Raising the Bar for Energy Medicine
Since 1993, Healing Touch Certification has set a clear, accountable standard for safety, skill, and ethics—protecting the public and elevating practitioners who are ready to serve with professionalism.
Why Certification Matters
Becoming a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner (HTCP) means more than learning a modality, it’s a declaration of skill, integrity, and readiness to serve. Certification validates that you’ve completed advanced training, demonstrated ethical care, and met rigorous, board-reviewed standards. It creates public trust, opens doors in integrative healthcare, and affirms your commitment to serve with safety, presence, and skill.
Download the Certification StandardsÂ
About Healing Touch Certification
Since 1993, Healing Touch Certification has recognized practitioners who embody professionalism, integrity, and deep dedication to healing. The HTCP credential is more than a title, it reflects rigorous training, refined skill, ethical accountability, and the ability to create safe, transformative experiences for clients.
Healing Touch Certified Practitioners (HTCPs) come from all walks of life. Some are nurses, bodyworkers, or spiritual care providers. Others are everyday people called to support healing in their families, communities, or private practice. Wherever they begin, all are united by a shared commitment: to serve with compassion, presence, and professionalism.
Certification is just the beginning. Many HTCPs step into mentorship, guiding future practitioners through the Healing Touch journey. Mentors offer support, feedback, and wisdom, helping mentees build confidence, integrate knowledge, and prepare for their own path to certification. Mentors play a key role in upholding the standards and spirit of Healing Touch. Qualified Mentors are HTCPs who have demonstrated the skill, presence, and objectivity required to support students at a professional level.
For those called to teach, the next step is instructor certification. Healing Touch Certified Instructors (HTCIs) are leaders in the field, highly trained professionals who teach with integrity, uphold our standards, and support the growth of our global community.
As Energy Medicine continues to gain global recognition, the HTCP and HTCI credentials stand out, marking a practitioner as grounded, skillful, and ready to offer truly transformative care.
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Professionalism. Accountability.
Healing You Can Trust.
The mission of Healing Touch Certification is to set and uphold the national standard for excellence in energy medicine.
Our credential affirms that a practitioner isn’t just trained, they’re truly prepared. Certified practitioners have demonstrated skill, safety, and presence through peer-reviewed requirements designed to ensure both healing outcomes and ethical care.
Certification isn’t just a milestone. It’s a message, to the public, to healthcare partners, and to yourself, that you’re committed to showing up with integrity, clarity, and compassion in every session.
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Healing Touch Certification: The Story Behind the Standard
Healing Touch Certification began as a vision — and quickly became a movement.
IIn the early 1990s, Healing Touch founder Janet Mentgen, RN, BSN, teamed up with other pioneering nursing educators like Dorothea Hover-Kramer, EdD, RN, to formalize Janet’s groundbreaking curriculum. They transformed her curriculum into a continuing education certificate program, rooted in both clinical experience and energetic integrity.
As the program grew, so did the number of highly trained practitioners completing all five levels, including mentorship. There was a clear need: to establish a professional credential that validated the skill, presence, and readiness of these graduates across healthcare settings.
Initially, certification was administered through the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA), whose support helped legitimize energy healing in nursing and holistic healthcare. But as AHNA expanded to support a broader range of holistic modalities, it encouraged programs like Healing Touch to create their own independent credentialing paths.
So in 1996, Healing Touch Certification became an autonomous organization, created by Janet herself, dedicated solely to upholding the standards, ethics, and depth of practice required to become a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner (HTCP).
Since then, more than 2,000 practitioners around the world have earned this respected credential, carrying the work forward with compassion, clarity, and competence.
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The Governing Committee
Independent. Experienced. Committed to Excellence.
The Healing Touch Certification Governing Committee is the independent body responsible for maintaining the rigor, fairness, and integrity of the certification process.
From setting eligibility requirements and application criteria to overseeing the development of the national exam and final certification decisions, the committee ensures that every HTCP has earned their credential through demonstrated skill, safety, and ethical presence.
Each committee member is a leader in the field, experienced Healing Touch Certified Practitioners, educators, and professionals—who bring decades of clinical, energetic, and academic insight to the work.
Their mission is clear:
To protect the public, uphold the standards of Healing Touch, and ensure certification remains a meaningful, credible distinction in the field of energy medicine.
Committee Members:
Ann Darmstetter, Member, HTC Administrator
Mary Duennes, Member
Ruthie Hall-Kunz, Member, Accreditation AdministratorÂ
Sharon DelaHunt, Public Member
Sue Walker, Education Director, Non-voting member
Ellen LaDieu - Accredited Provider Program Director, Non-voting member
Chair: Walle Adams-Gerdts RN, BA, CHt, HTCP/I has been studying energy healing since 2003 when her nursing Heart was energetically tapped to take a Level 1 class! Sparks flew and  the Healing Touch Program journey unfolded, as she moved through Practitioner and Instructor Certifications. Walle loves teaching the curriculum and continues to mentor a large group throughout the DE, PA, NJ, and NY areas. She has assisted several times with the Level 4/5 classes in the PA area and is very persistent in remaining current on all certification requirements. She loves her HT work and is  honored to serve on this committee. When not reviewing packets at her computer, Walle can be found climbing trees.
Certification Review Panel
A dedicated team of experienced practitioners and instructors committed to upholding the integrity, fairness, and excellence of the certification process.
Jerry Becker,
HTCP/I, CAE
Jerry is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner and Instructor who has been practicing energetic healing arts since 1990. He serves as the Energy Therapy Director at Kanyakumari Ayurveda and Yoga Wellness Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been a Healing Touch practitioner since 2002, with a foundation in Chi Kung Healing methods.
Susan DeSalvo-Reed,
HTCP/I, RN
Susan is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner and Instructor, Nurse, and Wellness Coach with over 25 years of experience. Since 1994, she has taught Healing Touch in hospitals across the U.S. and internationally. A passionate advocate for Healing Touch and lifestyle medicine, Susan is committed to bridging the gap between allopathic and complementary care to support true wellness through mind-body healing.
Karolyn Howard,
HTCP/I
Karolyn is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Instructor, Mentor, and energetic psychotherapist with more than 20 years of experience supporting women, children, and families. She brings empathy, insight, and a belief in human potential to her work. Karolyn teaches and practices in the western suburbs of Chicago, where she enjoys time in nature, photography, painting, writing, and life with her six grandchildren and three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Claire Nelligan,
HTCP/I
Claire is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Instructor, Mentor, and Certification Reviewer with a deep background in holistic healing. She is also a Global Career Development Facilitator, Certified Aromatherapist, Life Coach, and professional writer. Claire supports others in stepping into their authentic lives and co-leads advanced healing and intuitive groups in her local community. She finds joy in gardening, painting, crafting organic body products—and singing off-key opera with her vacuum cleaner.
Join a Legacy of Healing
Healing Touch Certification is more than a credential — it’s a calling answered with care, presence, and professionalism. Whether you’re here to find a trusted practitioner or to begin your path toward certification, you’re in the right place.
