It was dealing with feeling rejected by a relative and the strong emotions that came with it that first brought Jennifer Nurick to energy healing. Angry and intensely upset, she wanted to be able to manage those feelings, so she sought help.
“For me, it was like how do I cope with this tricky situation, and the way I’m responding to it?” she recalled.
When she responded so well to the therapy, her healer suggested she study some of the energy healing modalities. Jennifer, who grew up feeling inspired by social change, already had a degree in Political Science and Development Studies, had been teaching English in Japan for three years and roaming the world but hadn’t yet settled on a career.
Leaving her home in the UK, she settled in Australia with her new husband and quickly took up courses in kinesiology, Reiki and energetic healing.
“I just loved it all - I knew I had found my vocation,” Jennifer said. “Through studying alternative healing my eyes were opened to a world I didn't know existed. It was a relief to learn a different way of looking at the world and healing. I felt huge shifts in my own body, mind and energy field, which left me feeling more present and connected to life than ever before.”
By 2006, Jenny had set up private practice in Sydney offering energetic healing. Soon after, she tackled further study, attaining a Masters in counselling and psychotherapy.
“I thought I should study something more mainstream, almost as a backup - but I had already been using elements of psychotherapy and counselling in my sessions.”
Jennifer describes the combination of energy healing, psychotherapy and counselling as a “powerful combination” that can be transformative.
Her practice is founded on Gendlin’s Focusing, a somatic, body centred form of psychotherapy, that is the foundation of Somatic Experiencing, a powerful tool for trauma resolution. It is also grounded in transactional analysis (inner child work and reparenting) and Rogerian Person Centred Therapy, unconditional positive regard, deep empathy, and the belief in each person moving toward a form of ‘self-actualization’. She is always mindful of the interplay of body, mind and spirit as equal components of her client.
“When people are processing something in a session, energy is moving around, and people will feel it moving through their body and their mind,” Jennifer explained.
“One client said it felt like all these ‘bats’ had left his throat, so as an energy healer I sweep his throat to help that energy release.”
Jennifer, who defines herself as sitting in the spiritual psychotherapy space, says her sessions are usually 80% psychotherapy and 20% energy healing.
“There are different kinds of psychotherapy that vary in their approaches. There is a lot of research proving the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a mind-based approach, for anxiety,” she explained.
“But if you’ve got complex trauma - childhood trauma and attachment issues - CBT is more than likely not going to be enough. Around 50% of people will need deeper work.”
About 14 months ago, Jennifer established Psychotherapy Central online, which now has more than 135,000 followers across its social media outlets. Encouraged by its phenomenal growth, the platform has enabled her to share her healing messages and psychoeducation more broadly than ever before.
“I think people are resonating with the core messages they’re reading online really deeply,” she reflected.
“There’s this age bracket between 20 - 35 of people who have gone through their childhood, they’ve muddled through life and suddenly they’re struggling in their relationships, they realise they’ve got issues that stem from what happened at home when they were younger and are looking for ways to shift that and heal. And I think it’s these people I’m reaching.”
In a recent Instagram post about trauma, Jennifer explained that childhood trauma can be about omissions - never being told you are beautiful, or loved, for example.
“If you weren’t given what was required, this is equally as harmful,” she explained.
“So there’s an education that is occurring for people and the gift in this is that they can start to make sense of themselves.”
It’s in education that Jennifer feels her purpose lies. She wants to teach people to accept themselves more and loves the deep therapeutic work.
“Helping people to form an authentic connection with their sense of self – their soul, their higher self, whatever you want to call it – so many people are missing that connection and the self-trust that comes from this, and I think that’s a big part of depression.
“When I’m working with people I’m helping them correct their attachment style, I’m showing them what a safe person feels like. My nervous system is regulated and they’re able to co-regulate with me, which means their nervous system can learn what it feels like to be safe. There’s a whole lot of healing that happens in this therapeutic relationship.
“The buzz comes from whenever I see people have that moment of realisation – that magic moment where it all clicks together.
“Success for me is seeing people have that moment of realisation, making inner and outer world changes and breaking the cycles they have been repeating, so they can move forward in their life.”
Jennifer is President of the International Energetic Healing Association, whose mission is to raise the profile of energetic healing.
When it comes to western medicine and its acceptance of complementary and energetic medicine, Jennifer believes the western medical model is digging in its heels.
“But I feel like it’s the heels digging in before the big breath out. It’s like a child who says ‘no mummy I won’t put on my coat to go out, I won’t get changed’ then the child steps out the door and it’s freezing cold so they willingly put on the coat,” she said.
“I think people are increasingly looking towards alternative therapies to maintain their health and recover from illness, rather than relying solely on Western medicine. I think more and more people are taking a holistic approach to their wellness and healing and have more agency in the process. There are so many places where alternative therapies can support Western medicine. It doesn't have to be either / or, it can be both.
“Having a platform like SoulAdvisor where you have quality practitioners in lots of different modalities where people can read through and see who they have a resonance with, or feel a pull toward, is of such value.
“It creates the potential for hand holding between western and complementary medicine.”
References
Gendlin’s Focusing | The International Focusing Institute
Somatic Experiencing | SoulAdvisor
Rogerian Person Centred Therapy | SimplyPsychology
Home | International Energetic Healing Association
Robyn Holland is a journalist, writer and publicist who has worked in the media industry for three decades. She spent 18 months as a dedicated content writer for SoulAdvisor and has a passion for natural health, yoga and the wellbeing of the world.
She is the author of Australians: the people and their stories - the product of a 12 month sojourn around the country in a caravan; and still loves travel, along with the bush and the beach, reading, music and dogs.
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