Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort, and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness [Paperback]

William Collinge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 2008

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This book offers a new sense of empowerment for the intimate partners of people living with serious health problems. Collinge draws on cutting-edge scientific research along with his experience counseling couples facing serious illness to offer a range of insights, strategies, and techniques that caregivers can utilize to promote their partners’ physical and emotional well-being—while also promoting their own.

Topics include:

   • The importance of self-care for the caring partner
   • Ways of involving family and friends in a network of support
   • Simple massage and touch techniques to bring comfort and reduce symptoms
   • How open, affirmative communication can contribute to healing
   • Basic energy-healing techniques to promote well-being

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A bible for caregivers. Honest, straightforward, and very practical. I recommend it to everyone who is caring for a partner or spouse.”—Christiane Northrup, MD

“Dr. Collinge has written a book that touches upon the true essence of caregiving. This is an important book for caregivers on enhancing their own well-being as well as learning how to better become partners in healing.”—Gary E. Barg, editor-in-chief, caregiver.com

“Anyone wanting a practical guide to supporting health and wholeness in a loved one will be delighted by this book. We are currently in something of a golden age in healing research, of which Dr. William Collinge is an excellent guide.”—Larry Dossey, MD

About the Author

William Collinge, PhD, is a psychotherapist who works with individuals and couples living with cancer and other serious illnesses. He is also a noted researcher in the field of alternative health care, serving on scientific review panels at the National Institutes of Health. He is currently involved in NIH-funded research into how partners of the seriously ill can offer symptom relief and comfort through the use of Therapeutic Touch. He is the author of three books including The American Holistic Health Association Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Trumpeter (December 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590304152
• ISBN-13: 978-1590304150
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #525,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't wait until a loved one is ill to discover this book, April 6, 2009

By 

D. Irwin (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort, and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness (Paperback)

"Partners in Healing" is William Collinge's fourth book. His insights flow from his experiences as a researcher and consultant in behavioral medicine and caregiving. His research receives prestigious funding from three of the institutes of the National Institutes of Health. The book is arranged in seven Parts: each part divided into minichapters. I found the book to be a wonderful handbook on how to provide comfort to a loved one using, for the most part, rationale strategies, and at the same time, making sure that you, as the caregiver, stay healthy and strong - physically and emotionally. Parts One and Two ("Putting Yourself First" and "Building a Network of Support") contain critical advice and strategy for sustaining yourself and your network of resources. I particularly liked Part Three which deals with massage - "conveying presence and compassionate intention through touch". The explanations and guidance, here, are outstanding. I confess to some difficulties with Parts Four and Five which deal with energy and healing. I am trained as a cell and molecular biologist and can not understand the flow of intangible energies between people, sometimes over great distances. But then skeptics must have said the same thing about radio waves, years ago. Parts Six and Seven ("Affirmative Communication" and "Simple Gifts") contain gems that we can all use, every day. Indeed, this book provides "Simple ways to offer support, comfort, and care to a loved one....." period - whether your loved one is facing an illness, or not. Collinge makes continual references to the heart: first as a vital physiological organ, but also as our metaphorical source of devotion, love, and emotional strength. While "Hands are extensions of your heart", so too are our lips extensions in expressing our (heart-felt) thoughts. You don't need to wait until a loved one is ill to discover this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something no friend or family member of a person in pain should be without, March 9, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort, and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness (Paperback)

A loved one in pain puts you in pain. "Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort, and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness" is a reference and inspirational guide to those who are faced with supporting a loved one who is not well and needs all the help they can get. Highlighting the importance of taking care of oneself even when your loved one has it worse, getting other family members to assist, and many techniques to make life happier all around, "Partners in Healing" is something no friend or family member of a person in pain should be without.

5.0 out of 5 stars In Love with Healing, January 12, 2012

By 

Jessie B - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort, and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness (Paperback)

After learning about the Touch, Caring and Cancer I knew I wanted and needed to read this book. I have so many pages bookmarked of inspiration, guidance, and of love that I use this book consistently in my massage practice with my clients directly as well as when teaching caregivers how to re-connect with their loved ones. After spending a weekend using the messages, and instructions from this book I learned how much of a blessing Partners In Healing is in restoring relationships, and reconnecting the power of touch. I tell everyone they need this book and to spread the word.