“Simple act of touch can be therapeutic”
Friday, September 30, 2005 -- Craig Anderson
At a recent complimentary therapy session with a Thortonview resident who was listless and depressed, Karen Haffey was reminded again of how profound the effects of healing touch therapy can be.

“He said to me ‘that’s a very loving feeling,’” says Karen, the comfort care coordinator who provides weekly one-to-one therapy sessions at three CPL homes – ThortonView (Oshawa), Winbourne Park (Ajax), and Bay Ridges (Pickering).

Evoking positive emotion in this resident – who is reclusive and rarely engaged in home activities - through the use of massage was a minor coup.

“For him to be able to receive something that he associated with a loving feeling was very important,” says Karen.

The Comfort Care Program is designed to assist long term care residents in feeling an increased sense of comfort and relaxation; to alleviate pain and according to Karen, “is really about building trust and creating a safe, nurturing space for healing to happen.”

Karen employs three forms of therapy in the program – polarity therapy, cranial sacral therapy, and massage – the general goal of which is ensuring a state of deep relaxation. The program is especially beneficial, she says, for those residents who have chronic pain.

“In most cases in general what I am doing is not eliminating the pain, it’s providing, at the least, some temporary relief,” says Karen, recalling one resident she treats regularly who has significant back and shoulder pain.

Polarity work (frees energy blockages with gentle touch) and cranial sacral therapy (promotes balanced rhythm to cerebrospinal fluid), act as calming adjuncts for residents receiving other medical therapy. On an emotional level it is an inimitable type of therapy, says Karen.

“It’s also about showing up, and spending time and holding a hand and being with a person. It’s as much about the act of touch and how that is therapeutic in and of itself,” she says.

Karen’s own decision to explore alternative therapy occurred when at 26 she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease. Karen expanded her doctor’s explanation of the disorder being typified by the “self not recognizing the self” (with lupus, the immune system loses the ability to distinguish foreign substances from the body’s own cells and tissues), and turned this into a metaphor to embark on a journey of self reinvention and exploration.

Karen radically altered her life on numerous levels - through a healthier diet, counseling, and the elimination of negative influences. She traveled to New Mexico and BC to study holistic therapies, and embraced acupuncture and Chinese medicine. In short, she came back to her body, “putting myself first in my life.”

This transformation – Karen’s self-driven therapy has resulted in the elimination of her symptoms – and her subsequent decision to become a therapist in the long term care field, has changed her conception of healing.

“I came to see a much broader definition of wellness and healing, healing doesn’t necessarily mean that all the pain and the symptoms of an illness go away. I see healing as an opportunity to experience yourself in a fuller way – mentally, physically, spiritually – and to experience more peace in your life, and making peace with the pain in your body,” she says.

Karen, who splits 25 hours a week between the three homes, was initially overwhelmed by the challenges giving therapy to the elderly presented. Her work was ineffectual, she feared, and she would express this overriding concern with tears, daily.

“I used to think – ‘what can this one session a week possibly do?’ But then I talked to Karen Knight, the program manager, and she implored me to find the meaning in it. She said – ‘if there’s something in it that appeals to you, then keep showing up.’ Slowly, I began to see the effects of the program, and my confidence grew from there.”

For more about the work of Karen Haffey, see www.kultivate.ca