Nurse-Led Healing Circles for Self-Healing During Times of Crisis and Beyond
Hi everyone, I'm a holistic nurse practitioner, a health coach and a healing circles facilitator.
I am a member of the American Holistic Nurses Association. The Austin Texas Chapter of AHNA was planning a regional conference in May focusing on self-compassion and self-healing for nurses and one medium for this is healing circles.
This all changed with Covid-19.
In response to hearing the needs from the front-line nurses, my colleagues and I decided to offer healing circles with the intention of self-compassion for self-healing for nurses.
We offer these virtually using Zoom, free of any charge or solicitation. This is our way of giving back to our nurse community.
Healing Circles help us step out of ordinary time into a safe and accepting environment in which each of us can explore our own healing.
Healing Circles are places where we speak with intention and listen with attention.
We speak the truth from our heart to begin our self-healing process.
HEALING CIRCLE AGREEMENTS
~ We treat each other with kindness and respect.
~ We speak with intention. We speak our truth from our heart.
~ We listen with compassion, curiosity and attention.
~ We honor each other’s unique ways to healing and don’t presume to advise or fix or try to save each other.
~ We hold all stories shared in the circle confidential.
~ We trust each of us has guidance we need within us and we rely on the
power of silence to access it.
Here is the website if you are interested in learning more about this and healing circles in general, and if you wish to attend a healing circle.
https://susanrinkus.wixsite.com/nursehealingcircles Take care. Be safe. Be well.
~~ Susan
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Comments (4)
This is fantastic, Susan.
I am wondering what you would think about participating in the creation of a hotline for nurses to call to debrief during this time of crisis.
If you're interested, I'd love to discuss it!
In the meantime, THANK YOU for all that you are doing!
Be well,
Hollye Jacobs
hi Hollye, thanks for your kind words.
The thing about healing circles for nurses on the front lines is that it provides a space for nurses to speak and to have their voices heard.
We don’t offer advice or solutions or tell you how you should or should not act or feel. We hold space to be with each other without judgment. We donate our ears and heart without wanting anything back. We practice empathy and compassion. We accept someone's truth, no matter what they are. We allow and accept.
Right now I hold one circle a week with a max of 10 attendees and these last between 60 - 90 minutes. I have space for 2 more circles.
They are very powerful for self healing and I say this because of the feedback received from the nurses who attend them.
I am aware of several people and organizations who are in the process of setting up healing circles specifically for nurses. But these would not be crisis hotlines.
Healing circles are also being done directly in hospital systems for the nursing staff. I can connect you with someone who has done this in the Houston, Texas area.
Healing circles are typically held in person and many are now transitioning to virtual healing circles.
The goal is to have the healing circles listed as resources, somewhere, so nurses can choose which ones they want to attend.
I am but a small part of this initiative. I'm just offering these for free, just me now, to give back to the nursing community.
If this is of interest, I'm willing to discuss.
Take care. Be safe. Be well.
Hi Susan:
Thanks for joining our conversation and offering such a much-needed resource! Any tips you can share quickly here?
Thanks Cindy, the power of healing circles are that they allow the person to speak the truth from their heart and this helps them to discover their own self-healing. In circles we speak with intention and the listen with attention. In this time of crisis, self-compassion is critical for nurses. Healing circles help us discover self-compassion. Healing circles are simple but powerful. They've been around forever.