Healing Touch | Cincinnati Children's

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Healing touch is an energy-based therapy that supports the body's innate healing capacities. Certified healing touch practitioners at Cincinnati Children’s use gentle movements of their hands − either lightly touching the body or several inches above it − to soothe and balance the patient. Healing touch assists in creating an environment of safety and harmony to comfort a patient.
A soothing touch goes a long way for a cancer patient from Turkey.
As a young child, doctors diagnosed him with a rare immune disorder. When he became an adult, he learned he also had lymphoma.
“I personally felt my soul was really fragile and sort of broken,” he said.
Last fall, the 25-year-old traveled from Turkey for treatment at the Young Adult Cancer Center at Cincinnati Children’s. He arrived in a lot of pain.
”He said he wanted to die and with Cynthia it changed,” said his mom.
To help with the healing, Cynthia Rivers joined his care team as a holistic health specialist from the Division of Child Life and Integrative Care.
”We come in and we do comforting things to help complement the medicine. We focus not on just the body but we focus on the spirit and the emotional and mental part of the person too,” said Cynthia Rivers, a Holistic Health Specialist at Cincinnati Children’s.
Cynthia’s gentle movements have created an environment of harmony and comfort. Her visits relieve his pain and reduces the anxiety and stress from his illness.
”It’s really amazing. She can understand my pain is at that moment, by the energy I send her, without talking, we can communicate without talking and this is something really special,” he said.
His mom, who is a physician in Turkey, was skeptical at first about holistic care which includes massage and energy therapies. But then, she saw a difference in her son.
“It’s sometimes hard to believe but all of our relatives in Turkey know about Cynthia because they know she helps him,” she said. “And it’s very important help.”
As his health battle continues on, he wants to let other patients know that holistic care may help them too.
“Physical and mental health are all together. You should think of it as a whole picture,” he said. “The soul is so important.”