Review of my experience with Healing Hands Wellness Institute - Mossel Bay South Africa.

Review of my experience with Healing Hands Wellness By Karen Letinic, 01 February 2021

In my opinion, every form of healing has its place in society. Be it Western medicine, Eastern medicine, alternative medicine, or Homeopathy, each practice possess a similar goal in its effort to enforce wellbeing. It simply depends on an individual's needs and their pertaining circumstances. Complimentary healing has, however, always interested me, hence this is where my journey with Healing Hands Wellness began. What started as a desire to learn the art of holistic massage soon blossomed into the curiosity of all forms of complementary healing. Some people said it had become an obsession, but they were wrong. It had become my passion. I took advantage of the ongoing specials that Healing Hands Wellness advertised, and enrolled in the open-access course. After renewing my contract with Healing Hands Wellness for an additional two years, I managed to complete all 24 courses that they had to offer. I would recommend this route to other individuals that are considering in enrolling into Healing Hands Wellness, as it is the most cost-effective route and allows you to take charge of your own ‘road map’.

To those looking at taking courses in wellness and complementary healing with Healing Hands Wellness, I will say the following based on my own experiences:

The practical courses are truly excellent as they give a really good understanding of the course content. The instructors are patient and go at a pace that anyone can learn. Like anything in life, you reap what you sow, therefore you need to put in the time. It is essential that you practise each week in-between lessons, so as to master the techniques which have been taught, without becoming overwhelmed. One of the most impressive instructors that I had at Healing Hands was Kevi. She taught us that anyone can massage, and although learning the techniques was the most important element of massage, the intent while massaging made all the difference. With all those hours of hands-on-practice required in order to qualify to do the exam, I learned just how right she was. Thank you, Kevi.

The correspondence courses give a basic understanding of the topics in question, certainly not enough to become a master of the practice, but enough to understand the concepts being taught and to pass the exams (especially if you follow the course content systematically, by reading each section and then doing the ‘test yourself questions’- don’t skip these). The manuals are worded in a way that almost anyone can understand their content. Whilst I found that some of the information was slightly outdated, or not entirely appropriate to the South African lifestyle, it was an easy way to perform distance learning. What I did was read the manuals and then, with that background knowledge of the course content, I did a lot of extra research of my own, especially in the subjects that captivated me more. This allowed me to strengthen my knowledge of the relevant topics and allowed me to form my own opinions with regards to the practices taught.

Looking back, what I appreciated most of all is how much these short-courses taught me, and how much of this I currently apply to my everyday life. I now understand that being happy is a conscious choice. I learned how to be grateful and content with my life, which makes me a calmer person and helps me feel more in control of certain situations. I can say without any doubt that I have grown exponentially as a person since I started on my journey with Healing Hands Wellness, and a lot of this was a direct result of what I chose to take from the lessons that were taught.

There were times that I did not agree with all the theory that was taught in the manuals. Ella Barker confirmed that one will never agree with everything that is taught and that that was okay. What was important, however, was to obtain a sound understanding of the concepts being taught, and make educated choices of whether to apply these lessons in practice. I appreciated her outlook and her willingness to understand that not everyone agrees with all the course content provided. I also appreciated that she respected the fact that everyone differs with regards to personal opinions and beliefs, and that those differences were tolerated when marking my exams.

I respected the way the admin accepted they never always ‘got it right the first time’, but went over and above to rectify their mistakes. They always tried to accommodate personal circumstances, to make our studies easier, and that was very nice. Admin in any institute is always problematic, but how it is resolved says a lot about their integrity (Thank you, Rolene).

My disappointment with Healing Hands Wellness is that they are not internationally recognised. In fact, none of their courses are even recognised locally by governing standards. Each course contains elements of SAQA unit standard qualifications, but not enough to get any official diploma. Even after successfully completing all 24 courses on offer, this was not enough to obtain an NQF accreditation. So, when all is said and done, there is no national recognition for all the time and money that has gone into one's studies. However, it was a worthwhile experience that I would recommend to anyone looking to further their own broad-based general knowledge of wellness, or looking to further their growth on a personal basis. I, therefore, considered what I was taught as a learning phase that has open my life to the next chapter, and would like to extend my thanks to everyone at Healing Hands Wellness.