In the last few decades, women have taken healing and placed it in a new role. Yes, it’s our nature, but it has also become a sought after profession.

As women, we often look to women to heal us—female doctors just make a lot of us feel more comfortable. But we also want alternatives, as in alternative medicine.

In 2003, after 12 years of chronic pain, and countless visits to doctors, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. Like my mother before me, whose first doctor told her “one must tolerate pain,” I didn’t know about alternative medicine and the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits it can bring.

Endometriosis (like childbirth) taught me that women are tough in many ways; we are able to hold together more than what’s imaginable and still be there for others. It also taught me to look to the East, as Western medicine alone wasn’t able to relieve my suffering. The practice of alternative medicine shows empathy for patients in chronic pain and looks at the person as a whole being and not just the sum of their various parts.

Acupuncture helped relive my pelvic pain and aided in better circulation—something I very much needed. I also leaned that with chiropractic care I could rid myself of lower back pain and had less muscle fatigue.

More and more women have made “healing” their way of life—becoming professional massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and offering doula support. There are more doctors—female and male—who study Internal Medicine and choose homeopathic medicine as their sub specialty.

And, like me, many people are realizing the benefits of these professions. The healing arts are in demand, for patients and practitioners, now more than ever. According to Kitty Devlin, a licensed acupuncturist who works for Harford Holistic Center in Bel Air, Maryland, this has a lot to do with society and how we are always in a “rushing mode.” Many working moms start the day as early as 5am and the next time their head hits the pillow it may be 10pm at night…with a slew of must-do today items along the way, lest we forget any bumps in the road like your little one running a fever or the older one who missed the bus and is freaking out alone at school. We try to maintain our professional and personal life, and remember to breathe, and in the process, develop a great deal of stress. Stress often translates to ailments and many ailments can be healed holistically.

The turn towards “healing” services helps women in need find balance. Devlin states, “Women (healers) have the ability to listen. We are containers that can listen and provide a safe place to listen.” The healing begins when clients “come into their own power.” And while many, including myself look at acupuncture, massage therapy, and the array of healing services now available as an alternative form of medicating,” Devlin is quick to point out that alternative medicine is not the term to describe these practices, preferring to use the word “integrated.”
Alternative medicine is seen as an Eastern therapy, but it’s important to see how brilliantly it works in tandem with Western medicine. So integrating the practices serve to heal the whole person—body and soul—best.

And integrating this ever-growing industry into meaningful careers for women is a balance everyone wishes for in their professional life. Enabling patients to bring their life back into focus by eliminating pain so they can balance all their demands is a mighty task—of course women are up for it! In turn, the healer finds comfort in their role as a facilitator for an individual that has gotten off track. We all know there are a lot of women teachers who love their job for helping the youth of today—think about the women who choose this profession to help people have less pain.
Healing professionals can also, to a large extent, adjust their schedules to fit their lives (as opposed to the other way around). By choosing which patients to see—and when—they can be present for the important moments with their own children. And that balance is what it is all about.

To find out more about careers the various other homeopathic fields search online for local schools in your area and make connections with those already in practice. The benefits of “healing” are worth it.

Kitty Devlin, Licensed Acupuncturist, has over twenty-five years of experience in education and healthcare. She currently works at Harford Holistic Center located at 1318 East Churchville Road, Bel Air, Maryland. For the last 12 years she has worked with individuals with immune disorders—specializing in chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and arthritis. For more information about the center, visit their website at www.harfordholistic.com or call 410-838-4407.