Therapeutic Touch in the 21st Century. Where are we going? Be a part of the Journey!

Dear Therapeutic Touch colleagues,

In June of 2003 at Camp Indralaya Dr. Dolores Krieger posed the challenge of how to bring Therapeutic Touch into the 21st Century. She foresaw a need for us to look at how relevant TT was becoming to modern healthcare and how it would develop throughout the world in the future. It was in discussions during this time, with members of Nurse Healers-Professional Associates International (NH-PAI), that the concept of a Global Summit Committee (GSC) for TT was born. Dee envisioned global communications as taking place both through the Internet and in an International meeting of TT practitioners.

After much thought and discussion, the GSC decided that in order to formulate a future plan for TT, it was essential that as many TT practitioners as possible be included in the dialog from countries where TT is being practiced and taught. It was decided the best way to achieve this goal was to formulate a questionnaire that would enable us to understand the concerns of TT practitioners worldwide. This questionnaire covers a variety of subjects, such as the Scope of Therapeutic Touch Practice, the Future of TT, Teaching and Education, and Personal Practice. In many ways this is an appeal for Therapeutic Touch practitioners to take charge and be responsible for the future of TT.

We hope that those of you who practice TT throughout the world are willing to participate in an ongoing discussion of the evolution and development of this healing modality to which many of us have dedicated much of our lives. It is our hope that the questionnaire will help with two objectives. The first objective is to establish where we stand as a healing modality. The second objective is to provide the groundwork for an Internet venue that will enable all TT practitioners to interact in ongoing open forums dealing with many aspects of TT. These could include: The Ethics of TT Practice, Global Standards, Research Projects, The Place of TT in Modern Healthcare, Should TT Work with Modern Healthcare?, Our inner Journey with TT, Concepts of Teaching, and What the Future Holds. These discussions can take place in forums, which would allow anyone with an interest to participate and contribute to the ongoing development and evolution of TT.

The Global Summit committee and NH-PAI hope that you are willing to take a few moments to help determine the future direction of Therapeutic Touch by completing the attached questionnaire. We would also like to invite you to pass this questionnaire on to as many of your local and regional colleagues as possible, so that we can obtain the widest possible input for this project.

We ask that your responses be returned to therapeutictouchgsc@yahoo.com by 01/31/2006 at the latest so that we can collate your answers into a cohesive document which will act as the foundation of the on-line proposed discussion groups and also will contribute to the formation of a future International Therapeutic Touch Summit. A summary of the information collected will be shared with all those who respond to the questionnaire.

Dora and Dee have always envisioned that Therapeutic Touch would continue beyond their lifetimes. As Dee is urging us, the time is now for each of us to take the responsibility of building and strengthening the international connection of Therapeutic Touch.

In the Spirit of Therapeutic Touch Worldwide,

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