Connecting Reiki with Medicine
by Suzanne Ruggles Redhead and Diana ShawFull Circle Fund’s Connecting Reiki with Medicine project at St George’s University Hospital is proud to announce the launch of a new project to treat major trauma patients with Reiki. This new initiative, which started in August, is the first of its kind in the UK.
St George’s University Hospital is one of the largest UK major trauma units, receiving some of the most seriously injured patients airlifted from across London, Southern England and, sometimes, from across the country.
This pioneering project is built on the multi award-winning expertise of Full Circle’s 24 years’ developing integrative therapy projects for some of the most complex areas in medicine. These include bone marrow transplantation, paediatric medicine and intensive care units.
It is thanks to our groundbreaking nine-year collaboration with ‘Connecting Reiki with Medicine’ (CRwM) that Full Circle has been able to develop a unique pilot project for Reiki in a Major Trauma unit.
Full Circle’s CEO & Project Director, Suzanne Ruggles-Redhead, explains how this project came into being: “I received an initial approach from Major Trauma following a recommendation, asking for our expertise to support their critically ill trauma patients.
From our first meeting, it was clear that the Major Trauma unit were really engaged and committed. To undertake a ‘needs assessment’ I worked closely with two senior major trauma nurses and one trauma psychologist. Other clinical teams were brought into meetings but the ‘drivers’ from major trauma perspective, were two senior nurses. In my experience this is essential as developing projects in hospitals especially when healthcare workers are busy and often exhausted, can become labyrinthine and, so, having two energetic key stakeholders from with the hospital helps ensure the wheels keep moving forwards.
“As the scope of the project became apparent, I felt the best fit for this type of complex project would be to propose Reiki. I was able to draw on the nine years of clinical experience and evidence base our own team CRwM practitioners have amassed from working with us in clinical haematology, bone marrow transplantation, oncology and with patients diagnosed with the life-threatening genetic pain condition sickle cell disease.
“Working closely with the major trauma team, I developed a pilot project which, at its core, would be Reiki. My first invitation onto this project was to our Connecting Reiki with Medicine colleague Feona Gray who wrote immediately saying: ‘I wholeheartedly support this project’.
“My next call was to one of our lead Reiki practitioners Raquel Martin. Raquel has been with us since the start of our CRwM project at St George’s, and has significant clinical experience. Fortunately, Raquel accepted, and I am thrilled to announce this project has launched with her at the helm.
“We look forward very much to sharing progress of this groundbreaking project with you in due course.”
This one-year pilot is jointly funded by the Major Trauma Fund at St George’s Hospital Charity and is proudly supported by Connecting Reiki with Medicine’s dedicated Fund within Full Circle Fund Therapies – please follow the link to our dedicated CRWM donation page if you can help:
It is hoped enough funds will be raised to create a three-year project.
Lastly, and above all, our special thanks go to one of Connecting Reiki with Medicine’s wonderful Founder practitioners Melanie Glanville, for all she did to facilitate this specific opportunity for us, too.
