title: The healers journey: a literature review.
abstract: While much important research has gone into identifying the efficacy and importance that healing interventions can make to healthcare this paper seeks to synthesise some of the core themes of the processes that healers go through in their journey to becoming a healer. Through the process of a literature review of seminal texts and current literature the paper identifies the key themes of, healer as facilitator, connecting to sources of healing, an appreciation of the healee, an expanded sense of spirituality, an acknowledgement of the wider archetypal significance of the healer, the importance of the wound and the role that these can play in the process of personal transformation and also acceptance. In doing so it hopes to offer that the journey of the healer plays a crucial role in guiding the quality of the healing that healers share in a healing encounter.
authors.affiliation: Glenside Campus, University of the West of England, BS16 1DD, UK. gmk2103@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kenny
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004645:Empathy; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D029181:Spirituality