The Healer's Way: Bringing Hands-On Compassion to a Love-Starved World

by Earnie Larsen, Carol Larsen Hegarty

A leader in the recovery movement reveals how we can all heal. At the center of The Healer's Way is the "hoop"a sevenstep process of healing. First we need to make sure our core needs are metwithout those we not only can't heal ourselves or otherswe probably can't live. Then we need to get lost (step 2), get hurt (step 3), get stuck and hit the bottom of the circle (step 4). Only then can we get called (step 5), get up (step 6), and get going (step 7). Once we get going, we move through the cycle again and again, as life presents us with new opportunities for healing ourselves and others. The Healer's Way is the culmination of Earnie Larsen's thirtyplus years as a counselor. The seeds for the book were the questions of a young How do you keep going? What do you do when you can't make a difference? What makes a healer? The young man asked Larsen to be his mentor and some time later his stories, clues, questions, and answers came together in this book. Larsen writes, "In the beginning, and in the end, healing is about change. The pages here are about one thing and one thing the spiritual alchemy involved in the amazinggrace process of personal transformation."

225 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Earnie Larsen was a nationally known author and lecturer. A pioneer in the field of recovery from addictive behaviors and the originator of the process known as Stage II Recovery, Earnie authored numerous curricula, DVD's, audio CDs and books with Hazelden and other publishers, including his 2010 Hazelden book, Now That You're Sober: Week by Week Guidance from Your Recovery Coach, written with his sister, Carol Hegarty.
With degrees from Loyola University and the University of Minnesota, Earnie had been a counselor for over 40 years.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Earnie Larsen, but apparently he was well-known in the recovery movement. This book is for people who want to be healers, which I feel any human being could relate to what he writes. We all want to have a positive impact on the people we interact with. Also, he talks about how the healer has to heal themselves, and take care of themselves first. I used to be in social work and employment counseling so I could relate with some of that.

He says that most all of us have unconscious beliefs about ourselves that we got from childhood. He uses the phrase"bent tree" He is talking most about people who have had little or no love in their lives as children. Or who got contradictory messages which he refers to as "double binds" - like - you can do anything you want to; and at the same time - you never do anything right.

Love is the important thing. But love takes relationship skills that people may lack if they are not clear with themselves. They may be co-dependent or find themselves sabotaging a relationship that could work, and they don't understand why they're even doing it.

If we look at what we believe deep down, from our experiences as children, and make it conscious and deal with it, he says we can be more effective healers, because there will be less chance that our unrecognized pain will mess up & interfere with our helping.

In the book he tells many stories about people he has known and worked with, become friends with - the stories are interesting.

I like one place where he says this -

You do not have to be strong.
You do not have to be right.
You do not have to be tough.
You do not have to be good.
All
You have to be
is you...

He brings God into the discussion, but for me it wasn't too heavy-handed.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earnie Larsen is the creator of a process known as Stage II Recovery. He is also author of a book of the same title. His work with individuals struggling with addictions and other unwanted behaviors is groundbreaking, simple yet profound.

The Healer's Way tells the secret of overcoming addictions or other unwanted behaviors in our lives, a secret that will work for anyone. Is there such a secret? Larsen says yes and no. Can anyone give someone five steps that will effortlessly lead to a complete life overhaul? Is there a magical pill that takes away addiction in an instant? Of course not, anyone telling you so is just selling something.

No, healing takes time and effort. Everyone's journey is slightly different. With this said, there is one thing common about every recovery. It starts with love. It sounds like such a simple answer but the truth is that feeling loved and valued is a pretty rare thing in this world. In our daily life, most of us are so fixated on just getting through the day that we never stop to realize what we are missing and who we are hurting when our own insecurities and pain surface periodically.