whenever I impart my wisdom on a newer nurse, I realize that everyone should have a list like this that teaches them what they will not learn in nursing school. If you are a non- nurse, I advise you to put away the food you are eating and prepare yourself for some really gross information. For all you nurses out there, proceed eating....because that's what we do.  Here are the top 15 Nursing Tips and Tricks they didn't teach you in Nursing School.

                                              Code Brown Tips 

Your patient's room smells god awful and you know you have to clean up a LOT of liquid stool.

1. The Toothpaste trick

Place a face mask on a table and squeeze toothpaste along the outer portion of the mask at the brim of the nose. Place another mask on top of that to seal the toothpaste in the middle. A minty fresh smell right at your nose will cover up a good portion of the smell.

2. Suck it all up

The liquid stool is filling up the bed, running down to the feet, and there is at least 500cc of pure liquid. Use your suction cannister and a yankeur and vacuum it all up so you have less stool to clean up. It's all contained in the cannister, which means it has less of a chance of ending up on you!

3. No more cleaning bedpans

The patient asks for a bedpan to finish having his bowel movement. Line the bedpan with a absorbent pad that you can throw away and not have to clean the bedpan. It's ready to go for the next time you need it.

4. Clean commode

That same patient can actually make it to a commode. Put a garbage bag in the commode and there's one less pot you have to clean when they are done.

5. Coffee grounds odor absorber

The stool is actually melena, which smells a thousand times worse than the non-bloody variety. Might as well pour some coffee grounds into a few emesis basins to absorb the smell and take the edge off the raunchiness. Place them around the room on the countertops. Coffee grounds have an awesome odor absorbing ability!

6. Deodorize your tubing

At long last, it's flexi-seal time! Sadly, that tubing still allows the smell to ooze out and into your nostrils. Take a deodorizer/ odor eliminator spray and remove the cap. Pour a small amount of the liquid into the brand new flexi-seal before you use it. Work it through all of the tubing and let it go into the bag. This will definetly help in minimizing the amount of odor that seeps through.

7. Bucket O'Goodness 

Now its time to clean up your smelly patient. Grab a pink bucket and fill it with everything! Soap, Shaving Cream, mouthwash, and shampoo should do the trick. The key here is the shaving cream....it works like a charm.

                                      The patient's who test your patience!

Tonight at work, you have a wild, crazy, confused patient and you need every last trick in your book to maintain your sanity for the night.

8. The Cigarette trick

Your patient is so confused he continues to try and "smoke" his pulse oximeter or screams for a cigarette for hours on end. Cut a straw in half, use a red marker to color the end red, and let him puff away. I'll even rip an alcohol wipe in half to "light" it for them....it kind of sounds like a match being lit. But that fake cigarette will keep them occupied long enough for you to get some charting done!

9. Mask your patient

Well, now your patient starts spitting at you. They are restrained, you are wearing a gown, and standing as far away as you can. What else can you do? Put a mask on your patient so everytime they spit, it sits right there on their own mouth and nose. Talk about teaching them a lesson!

10. The Back Saver

Your patient needs a boost and no one is around to help you. Place their feet directly on the foot rest. Turn the bed upside down and start to shorten the foot of the bed. Hold their knees so they don't bend as the bed shortens. This will push them up to the top of the bed and the most energy you used was pressing the little button to shorten the bed.

11. The Taco

Your little wiggle worm ends up at the bottom of the bed every 15 minutes. Place a pillow under their thighs to start. Then, raise the legs as high as they will go, trendelenburg the bed, and place the head at 30 degrees. They will soon be in the shape of a taco and have less chance of scooting down when their backside is wedged in the curve of the bed.

12. The Burrito

Somehow your patient flipped their body so their head is at the bottom of the bed. They are probably screaming, fighting you, and can't breathe so getting their head up (or intubating them) is a high priority. Take the fitted sheets off the corner of the bed, wrap the patient up like a burrito, and with the help of 5 or 6 of your awesome co-workers lift the patient up off the bed and rotate them back to the right direction. Way easier and faster than trying to grab their kicking limbs and torso.

13. Washcloth trick

Your confused little old lady won't stop picking at everything in her sight. Hand her a stack of washcloths to fold. That will keep her hands busy and away from your lines and tubes. If you are really creative, you can configure the wash cloths to look like a doll with some elastic bands and ask them to look after your doll for you. There's something about laundry that always does the trick with little old ladies.

14. Lullaby sleep

If you have a computer in your patients room, find a relaxing, soundscapes channel on either Youtube or Pandora. Soothing, relaxing music will lull a patient off to sleep if you give it enough time. It helps decrease their anxiety and agitation. Plus, it's a much better sound to listen to than monitors beeping and suction sounds.

15. Healing Touch

You've given the maximum amount of pain medication, the doctor refuses to increase the dosage, and your patient continues to ask for more. If you have taken a Healing Touch class and know how to decrease someone's pain by balancing their energy field, you are in luck! Get to it.  Relaxation techniques like Healing Touch stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system to release feel good chemicals like oxytocin and endorphins that help to block pain receptors.  With the use of your hands, you can take away someone's pain!

Of course, some of these tips and tricks are last ditch efforts and used only under specific circumstances.  Always keep your patient's safety, skin, and dignity as a top priority.

What are your best tips and tricks that you want to share with your nursing community?? Share your comments below!

Unconditional Love and Alzheimer's Disease

   My Grandmother, Lillian, developed Alzheimer's Disease in the mid to late 90's. In the beginning, her disease manifested with her telling us the same recipe or monkey joke over and over. She was becoming forgetful. At first, it was slightly comical that Grandma kept forgetting what she had already told us. As her disease progressed, she forgot our names.

   Before Alzheimer's, my Grandmother was the rock of our family. She grew up in the midwest on a farm and met my grandfather as she was fixing airplane engines in the second World War. She could do pretty much anything. She was a huge sportsfan and watched the Red Sox nightly. She could talk sports with the best of them. She was incredibly compassionate and caring as well. She knew how to brush away headaches with her hands. When you were in her presence, you immediately felt calm, relaxed, and loved.

   By 2004, her disease had progressed to the point where she was no longer able to care for herself. My Grandfather, Angelo, tried his hardest to hide the severity of her disease. He knew that if his children knew how sick she was, and how challenging it had become to take care of her, they would surely place her in a nursing home.

   When her Alzheimer's worsened, she started wandering off down the street alone. She began locking my grandfather out of the house because she didn't know who "that man" was anymore. She was so frightened that she began to defend herself at the slightest hint of danger. She was no longer safe and neither was he. She was placed in a nursing home in 2005 at the urging of his children and her physicians. Grandpa was distraught. He had been taking care of her for so long, he was lost without her. He told us that if he could, he would carry her on his back through life. His aging body would no longer let him do that.

   He visits her almost everyday. He has become a regular sight in the nursing home. When her laundry started to go missing, he took it upon himself to start doing all of her laundry. When she refused to eat, he would sit with her and coax her into drinking a glass of milk and cookies. He brings her a napkin and wipes her chin as she drools. Adoringly he will say to her, "Who's my girl, Lil? That's right, you're my sweetheart, you're my beautiful girl". He showers her with kisses and strokes her hand. Often times he brings in a manicure set and nailpolish to do her nails. When he feels like she isn't getting enough attention from the nursing aides, he buys them chocolates and slips them $20 bills. He would do anything for his sweetheart.

    My Grandmother is mostly non-verbal, she is confined to a chair, and does not know her family. She laughs and smiles whenever my grandfather talks to her. A twinkle in her eye let's us know that she still recognizes her loving husband. My Grandfather is devoted to his wife like no man I have ever seen before. He will be 96 years old this year, and has spent the past 9 years doting on his wife in a nursing home. Unconditional, eternal love like this is rarely seen. He tells us frequently that he is just waiting for her to go so that he can go too. He lives for her. His happiness comes when he feeds her milk and cookies and tells her how much he loves her. His love knows no boundaries or limits. Alzheimer's cannot take away his unconditional love. If all men loved the way he did, the world would be a better place. He reminds me of the character, Noah, in the movie "The Notebook".

 "You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, every day we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours. And, my darling, you will always be mine." - Nicholas Sparks, 'The Notebook'

Opening the Heart Chakra in Nature

   A few weeks ago, I was blessed with a relaxing, rejuvenating vacation to Maui, Hawaii. If you have never been there, you are missing out! It is a beautiful, gorgeous, unique island with breath-taking flora and fauna. The West Maui Mountains are green and lush. The Road to Hana is full of waterfalls, lava rock formations, and rolling green hills. The ocean is crystal clear with various shades of blue that highlight the colorful reef and tropical fish below the surface. Everyone is wearing flower lei's around their necks and plumeria blossoms above their ear. When you are in Hawaii, you are one with nature.    

   Throughout the island, I felt my heart chakra spinning wide open signifying a balanced energy field. When the heart chakra is balanced, one feels peaceful, loving, harmonious, happiness, and joy. The Heart Chakra is one of the most important chakras we have as it is the transitional point between our lower three and upper three chakras. Those who live their lives with a sense of compassion, unconditional love for all, and innate harmony are living their life from their Heart Chakra. Read our Healing Nurses blog to learn more about the Heart Chakra.

   Another unique attribute of the Heart Chakra is that it is associated with the color green. Whenever I was looking at the lush green landscape of Maui, I would immediately smile and my heart would fill with joy. I felt connected to the earth in ways I had never felt before.

   At the end of the Road to Hana, there is a gigantic 400 -foot waterfall that awaits you after you walk through a bamboo forest. The bamboo was perfectly, vibrantly green. As I walked through the bamboo forest, my senses were in overdrive. A strong breeze was blowing providing us with a natural wood chime as the bamboo clicked against each other and leaves rustled. The fresh air and smells of the forest were intoxicating. Everywhere I looked, green surrounded me. My Heart Chakra was so radiant and expanded that I felt I was walking through heaven. I realized that being in nature, in this perfect serene rainforest, was providing me with natural healing and balance.

   Through my Healing Touch training, I knew green was the color of the Heart Chakra. I had been in other tropical, beautiful locations before, but this was the first time I had felt my energy expand and my chakras stimulated on such a deep level. I felt other chakras open and expand as well during many more special moments on the island.

   We ventured to the top of Haleakala, Maui's dormant volcano that sits at 10,000 feet. We arrived at 6am, an hour before sunrise to watch the sun rise above the clouds. I was all bundled up, as it is very cold at 10,000 feet, and waited for the magnificent sunrise to occur. I found myself star gazing in awe as I pondered the vastness of the universe. My heart was beaming with gratitude as I recited in my head all of the beautiful things in my life I was grateful for. I even thought to myself, a shooting star would be the icing on the cake right now. A few seconds later, I was greeted by a blazing shooting star as it danced across the sky. My crown chakra (the seventh chakra that sits on top of your head) was spinning vibrantly. The Crown Chakra symbolizes your connection to the universe and your higher power. At this moment, I felt connected to a universal oneness. A second shooting star was another gift from above.

   The sunrise that morning on Haleakala was a spiritually invigorating event. My entire being felt balanced, peaceful, and overjoyed. I was connected in nature and witnessing the beginning of a new day with a magnificent display of color and light. Nature, mother earth, and the universe were all working in harmony to balance my chakras and promote my sense of peace and well-being.

   When you are in nature, pay attention to the subtle (or extreme) changes that occur in different areas of your body and the emotions that arise. Different colors will stimulate its correlating chakra, just as the abundance of green in nature helped to expand my heart chakra. Feel your feet connected to the earth. Envision the energy of the earth traveling up through your feet to your heart chakra. Allow this sensation to fill your heart with the earths unlimited supply of natural healing energy.  Opening your heart chakra in nature will bring you peace, love, harmony, and balance.

Loving my nature walk through the bamboo forest

                                                            Beautiful Green Bamboo
                                      
                                                              Awaiting the sunrise

                                              The sun rising above the clouds at Haleakala

How a Traumatic Brain Injury turned me into an Energy Healer

   One month shy of my 30th birthday, I was living my life in pure chaos. I was working the night shift in a busy Intensive Care Unit in San Diego as a Registered Nurse. I had just spent months studying, not sleeping, for my Critical Care RN exam, which thankfully, I passed. My relationships with my friends were filled with tension and my relationship with my boyfriend was coming to a bitter end. I was running on empty. I was drinking too much and dependent on sleeping medication with my schedule always changing between days and nights.

   The night following my break up with my boyfriend, I just wanted to get a good night of sleep. I took an Ambien to help me fall asleep. However, I made the dreaded mistake that many make when taking such a powerful sleeping medication. I stayed awake. I decided to make a sandwich and get a glass of water, which I accidentally spilt. The next thing I know, I am in my hospital room with a pounding headache and could only see out of one eye. The lights were too bright, my vision was pixelated, and I was pretty sure my head was going to explode.

   The doctor told me that I had suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and had been unconscious for the past 12 hours. My roommate found me at 7am, unconscious, badly bruised all over my body, and bleeding from my mouth and my nose. It appeared I had slipped in the water I had spilt and hit my head on a hard surface in the kitchen. In a stupor, I proceeded to fall all over my apartment attempting to get help and fell multiple times, hitting my head against hard surfaces at least 5 more times. I had 2 black eyes and 59 bruises on my body.

   The next 6 months, I suffered with unbearable migraines and ice-pick headaches, photophobia (light sensitivity), dizziness, a stutter, aphasia (difficulty getting my words out), extreme fatigue, depression, anxiety, and more. I was taking multiple different medications to try and manage my symptoms. The medications barely took the edge off my extreme headaches. I was diagnosed with Post Concussive Syndrome. This is the condition made famous by NFL players who have been promoting concussion awareness. Even as an ICU nurse, I had no idea how debilitating Post Concussive Syndrome could be. My neurologist anticipated it would take over a year to feel like myself, but it was also possible I might never fully recover. I felt like I had no hope, no end in sight to my condition, and no relief from my constant headaches.

   I made a brief attempt at returning to work a few months after my accident. During this time, my coworker Sierra was hoping she could help me with my pain. She had just taken a Healing Touch Level 1 class and thought that this pain technique might help diminish my headaches.

   Healing Touch is a relaxing, nurturing energy therapy that is based on the concept of the body having a biofield. Energy (also known as Chi or Prana) flows through and around our bodies through energy centers called Chakras. When energy along these pathways becomes congested or depleted, the person experiences symptoms such as pain, inflammation, anxiety, stress, etc. The practitioner uses their hands in a heart-centered, intentional way to direct the flow of energy, release the congested energy, and put the energy field back in its original smooth flowing alignment. With the body in perfect harmony, relaxation occurs and the body has the ability to heal itself.

   Each night at work, Sierra and I would go into an empty room during our break and she would practice her Healing Touch techniques on me. I immediately connected with the treatment, felt my headaches diminish, and had more energy afterwards. I would be able to continue my shift in the ICU and have just enough energy to drive home in the morning. The treatment effects would last only a day or so due to my unhealthy lifestyle, which included trying to fight my bodies natural sleep-wake cycle by working the overnight shift.

   On my days off from work, there were times I could barely get out of bed. I had unbearable migraines. My energy level was severely depleted. Despite all of this, I would still try and be a normal 30-year old woman. I would meet a friend for a drink, watch my football team on Sundays, or go out to eat. Each event would cause severe headaches, nausea, dizziness, and the stimulation of all the activity going on around me would cause me to zone out. I would stare off into space as my overloaded brain would shut down as it just couldn’t handle the stimulation. Each attempt at being "normal" would set me back even further.

   7 weeks after returning to work, a visit to the neurologist changed everything. She placed me back on disability for 3 more months against my wishes. She saw how depleted I had become in the past few months. Instead of making progress in my recovery, I was regressing. My multiple medications to control my headaches were at the maximum dosages and I was still constantly in excruciating pain. I was at the end of my rope. I was utterly depressed and lost without my job. My friends were disappearing because I couldn’t keep up with their social lifestyle and my depression was becoming a drag. I didn’t know how much longer I could suffer this way. My thoughts were constantly negative and pessimistic.

   It was at this time that Sierra had urged me to take Healing Touch Level 1 to learn how to heal myself. I laughed, “Heal myself? I can barely get out of bed, how on earth am I going to heal myself?” I decided she was right. I needed to take this class.

   In my 2 -day Healing Touch Level 1 class, I spent the weekend learning about chakras, energy, positive intentions, and about loving yourself. I was able to give and receive multiple treatments all weekend long. I learned how to do a self-chakra connection on myself which helped to open and balance all of my chakras and energy field. Every time I received a treatment, I felt rejuvenated, peaceful, and re-energized. It was eye-opening to see how a positive intention, a loving heart, and the flow of energy through your hands could provide such deep relaxation and pain relief. By Sunday evening, I was glowing! My depression had lifted, I barely had a headache, and I had so much energy! I was happy, hopeful, and suddenly full of life!

   My healing began immediately. It dawned on me that I was sabotaging my recovery from my brain injury by living my life out of balance and refusing to listen to what my body was telling me. I started living my life in perfect harmony, treating myself with twice daily self-chakra connections, repeating positive affirmations, journaling, eating a healthy diet, meditating, and reading anything I could find on Energy Medicine, Holistic Medicine, and Personal/Spiritual Development. I began a yoga practice that helped me to gain strength physically, as well as mentally. I aligned my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being and realized that all along I had the innate ability to heal myself. I exchanged treatments regularly with Sierra, at support groups, and with new friends from each Healing Touch class I took. My symptoms from my brain injury were rapidly disappearing and I felt amazing! I realized that from chaos comes clarity.

   6 months after I took Healing Touch Level 1, I had worked my way up to taking Healing Touch Level 4 and started my 1-year apprenticeship with a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner as my mentor. I had healed completely from my brain injury and felt so blessed to embark on this incredible journey of self-healing. During my apprenticeship, I completed over 100 documented Healing Touch sessions, multiple reading and writing requirements, and began a community project providing Healing Touch to homeless veterans. I used Healing Touch everyday in the hospital with my patients and coworkers. 

   When my apprenticeship was complete, I took Healing Touch Level 5 (the final level of the Healing Touch certificate program) and completed further homework to achieve certification. Receiving my pin as a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner was one of the most special moments in my life. It symbolized the strength, perseverance, and dedication to my healing journey. I became an Energy Healer spreading healing light and love to those I touched. The saying “everything happens for a reason” suddenly made perfect sense to me. My brain injury had become a true blessing in disguise. Finding Healing Touch saved my life.

   Today, I have a Healing Touch Practice, Healing Nurses in San Diego with my best friend Sierra, who had helped me to heal and encouraged me to take my first Healing Touch class. I continue to work in a Surgical ICU and have been busy promoting and teaching other nurses about Healing Touch. My patient’s experience less pain, less anxiety, and a faster recovery from receiving Healing Touch treatments while in the hospital. My dream is to become the Healing Touch Nurse at my hospital so that I can consult daily on patients in severe pain that will benefit the most from this relaxing, nurturing energy therapy. I have spoken in many different settings about my healing journey in hopes of helping others in chronic pain.

   Healing Touch has become my passion in life. Spreading this treatment to all who are looking for optimal health and wellness has become my mission. Healing Touch is being taught throughout the country and is being used widely in hospitals due to the effectiveness of helping patients to heal. To experience a treatment for yourself, visit my website Healing Nurses to schedule a Healing Touch session. To find a class near you and begin your own healing journey visit www.healingtouchinternational.org.

Receiving my Certified Healing Touch Practitioner pin from my mentor Donna Cahill