Can Healing Touch Really Heal? What One Nurse Discovered Might Surprise You

A Nurse’s Turning Point

Stacy Noel never imagined she’d be standing in front of a class, teaching caregivers how to use energy to help others heal.

She began her career like many nurses do — focused on clinical skills, evidence-based practice, and the physical side of care. She believed in the power of medicine and the importance of protocols. But over time, something felt off. She saw patients who, despite every intervention, still suffered. She saw colleagues burning out under the pressure. And she felt the emotional weight of it all building inside herself.

That’s when she started asking a question many caregivers eventually face: Is there something more I could be doing?

Her search led her to Healing Touch Energy Therapy, a structured energy healing method developed by a nurse, for nurses. Unlike vague or improvised wellness techniques, Healing Touch was grounded in ethics, scope of practice, standardized curriculum, and clinical application. It spoke her language — the language of care, backed by real tools and training.

At first, she was just a student. But what she experienced in her own body, and in the patients she worked with, convinced her this wasn’t just another wellness trend. It was something real. Something powerful.

Today, Stacy is a Healing Touch Certified Instructor at ChristianaCare. She teaches caregivers how to use their hands to support patients physically, emotionally, and energetically.

And the impact? That’s where things get even more surprising.

What Is Healing Touch and How Does It Work?

Let’s make something clear, Healing Touch is not massage. It’s not about muscle manipulation or pressure points, and it’s definitely not about moving your hands around and hoping for the best.

Healing Touch is a structured, heart-centered energy therapy. Practitioners use gentle, intentional hand movements, either lightly on the body or just above it, to clear energetic blockages and restore balance in a person’s energy field. The goal is to support the body’s natural ability to heal.

Here’s what sets it apart:

• It was developed by a nurse, Janet Mentgen, and is taught through a consistent, standardized curriculum.
• It’s backed by a defined scope of practice, a code of ethics, and an accredited multi-level training system.
• It’s designed to complement medical care, not replace it – and is being used in over 50 hospitals, including ChristianaCare, Mayo Clinic, and Cleveland Clinic.

So what can it help with?

Research and clinical experience show Healing Touch can:

• Reduce stress, anxiety, and pain.
• Improve relaxation and sleep.
• Ease nausea or discomfort from procedures or medications.
• Shorten recovery times and improve emotional resilience.
• Support caregivers dealing with burnout and overwhelm.

It works by influencing the human energy system — something most of us feel intuitively but rarely talk about. Ever walked into a room and felt “off” before anyone spoke? Or felt better after a hug or someone placing a hand on your shoulder? That’s energy in motion. Healing Touch simply gives people a method to work with that energy intentionally.

And the most powerful part? It’s teachable. You don’t need special abilities — just a willingness to learn, practice, and care.

The Impact: Real People, Real Results

It’s one thing to understand how Healing Touch works. It’s another to see or feel what it actually does.

At ChristianaCare, Stacy Noel doesn’t just teach Healing Touch, she uses it. She’s called in to work with patients who are anxious before surgery, struggling with pain, or feeling overwhelmed during treatment. And the results are often striking.

One study showed that patients who received Healing Touch after open-heart surgery experienced lower stress and anxiety, and even had shorter hospital stays. Another study found that it reduced pain after knee replacement surgery. These aren’t just feel-good anecdotes. They’re measurable outcomes.

But the stories are just as powerful.

One patient who had maxed out their pain meds was still suffering. Stacy stepped in and offered Healing Touch. After a short session, the patient said they felt not only physically better, but emotionally calmer — like something had finally shifted.

And it’s not just for patients. Nurses, therapists, and other hospital staff are using these techniques on themselves and each other. Some take mini Healing Touch “reset” breaks during their shift to calm their nervous system and ease stress. Others use what they’ve learned to help colleagues with headaches or anxiety.

One ER nurse, Stacy recalls, sees her coming around the corner with the Healing Touch cart and immediately stops what she’s doing to receive a quick session. “It helps her relax,” Stacy says. “It gives her what she needs to keep going.”

Healing Touch offers something rare in healthcare — a way to give and receive care in the same moment.

But Is It “Woo-Woo”? Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Let’s be honest, energy healing makes some people uncomfortable.

It brings up images of incense, crystals, and vague spiritual talk. If you’ve ever thought, “This sounds a bit too woo-woo for me,” that’s a completely fair reaction.

But here’s what might surprise you: the people using Healing Touch at ChristianaCare — they’re nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and hospital leaders. People trained in science. People who don’t buy into trends — they ask for proof.

So let’s talk about that proof.

• Healing Touch is used in over 50 hospitals and healthcare systems across the U.S.
• It’s supported by the National Institutes of Health as a biofield therapy under the umbrella of complementary and integrative health.
• Research shows measurable improvements in pain, anxiety, nausea, and patient satisfaction.
• It’s structured, certified, and taught using professional standards — not improvised or subjective.

In other words: this isn’t a belief system — it’s a practice.

You don’t have to “believe in energy” to benefit from it, any more than you need to understand gravity to fall. Healing Touch works by activating the body’s relaxation response, reducing stress hormones, and helping the nervous system shift into healing mode. And yes, it can be done by someone just like you. You don’t need to be a nurse or healthcare worker to learn and do Healing Touch.

Being skeptical is healthy. But don’t let that stop you from exploring something that’s helping people — especially when those people are medical professionals just like you.

What You Can Try at Home Today

You don’t need to be trained or certified to start feeling the benefits of energy work. One of the first things Stacy teaches in Healing Touch is a simple self-care technique that anyone can do, anywhere, and it only takes a minute.

It’s called centering and grounding, and it’s designed to help you feel calm, present, and steady — especially in moments of stress or overwhelm.

Try this:

1. Center with your breath.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Now exhale slowly through your mouth.
Do this a few more times — letting each exhale release tension, noise, or distraction.
You don’t need to fix anything. Just come back to yourself.

2. Ground your energy.

Imagine roots growing from the soles of your feet into the earth.
Feel yourself supported, anchored, and connected.
With each inhale, imagine the earth sending calm, stable energy back up into your body.

3. Tune in to how you feel.

Ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?”
There’s no need to judge it. Just notice. Awareness itself creates space.

4. Set an intention.

Your thoughts guide your energy.
Try something like:

“I move through this day with clarity and calm.”
“I am grounded and open to healing.”

This is the kind of practice nurses use before walking into a patient’s room, having a tough conversation, or just catching their breath mid-shift. And you can use it too whenever you need to reconnect.