I will not rescue you. For you are not powerless. I will not fix you. For you are not broken. I will not heal you. For I see you, in your wholeness.

I will walk with you through the darkness as you remember your light.”

- Medicine Woman’s Prayer

Code of ethics

 
  1. The Healer’s Purpose

    1. The healing professions have for their objective serving humanity for its greatest good.

    2. Healers honor all peoples and all paths as sacred.

  2. Commitment to Client

    1. Wholeness and Healing:

      1. Healers are committed to assisting the client in reclaiming wholeness at any or all levels of being, such as body, emotions, mind, relationships (with other people and the environment) and spirit

      2. Healers render service to humanity with full respect for the dignity, autonomy and sensitivity of fellow beings.

      3. Healers view all of existence as sacred and interconnected and provide services with reverence and respect for all. Healing relationships occur within all of existence and may include people, animals, plants and the environment, locally, globally, and cosmically.

    2. Equality and Acceptance:

      1. Healers render care to beings regardless of race, sex, cultural, national or ethnic origins, or political persuasions.

      2. Healers and clients are equal partners in the process of healing.

    3. Respect and Unconditional Regard:

      1. Healers respect the beliefs, values, customs, choices and coping mechanisms of the individual.

      2. Healers offer care from an infinite field of love and compassion.

  3. Qualifications of Healer

    1. Healers provide services commensurate with their training and perform only those services for which they are qualified.

    2. Healers observe all laws and uphold the dignity and honor of their profession.

  4. Professional and Personal Development:

    1. Healers avail themselves of opportunities for continuing professional education and training to maintain and enhance their competence.

    2. Healers work with others in their field and the healing professions in general to maintain and monitor high professional standards of care.

    3. Healers acknowledge that clients may bring lessons to the healer.

    4. Healers recognize that their presence and way of being are as important to the healing process as the modality that they practice, so it is important for healers to engage in ongoing personal development.

  5. Self-Care and Self-Healing:

    1. Healers identify and integrate self-care strategies to enhance their own physical, psychological, sociological, and spiritual well-being.

    2. Healers consciously cultivate awareness and understanding about the deeper meaning, purpose, inner strengths, and connections with self, others, nature, and God/Life Force/Absolute/Transcendent.

    3. Healers model healthy behavior and engage in practices that nurture self-wholeness and well-being, teaching by example.

    4. Healers recognize that every person has healing capacities that can be enhanced and supported through self-care practices.

  6. Validation

    1. Healers acknowledge the sources of their teachings as either traditional, derived through personal intuition or based upon research.

  7. Professional Behavior

    1. Guiding Principles:

      1. Healers embrace the following principals in their professional behavior: reverence, respect, trust, honesty, integrity, equality, competence, generosity, courage, humility, and confidentiality.

      2. Healers maintain a compassionate regard for the client by demonstrating a way of being that is courteous, tactful, sensitive, accepting, empathetic andnon-judgmental.

  8. Communication and Confidentiality:

    1. Healers maintain clear and honest communication with their clients and keep all information, whether medical or personal, strictly confidential. A healer may not reveal the confidences entrusted in the course of the professional relationship, or the peculiarities he or she may observe in the character of clients unless required to do so by law or to prevent harm to the client or other persons.

    2. Healers cooperate with other healing professionals, including physicians, nurses, other complementary/ alternative therapists, psychologists, counselors, scientists, and religious personnel, and other professional caregivers in the exploration and provision of healing modalities.

  9. Availability and Accessibility:

    1. Healers shall make known their availability and accessibility to clients in need of their professional services.

      1. Having undertaken care of the client, healers may not neglect the client.

      2. Should healers become unavailable, they should make appropriate referrals to other therapists

      3. Healers may discontinue services only after adequate notice.

  10. Maintaining Appropriate Boundaries and Parameters of Practice:

    1. Healers maintain appropriate boundaries for self and client and do not enter into inappropriate relationships with clients or take physical, emotional, sexual, psychological or financial advantage of clients.

    2. Healers do not make medical diagnoses or prescribe medications without appropriate training and licensure.

    3. Healers do not recommend nutritional supplements without appropriate knowledge.

    4. Healers associated with the development or promotion of products should disclose any vested interest and ensure that such products are presented in a factual and professional way.

  11. Relationships with Colleagues:

    1. Healers must know the limits of their professional competence.

    2. Healers know that a patient’s health and safety may depend on receiving appropriate services from members of other professional disciplines. Healers are responsible for maintaining knowledge of, and appropriately utilizing the expertise of such professionals on the patient’s behalf.

    3. In referring patients to allied professionals, healers ensure that those to whom they refer patients are recognized members of their own disciplines and are competent to carry out the professional services required.

    4. If Healers’ services are sought by individuals who are already receiving similar services from another professional, consideration for the patients’ welfare shall be paramount. It requires healers to proceed with great caution, carefully considering both the existing professional relationship and the spiritual/therapeutic issues involved.

  12. Conduct in a Professional Session

    1. Creating a Healing Environment:

      1. Healers provide a safe, welcoming, supportive and comfortable environment that is conducive to healing.

      2. Healers maintain a clean practice environment and professional personal appearance.

      3. Healers display certification, training and educational certificates and diplomas in public view.

      4. Healers honor the privacy of their clients and do not allow others in the treatment room without consent.

    2. Disclosing Professional Information and Practices:

      1. Healers provide clients with information regarding their healing philosophy and modality or modalities and what to expect during a healing session.

      2. Healers inform the client of possible outcomes and side effects.

      3. Healers share with clients prior to their sessions logistical considerations such as: length of session, punctuality and lateness policy, cancellation policy, and fees.

    3. Recording, Securing and Releasing Records:

      1. Healers record accurate client records.

      2. Healers store records in a secure and safe place.

      3. All information contained in the clients’ records is confidential.

      4. Healers share information with other parties only with the written consent of the client.

    4. Client Education:

      1. Healers understand that a person’s ability to retain information is limited and therefore provide written information about the session.

      2. Healers provide clients with appropriate educational materials that will aid in the process of self-care for clients after the healing session. Educational materials might include but are not limited to: written instructions regarding specific practices or exercises to enhance well-being; dietary suggestions; visualization or meditative practices; breathing exercises; affirmations; suggestions for journaling and other educational guides specific to individual healing practices.