The Professional Story
Linda Hall, MA, BSN, RN, CPHQ, HTPA, is a registered nurse, energy medicine practitioner, trained mediator, and health care quality improvement professional. She holds a masters degree in human development and an under graduate science degree in nursing. Hall also holds certification as a health care quality professional and certifications or study in conflict management, non-violent communication, divorce and family mediation, Healing Touch, Reiki, and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
After working many years in clinical nursing settings, Hall transitioned into the fields of health care quality and compliance. It was during this time that her passion for problem-solving, ethical thinking, conflict resolution, and effective communication evolved. Beginning in 2005, her study and practice of energy therapies resulted in a focus on the negative effects of stress and conflict on the human body and mind.
Linda currently works in health care quality assurance and private practice as an energy practitioner. The main focus of her energy practice is working with people individually and in groups to improve health and emotional wellbeing through energy techniques that assist to reduce stress, resolve or manage conflict, and improve individual and group resilience.
The Personal Story
It seemed from an early age that I was destined to work on behalf of, and advocate for others. An extremely sensitive and quiet child, almost every picture from my early childhood shows me holding or cradling a doll. Years later, during my senior year of high school, an article about me published in the school newspaper stated that I wanted a career where I could help others. Eventually, this desire to be of service evolved into the study and practice of nursing, becoming a wife and mother, the building of many long and lasting mutually supportive friendships, and more recently, teaching and supporting others in the areas of holistic stress management, communication, and conflict resolution.
Whether my upbringing had anything to do with my chosen field of work is uncertain. Like many, my childhood and adolescence was a mix of positive and negative experiences. Growing up with an alcoholic father, in an often less than optimal home environment, numerous traumatic experiences led to chronic stress, loneliness, uncertainty, sadness, fear, mistrust, and control issues. In an attempt to leave a chaotic living situation, I married young and had children. Over the next eighteen years, I divorced, remarried, and divorced a second time. It was then that I finally connected with the importance of getting to know and love myself by working through issues from my past.
My purpose in sharing this brief history is not to play victim or garner sympathy. In fact, quite the opposite, I feel blessed and fortunate that my life experience and hard work to understand and overcome its effects has allowed me to become what I am today—a wounded healer.
Wounded healer was not a term I was familiar with until graduating from a master of arts program in 2008. Upon reading my final paper in which I shared some of my life challenges, an advisor, who was a psychologist, suggested I was a wounded healer. Because I had spent so much time and energy working through and coming to peace with the trauma of my past, I immediately found his suggestion offensive. It would not be until later that I would fully understand the truth to his words—that the wounded can be great healers by the very nature of their wounds. Indeed, it is through my wounds and scars that I am able to connect with others in a meaningful way.
Today, married again for almost 15 years, I strive to be a happy and peaceful presence to myself and those around me. I have learned the many physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of keeping a positive and hopeful attitude. Simply put, life is about progress, not perfection.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~ Lao-Tzu