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Safe Practice: What is Your New Year Self-Care Ritual? Focus on Your Success

By Mary Ann Mace

Rituals can play an important part in your Energy Medicine practice. Perhaps in preparation for a client, you silence your inner voices and call upon yourself to summon the power of your healing energy. Once your client has joined you, whether it is in the same room or virtual meeting room, you harness your abilities to reach out and connect with your client. Without going through this mental and spiritual preparation, you might not feel aligned with the healing skills that you share with the world. You are accustomed to taking certain, ritual-like steps when preparing for a client or for preparing yourself for the day.

With the new year having just begun, you probably have already taken the same thoughtful actions to welcome all the possibilities a new year has to offer. A question to ask yourself: have you done the same thoughtful preparation for your energy practice? Have you assessed the prior year to help you determine the actions which contributed to the health of your practice and those that held you back from success? It is still early enough to make an inventory of the components that comprise a successful business and then an assessment of each so you can identify what works best for you, your practice and your clients. The list does not have to be exhaustive, in fact, you can keep to a simple list of five components:

1. Your product (scope of practice)
2. Liability protection
3. Risk management
4. Business management
5. Online presence

You can always add to the list, but you would not want to omit any one of the five components listed. Each of these is an essential part of your practice and key to keeping everything running smoothly and balanced. So, what are the steps you should take with each one of the components to ensure your practice, and you, are receiving the attention it deserves? Here is a recap:


1. SCOPE OF PRACTICE

You want to accurately represent yourself to the public in accordance with your credentials and the modalities that you offer. Conduct a self-check making sure your Energy Medicine modalities that you offer fall within the scope of your training and experience. Are you certified by an organization that has a professional certification program or received training for each modality? If your state requires licensing or credentialing, make sure that you are current with each of these. If relevant for your state, make sure that the terminology you use to describe yourself and your practice falls within the laws and regulations in your state. We recommend that you check with your state’s health licensing and credentialing regulations to make sure that you are compliant and represent yourself within the legal limits.

2. LIABILITY PROTECTION

Having insurance protects you and your business, and it is a critical player in a self-care plan. Insurance coverage communicates you care about your business and the people you treat. Don’t we want to protect the aspects of our lives that are important to us? You probably have life insurance and medical coverage. Then take the same precaution by safeguarding your practice with liability protection. Don’t you usually check to see if a company is insured or bonded when checking out a business? Insurance coverage delivers a message of pride in one’s work and stability as a business. This is something you want your clients to know about you.

3. RISK MANAGEMENT

How you present yourself publicly is one of the most important aspects of risk management. If you have laws and regulations in your state that restrict what you can call yourself, then make sure you comply with this. As part of your self-care steps for the new year, check your social media presence, website language and any other marketing medium to make sure you are not using any language that could misrepresent you. If you need to replace any wording that you currently use to describe your services, consider these suggestions from YL (www.youngliving.com) which are posted on its website:

• Aids in • Provides • Helps • Promotes • Enhances • Balance • Harmony • Relaxation • A sense of • Clarity • Facilitates • Supports • Improves

By taking these steps, you are not only managing the image that you present to clients and potential clients, but you are also helping to avoid any misunderstanding of client expectations or perceptions. You are being proactive with your efforts to mitigate any potential risk of misrepresentation with the public.

4. BUSINESS PROCEDURES

Documentation serves to both protect and formalize business procedures. One of the first documents you want from a new client is an implied? informed consent form. This document affirms the client consents to the type of practice and services the practitioner will be providing. Before beginning any treatment, you would also want to assess the client to ensure your services meet the client’s needs. Once treatments begin, you want to record each session with accurate notes using a client treatment history form.

5. ONLINE PRESENCE

With all the various forms of energy healing, you have chosen to follow a specific modality or several. Likely, you were drawn to the type of practice you provide to people. In a way, choosing a certain path defines who you are. This is what you want to communicate to the world. This is your brand. Whether you have a website, blog, brochure or social media sites, communicate your brand through a choice of words, messages and images. Anyone who sees or reads your content will get a sense of your identity (i.e., brand) and mission as an energy healer. Additionally, in managing your online presence, you will want to accurately reflect your scope of practice and follow risk management protocols as part of your protection plan. These efforts culminate into a peace of mind and energy source for the task at hand: energy healing for your clients.


The new year is a time to self-affirm. Not just yourself, but your energy healing practice. Use this time to review your processes, assess the scope of your practice and protect your practice. Purposeful action is reserved for the things we care about and are important to our happiness. You are likely to share this message with your clients so extend this supportive message to yourself. This reaffirms your services as legitimate and deserving of the care and attention each of us deserves.


Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and is not legal advice or opinion. This general information is meant to raise questions, educate, create discussion and dialogue around the ethical and legal issues of teaching, learning, studying or practicing alternative and complementary energy healing modalities. You are advised to seek an attorney for any of your professional legal issues, concerns or needs.

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