What does “wounded healer” mean?
For me, it mainly refers to someone in the role of a healer who explores healing for their own wounds as much as they do the same for others. Often, these are emotional wounds but they can also be physical, and the two are aspects of the same whole.
TAKING ON THE ROLE OF A HEALER
It means someone who sometimes takes on the role of a healer.
If we function as a healer, it’s a role we take on in some situations and leave the rest of the time. It’s not something that defines us, although we can pretend it does if we have an unexamined need for just that.
What we really do is support the natural healing process of both our bodies and minds. We know some ways to support these natural healing processes and invite in healing.
Sometimes, the client is a more passive recipient. And sometimes, they can take a more active role and learn something that can benefit them in other situations and in the long run.
OTHERS AS A MIRROR
It refers to someone who recognizes in herself what she sees in the clients.
We know that others are a mirror for ourselves. I can take any story I have about someone else, turn it to myself, and find specific examples – from here and now and in the past – of where it fits for me. We are in the same boat.
FAMILIAR WITH THE TERRAIN
It refers to someone who knows, from their own experience, some ways to invite healing.
Through working on ourselves, we gain experience and familiarity with the terrain, and we can use this to help others. We are guides for a particular terrain, just like many others are in other fields and areas of life.
HEALING HOW WE RELATE TO WOUNDS AND LIFE
This healing can be healing for how we relate to our wounds and life.
The main healing is often in how we relate to our wounds and anything associated with them, for instance, the experiences created by the wounds, triggers in the world, identities, and the painful stories creating the wounds.
Healing here tends to generalize to other situations and can possibly benefit us for the rest of our life.
HEALING OF THE WOUNDS
And it can be healing for the wounds themselves.
Sometimes, we can invite in healing for the wound itself and learn something here too that we can bring with us.
And when we look more closely, we may find that any wound is really a wound in how we relate to ourselves and life.
WOUNDED HEALERS AND OTHER APPROACHES
Any healer who works on themselves as much or more than they work with clients is, as I see it, a wounded healer.
We all have a range of different types of wounds. Working on our own is the best laboratory for becoming familiar with the terrain – and, in turn, supporting clients. And that makes us, in a sense, a wounded healer.
The alternative is to use a more distanced knowledge to help others. That too can be helpful, and some healing professions – and especially the more regulated ones – are designed this way.
THE MODALITIES I MOSTLY USE
Most of the healing modalities I use are typical “wounded healer” modalities.
The training involves, to a large degree, working on oneself.
And many who use these modalities use them as much for themselves as they do for others. Personally, I use them more for myself than for others.
These include inquiry (The Work of Byron Katie, Living Inquiries). Parts work (Voice Dialog, Big Mind process). Inquiry into our nature (Big Mind process, Headless experiments). Psychological approaches (Process Work, Jung, cognitive therapy.). Heart-centered approaches (tonglen, ho’oponopono). Bodywork (TRE, Breema). Energy work (Vortex Healing). And more.
INITIAL DRAFT
What does “wounded healer” mean?
It means someone who sometimes takes on the role of a healer. If we function as a healer, it’s a role we take on in some situations and leave the rest of the time. It’s not something that defines us.
And what we really do is support the natural healing process of both our bodies and minds. We know some ways to support these natural healing processes and invite in healing.
Sometimes, the client is a more passive recipient. And sometimes, they can take a more active role and learn something that can benefit them in other situations and in the long run.
Who recognizes in herself what she sees in the clients. We know that others is a mirror for ourselves. I can take any story I have about someone else, turn it to myself, and find specific examples – from here and now and in the past – of where it fits for me. We are in the same boat.
And know from their own experience some ways to invite in healing. Through working on ourselves, we gain experience and familiarity with the terrain, and we can use this to help others. We are guides for a particular terrain, just like many others are in other fields and areas of life.
This healing can be a healing for how we relate to our wounds The main healing is often in how we relate to our wounds and experiences and our life in general. A healing here tends to generalize to other situations and can possibly benefit us for the rest of our life.
And it can be a healing for the wounds themselves. Sometimes, we can invite in healing for the wound itself and learn something here too that we can bring with us.
Any healer who works on themselves as much or more than they work with clients is, as I see it, a wounded healer. We all have different types of wounds. Working on our own is the best laboratory for supporting clients. And that makes us, in a sense, a wounded healer.
The alternative is to use a more distanced knowledge to help others. That too can be helpful, and some healing professions – and especially the more regulated ones – are designed this way.
Most of the healing modalities I use are typical “wounded healer” modalities. The training involves, to a large degree, working on oneself. And many who use these modalities use them as much for themselves as they do for others. These include inquiry (The Work of Byron Katie, Living Inquiries), parts work (Voice Dialog, Big Mind process), inquiry into our nature (Big Mind process, Headless experiments), bodywork (TRE, Breema), energy work (Vortex Healing), and more.
SECOND DRAFT
What does “wounded healer” mean?
For me, it mainly refers to someone in the role of a healer who explores inviting healing for their own wounds as much as they do the same for others.
TAKING ON THE ROLE OF A HEALER
It means someone who sometimes takes on the role of a healer.
If we function as a healer, it’s a role we take on in some situations and leave the rest of the time. It’s not something that defines us, although we can pretend it does if we have an unexamined need for just that.
What we really do is support the natural healing process of both our bodies and minds. We know some ways to support these natural healing processes and invite in healing.
Sometimes, the client is a more passive recipient. And sometimes, they can take a more active role and learn something that can benefit them in other situations and in the long run.
OTHERS AS A MIRROR
It refers to someone who recognizes in herself what she sees in the clients.
We know that others are a mirror for ourselves. I can take any story I have about someone else, turn it to myself, and find specific examples – from here and now and in the past – of where it fits for me. We are in the same boat.
FAMILIAR WITH THE TERRAIN
It refers to someone who knows, from their own experience, some ways to invite healing.
Through working on ourselves, we gain experience and familiarity with the terrain, and we can use this to help others. We are guides for a particular terrain, just like many others are in other fields and areas of life.
HEALING HOW WE RELATE TO WOUNDS AND LIFE
This healing can be healing for how we relate to our wounds and life.
The main healing is often in how we relate to our wounds and experiences and our life in general. Healing here tends to generalize to other situations and can possibly benefit us for the rest of our life.
HEALING OF THE WOUNDS
And it can be healing for the wounds themselves.
Sometimes, we can invite in healing for the wound itself and learn something here too that we can bring with us.
WOUNDED HEALERS AND OTHER APPROACHES
Any healer who works on themselves as much or more than they work with clients is, as I see it, a wounded healer. We all have different types of wounds. Working on our own is the best laboratory for becoming familiar with the terrain – and, in turn, supporting clients. And that makes us, in a sense, a wounded healer.
The alternative is to use a more distanced knowledge to help others. That too can be helpful, and some healing professions – and especially the more regulated ones – are designed this way.
THE MODALITIES I MOSTLY USE
Most of the healing modalities I use are typical “wounded healer” modalities.
The training involves, to a large degree, working on oneself.
And many who use these modalities use them as much for themselves as they do for others.
These include inquiry (The Work of Byron Katie, Living Inquiries), parts work (Voice Dialog, Big Mind process), inquiry into our nature (Big Mind process, Headless experiments), heart-centered approaches (tonglen, ho’oponopono), bodywork (TRE, Breema), energy work (Vortex Healing), and more.