Best healers in the UK outlines some of the qualities that help people be the best healers.
I give you 5 criteria to help you find a good healer, wherever you are in the world.
Use it as a checklist before you invest your valuable time, money + trust.
I became interested in healing nearly 30 years ago and since then have read many books, seen many healers and trained in many healing modalities.
I built a busy healing practice in central London from 2009 and have worked with 1000s of clients from across the world.
In the course of my healing explorations and education, I gradually began to identify certain qualities that made a good healer.
There are many talented, dedicated and passionate healers in the UK. Not least, in the UK’s wonderful National Health Service.
However, if you try to search online for a private healer in the UK or elsewhere, it can feel overwhelming + difficult to know where to start.
Furthermore, many talented healers in the UK and throughout the world, dislike blowing their own trumpet.
They are modest and humble, and sometimes struggle with self-promotion. This means their brilliant healing capabilities are obscured by all the noise.
Best healers in the world?
The best healers in the world are spread across the world.
There are healing traditions in most continents of the globe. No tradition or modality can be said to be ‘better’ than another. They are just different.
India has long been associated with some of the best spiritual healers on the planet. Their culture acknowledged the concept of human energy and the chakra system 5000 years before science.
The Philippines has a reputation for a form of spiritual healing called psychic surgery.
The native shamanistic traditions of North America are known for earth-based spiritual healing. And there is the association of healing with witchcraft throughout Europe.
Less documented, as the spiritual healing wisdom was handed down orally, is the culture of natural healing throughout Africa.
You may have heard of the shamans of Siberia or the power of Aboriginal healing.
Looking east, Reiki healing comes from Japan. It comes from the words ‘Rei’ which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and ‘Ki’ which is “life force energy. Reiki was one of the first energy healing modalities that became mainstream worldwide.
In terms of healing in the UK, healing is becoming increasingly accepted in the wider population.
Reiki and other complementary forms of healing are now offered in the NHS and via national charities.
There are organisations like the Doctor / Healer network and more research has been done into the effectiveness of Reiki healing, and other energy medicines.
These developments are helping to bring the perception of energy healing’s effectiveness out of ancient times and into the 21st Century.
Best healers in the UK – My list criteria
Here’s some qualities that I personally look for when seeking a healer in the UK or elsewhere:
1) the healer has skill;
2) the healer is talented;
3) the healer is dedicated to their craft;
4) the healer is ethical,
5) the healer is experienced…
For a list of qualities to help you find a good healer below.
Best UK healers: #1 the healer has skill
How do you define skill in healing?
Skill is attained by putting healing education into practice. It’s not enough to have intellectual or factual knowledge as a healer.
As a healer, you have to put all that you have learned in classes and courses into working with actual people. This is because every person is very individual and unique.
As a healer, you are also bringing together a number of unique ingredients to help your client heal.
What looks simple on paper – a method, technique or course of action – can be more complex when you take into account all the diversity and history of the client you are facing.
Into the healing ‘skills mix’ goes academic learning, intuitive sensing, self-knowledge, experience and professional competencies that may have developed by trial and error, by a healer in the uk.
Skill means the healer can achieve the highest and best results for the client as a result of their work together.
Skill can be developed out of conscientiousness, because when a healer is conscientious there is normally repetition and observation, twinned with self-reflection.
The outcome of these elements can mean that the healers’ capabilities are greatly enhanced over time. Clients, in turn, feel better supported and ‘held’ through their healing process.
Even the most skilled healers can feel a lot of pressure to get their clients better. Energy healers in the UK have to remember that as a healer, they don’t heal.
Healers simply facilitate healing.
Healers help you grow, heal and progress – via a combination of the healing relationship, their skills and the power of energy healing that passes through them.
However, there are a few matters outside a healer’s control: the client’s attitude, motivation and capabilities, as well as external factors like the client’s commitment to healing, the seriousness of the condition or the client’s financial resources.
Be wary of any healer that claims ‘special healing powers‘ + AVOID any healer that promises a cure. Even hinting at being able to give a cure for a medical condition is illegal in the UK.
Energy healing is complementary + NEVER replaces traditional medical treatment.
See Warning Signs of Spiritual Abuse for information to keep you safe in the spiritual world.
So, how do you know if a healer has skill?
I don’t believe you can always know who is a skilled healer just from someone’s recommendation. The reason is that I’ve been to healers whom friends’ have raved about. I’ve paid a lot of money to see them, yet not felt anything – emotionally / psychologically / physically / spiritually. I’ve even felt worse afterwards.
Additionally, you have to take into account the fact that a session with a healer can and will sometimes cause your painful unconscious material to surface – also known as a release.
This part of the healing process means you may occasionally leave a session with a healer in the UK feeling emotional, tender or sad.
Yet, you should overall be left feeling that there has been an even exchange; that you’ve been looked after and treated professionally, with respect; and you’ve felt a movement forward on your healing journey.
How are you left feeling after you have a session with your healer?
Relieved? Taken care of? Understood? Hopeful?
Best UK healers: #2 the healer is talented
Some of the most talented healers I’ve worked with have been incredibly modest and humble.
These naturally gifted, highly sensitive empaths are often on a mission to serve. They are sometimes described well by the popular terms earth angel or light-worker.
These healers in the UK can experience burnout due to giving to much. They sometimes struggle with boundaries, assertiveness, pricing their services + marketing.
Their humility + gentleness can mean a very pure connection to spirit. When they are looking after themselves, they are an authentic channel for higher intelligence, insight and healing energies.
However, they may under-estimate their gifts, therefore do not expect a sales pitch when you enquire!
So, how do you know if a healer is talented?
A talented healer will make you feel special, validated + understood. You leave your healing session feeling genuinely seen and heard, and that you have been able to talk about anything, without fear of judgement.
You may also have gained new insight and a sense of detachment, relief or empowerment, such as knowing your next steps or self-healing tools you can use between sessions.
Best UK healers: #3 the healer is dedicated to their craft
Healing is frequently a calling, which means that your healer may have been ‘unofficially’ healing for many years before becoming a healing professional.
There are multitudes of courses and qualifications healers in the UK can take to expand their knowledge. From a Masters Degree to 5 year Psychotherapy trainings to healing diplomas to… the list goes on!
Because there is SO much to learn – so much that no one person could ever learn everything there is a to learn about healing – a healer can sometimes feel that their studies are never complete.
Healers in the UK can also find that their clients need help with such a wide range of issues and problems. Over time, if the healer in the UK enjoys working with one particular client group, that healer may realise they have some gaps in knowledge.
Healers who really want to support their clients in the highest and best ways usually seek to fill those gaps in expertise with extra trainings. Many healers also do continuous professional development, such as attending specialist workshops or conferences.
Added to that, it is common for healers in the UK to have a supervisor. This is basically a more experienced healer who is paid to support the primary healer to do their 1-2-1 work.
(NOTE: It’s not really ‘supervision‘ according to the usual meaning f the word, i.e. someone looking over the primary healer’s shoulder. A healer’s supervisor simply provides a space for a healer to offload on a regular basis, or to take client issues for an outside opinion.
Another form of dedication to their craft is reading and / or soaking up new information about healing online.
How do you know if a healer is dedicated?
You can get an inkling of how committed a healer is to their craft by the way they talk about what they do – in person or in their communication.
Do they seem knowledgable and informed? Are they reliable? Are their signs that they are committed to learning and development? Are they a fountain of useful healing information + tips?
Best UK healers: #4 the healer is ethical
Ethics are a combination of moral qualities, professional standards, good practice and values that should underpin the work of a healer in the UK.
Healers in the UK who have been through a healing training have usually studied an ethical code of conduct. In many cases this will involve an exam set by their healing organisation to unsure they conduct their healing within strict guidelines.
The healer’s insurer will also have certain expectations to ensure the healer is acting lawfully.
Depending on the level of training the healer in the UK has gone through, they may also adhere to another layer of ethical guidelines: those given by their accrediting body.
This means that, after an in-depth healing training such as psychotherapy or therapeutic counselling for example, the healer will register with the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) or UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
Membership to these professional bodies confers a level of professionalism, partly because members are expected to work within an ‘ethical framework‘.
An ethical framework, such as the BACP’s, includes a set of guiding principles that ensure the client’s needs are always central to the healing relationship. Healers with knowledge of an ethical framework are particularly mindful to keep their clients safe from harm.
My experience is that most healers do not intend to harm their patients or clients. Unfortunately, many can cause harm inadvertently because they do not understand the importance of
a) good boundaries
b) the effect of unconscious material in the healing relationship
c) holding their client in unconditional positive regard, and
d) privacy and confidentiality.
All these and more are encapsulated in a good ethical framework, which is why they are so beneficial for the client to work with a healer who knows about ethics. Certainly, ask your healer / therapist whether they follow an ethical framework or not.
Nevertheless, there are so many new healing modalities bursting through nowadays, that an energy healer trying to work within a psychotherapy framework may find their accrediting body very restrictive.
This is because energy medicine encompasses the use of intuition: a grey area in terms of the law. Ethical frameworks and code of conducts usually have strict rules about incorporating intuition into a healing, counselling or therapy session. By that I mean, you can’t say: “I’m sensing a block in your heart chakra caused by X“. You would only be able to paraphrase back what the client had told you in their own words or make observations.
I tend to gravitate more to psychotherapy-based healers than psychologists, as the latter’s approach is rooted in the medical model. The former usually encompasses a more holistic view.
Some experienced therapists use the term the unconscious instead of intuition or psychic sensing. One of my therapy teachers used to describe seeing images in her mind when clients were talking. To her, this was her unconscious giving her useful information. To me – an intuitive – I would frame it as intuition giving the information, i.e. clairvoyance.
And that is why a new generation of highly skilled healers with a therapy background are carving out new rules for professional conduct and creating their own organisations to fill in the gap between science and spiritual.
For example, members of The Energy Psychotherapy Network or healers trained by energy medicine man Dr Phil Mollon.
But, back to the criteria…
So, how do you know if a healer is ethical?
Harm to clients can be caused inadvertently, therefore some ethical awareness is preferable, even with healers who are just starting out.
Aside from basics, like operating within the law, if you are going to work long term with a healer (i.e. do deep work), I usually recommend that your healer has had some therapeutic training. That may be therapeutic counselling (1 or 3 years) or psychotherapy (an additional 2 years, the next rung up).
Some healers, whose healing practice falls between the divide between energy healing / energy medicine and therapy, may create their own code or conduct which evidences an understanding of ethics.
For weekly sessions over a long period of time, you would expect your healer to be in supervision. This means they are being supported + guided by a more experienced healer. For short blocks of healing, or one off sessions, this is not usually the case.
You can normally pick up clues from the presentation of marketing materials, information provided ahead of or post session; the way the healer conducts him or herself during the session; and the general feeling you get when interacting with the healer.
When all is said and done, you have to feel safe with your healer.
Are they creating a safe healing space for you? Or are you left feeling confused, uncertain, undermined or even offended by their behaviour?
Best UK healers: #5 the healer is experienced
A healer’s experience is often – but not always – reflected in his / her pricing. If a healer has years of professional experience to draw on and has invested thousands of pounds and hours into training, then it’s fair for them to charge more for their services.
There are many low priced, very experienced healers who are wonderful, but they can experience burnout. This is partly because demand exceeds supply, i.e. their energy levels cannot meet the number of appointments being booked.
Additionally, while their expertise enables them to help people heal from traumas, they cannot afford to take care of themselves. They carry the weight of their clients problems, yet are unable to take days off or book time with a healer, for example.
It makes sense for newbie healers – though talented and fulfilling other criteria above – to price lower. This enables them to gain experience without the extra pressure on their shoulders of very high expectations.
I’m against newly qualified healers charging hundreds just after coming out of a weekend workshop or short healing course, just because they have a piece of paper that says “I am a healer now“.
At the same time, it’s up to each individual to be the judge of what level of investment a healing session is worth to them.
The general rule here is that you usually pay for experience. That’s not to say you won’t get tremendous results from a less experienced healer in the UK. Equally, you may even find a very experienced healer who is inexpensive (– some healers offer discounted rates to the unemployed or elderly, for example). Just bear in mind the cost versus experience ratio when considering your options.
How do you know if a healer is experienced?
Look for details on the website or marketing literature, or ask about their experience when you enquire.
Please check the links under ‘Work With Me’ menu for details.
Before Your Go… Get Good vibes!
Sunday Oracle for your week ahead | Video Pick A Card readings | Free Reiki healing (optional) | HSP Success Workshop – instant access | Unsubscribe anytime | Learn more!
