Reiki in U.K. Hospitals

Integrating Reiki into the

National Health Services (NHS) U.K.

Angie Buxton-Kling

I have been employed as a Reiki practitioner on the Hematology Unit within cancer care at University College London Hospital (UCLH) for the past seven years. My desire to work as a healer within the National Health Service came about as a result of illness within my own family.

My son Sam was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 1995 at the age of seven. The medical opinion was that Sam would be fortunate to live no more than a few months because, statistically, his type of leukemia did not respond to treatment. Sam lived for another three years, during which time he enjoyed a quality of life that, unfortunately, his peers with this diagnosis did not.

I know that this extra time we had with Sam was due to the complementary therapies care he received. He had very little problem with side effects and the usual life threatening infections that chemotherapy can bring. I believe that healing supported him to be able to tolerate the conventional medicine he received. When Sam passed into spirit in 1998 I continued to work privately with children, adults and many four-legged patients.

I also began to focus my attention on a more personal goal: convincing the medics that Healing/Reiki could be a very useful tool for patients undergoing conventional cancer treatment. Sam's life had been so dramatically improved by healing that I wanted

other children to benefit in the way that he had.

Several doors that I knocked on during this time remained firmly closed. Sadly, one of them was Great Ormond Street Hospital, a famous children's hospital where Sam had received his treatment. Eventually, in 1999, I was given the opportunity to speak to the nurse manager of the Haematology Unit at University College Hospital. I was told straight away that there was no money available to pay me, to which I responded that for now that was fine. I merely wanted to be given the opportunity to prove a need. Money could come later!

I began work on the unit the following week, initially for one full day weekly. Within a month, the need had been proved beyond any doubt. I was interviewed once again by the manager, who said that patients, staff and relatives had given the service a

huge "thumbs up." I was to be given a day's paid work per week and an Honorary contract. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.

Since then my work has expanded steadily, an extra day each year, to the point that last year I was appointed Complementary and Counselling Team Manager. I am now responsible for five other therapists:

 two aromatherapist/reflexologists

 a counsellor and

 two Reiki practitioners.

Working at the hospital is the most rewarding and challenging part of my life. It is very different from working from home where clients choose to come to you compared to working in a hospital where every room has a patient or a sceptical doctor who

might well say no to your treatment. I found that I needed to be very flexible in my approach, as a conventional healing session is usually impossible in a hospital

setting. Various machines, wires and high tech medicines are usually being delivered to the patient, along with interruptions by doctors, nurses and even cleaners, making it a challenging environment in which to work.

Healing in hospitals is a specialized field and should be recognized as such. I have been invited to speak at several international medical conferences this year, as many cancer centers are looking into the provision of complementary therapy for their patients. In recognition of this interest, my husband Graham and I recently presented our first Healing in Hospitals Workshop in Hertfordshire U.K. This workshop has been designed to assist healers who want to work within the statuary sector.

The course material was extremely well received and the completed evaluations forms from the course participants were excellent. Some of the topics covered were:

•  How to prepare and present yourself to hospitals.

•  How to describe healing to conventional medics.

•  How to adapt your therapy within this setting.

•  How to integrate within a multi-disciplined team.

Along with the above topics, there were many student-led discussions during which we were able to share our clinical experience of working as healers within the NHS. It was hugely rewarding to share this information with other healers. The profits from the course will benefit our charity, which is being launched this year in memory of Sam.

You will have noticed that I use the terms "Healing" and "Reiki" throughout this article. I have trained with the National Federation of Spiritual Healers as well as in the Usui Reiki System. I have found similar blocks to both of those labels, especially within a hospital setting, due to the multi-faith society of our patients. I therefore try to avoid labels as much as possible, talking to patients of "energy" rather than more holistic phrases that

could be "mumbo jumbo" to the layperson. However, I believe we should not be ashamed to call what we do "healing" and am comfortable with the term "healer." My experience is that the hundreds of patients I have seen over the years are quite comfortable with the words Heating or Reiki as long as the therapist is comfortable

with herself or himself. The following words are from patients who have received

healing within the hospital setting.

Susan Hyde was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2004. Her husband, David, shares this report:

“Just a few words about our experiences and how Healing Reiki has helped us both at the most terrible time in our lives. Before Susan's illness we knew nothing about Reiki. I do have a colleague where I work who is a martial arts expert, and he has mentioned

the points where the chi runs through the pressure points he uses with his art, but the rest is/was mumbo jumbo to us both. Soon after we arrived at the UCLH we were told that the transplant unit had a complementary medicine team headed up by Anne.

The hospital allowed me to stay with Susan for the six weeks she was an in-patient and they think that she is quote, "a super star" because of the way she responded to the chemotherapy and three days of total body radiotherapy - she had little or no sick effects apart from her hair falling out.

As bad as she was feeling she was up and about every day, and her consultant said, "I know that you are feeling very bad but I cannot believe how much better you are than other patients at the same stage as you. Some of them have not been out of bed in weeks.

"I know exactly why Susan was so much better than the other patients; Reiki healing."

—Susan & David Hyde

"I had no idea what to expect, but the healer, Anne Buxton, quickly put me at my ease. She practices hands-on-healing. I always felt very comfortable and would just lie down whilst she worked on me. During the first session, I experienced some strange sensations. / could see a red light and I felt a powerful tingling in my hands and pins and needles in my feet. I ended up having session twice a week, and although /'m in remission now, I still go every week. It has helped me in so many ways. I always feel cleansed and relaxed after healing.

I believe it gave me the strength to cope with the chemotherapy, which lowers your immune system. Many people lose lots of weight during treatment, but I didn't lose a pound. Now, healing helps me to relax and not worry about the cancer returning. Angie also treats patients' families because they go though so much stress as well.

I would advise anyone with cancer to try healing. The doctors are good but you need all the help you can get to fight cancer. I believe the healing Angie gave me played a big part in my cancer going into remission."

—Linda Moore

Last words should come from my clinical lead/head nurse Stephen Rowley:

"University College London Hospital's haematology unit treats patients with leukemia and other life threatening diseases. Treatments are highly intensive and carry risks of morbidity and mortality in themselves. For the last five years the unit has developed a complementary therapy team, initially providing conventional therapies such as reflexology and aromatherapy^ to patients.

Introducing a spiritual healer into this pressure cooker environment was considered a risk. I am pleased to say that over the last five years that Angela Buxton has been in the team the therapy of healing has become not only accepted but imperative to many of our patients. Although clinically healing remains little understood, the clinical effects are most evident, and certainly tangible enough to satisfy the sceptical minds of doctors and nurses.

We have seen patients with uncontrolled pain find more relief from healing than from intramuscularly [administered] opiates. We have seen patients in psychosocial states of utter desperation find huge comfort and coping abilities through healing. We have seen patients report significant reductions in chemotherapy related side effects. We have

seen the positive effect healing can have on the troubled dying patient

.

Working in this field is demanding and many staff have felt the need for healing themselves and have found significant benefit from doing so. Healing is the most popular and well-received complementary therapy we provide on the unit."

—Stephen Rowley Clinical Nurse/Manager

Obviously to have Stephen's seal of approval helps enormously, but this approval has come from clinical experience of seeing how healing can be a very valuable, supportive tool for his patients and staff on the unit. My goal remains the same as it was in 1999: to spread the therapy of healing within the statuary sector and to encourage healers to approach units to enable more patients to benefit from healing as a supportive therapy.

The Sam Buxton Sunflower Healing Trust has been created to help achieve the goal that Graham and I have of providing healers to work within other cancer centers at home and abroad. We are fortunate to have sponsors who recently held a corporate event in London to raise our first funds for the charity. For further information on any of the above please see our website.

Reference:

Caiman K Hine D: (1995): A Policy Framework For Commissioning Cancer Services. A Report B.  The Expert Advisory Group On Cancer To The Chief Medical Officers of England And Wales: Department of Health 3183 3P 1K Sept 95, 04

Angie can be contacted by email at angel.beacon@virgin.net or through her web site www.angiebuxton-king.com