Distant and absent healing

Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield · Harry Edwards · 1937 · Shere, Surrey, England

What it is

Distant (or absent) healing is spiritual or energy healing “sent” to a person who is not physically present: at an appointed time, at random times by a pool of healers, by phone or video, or by reading a name from a healing list in a group sitting. The Healing Trust offers healing in person, by…

Format

• Request and consent. Goal: a clear request, an informed recipient (where possible) and agreed format (appointed time, call, or list/pool). Move on when the recipient (or a legitimately authorised person) has agreed and knows it is complementary, non-diagnostic and no substitute for medical care.
• The healing act at a distance. Goal: the healer holds intention for the recipient; the recipient (if one-to-one) rests in a quiet place. Formats: one-to-one appointed time; phone or video; pool/list healing at random or set times.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Phases of one distant healing contact (assembled from the Healing Trust's published service and training topics and the Skills for Health National Occupational Standard SFHCNH25 Provide Healing to clients, 2010, whose knowledge item on distant healing lists: environment, preparing the client, dos and don'ts during the healing act, concluding, and eliciting and responding to feedback). The standard lists these topics…
• Healer preparation: grounding and attunement. Goal: the healer's own readiness; the Trust teaches grounding and attunement in Part One and “attunement with words” in Part Three. Move on when the healer judges themself settled and fit to heal.
• Training and certification route.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Informed consent (what to tell a client). It is complementary, not a substitute for medical or psychological treatment; it involves no touch when given at a distance (in-person healing at the Trust involves touch only with permission and the client may decline it); it is described by its…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• notes that read as endorsement or ridicule.
• medical neglect, which is a safeguarding matter.
• self-blame, anger at healers or faith, complicated grief.
• the client experiencing refusal as rejection (work with it in therapy).
• fixed, escalating beliefs, command hallucinations, plans to confront the supposed sender.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.