Voice for Hope Organization

The following memo by Pat Butler, is a summary of a Voice for Hope meeting held at an ISSSEEM Conference in Denver, Colorado. (For more information about Voice for Hope or the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, see the references listed at the end of the memo.)

The Voice for Hope Organization Mission

"To advance the wellbeing of humanity by ensuring that producers, practitioners, and consumers of complementary, alternative and integrative health and wellness services and products have meaningful participation in the development of public policy, through educating policy makers and the general public, and promoting the rights of individual consumers and their families to information, access, redress and choice..."

'HOPE' stands for Healers Of Planet Earth.
Because Voice for Hope recognizes that the current health care system is about to undergo significant and needed transformation, this organization seeks to create a unified voice for the growing number of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine practitioners and manufactures, as well as the healthcare consumers who want access to these services. It intends to provide support to the professionals when their business practices are obstructed by government agencies.

As the country shifts towards a new paradigm of healing, Voice for Hope believes that practitioners, including trained Energy Medicine practitioners, can play a significant role in educating the public and political decision-makers about the effectiveness of these modalities for health and wellness. To date, Energy Medicine practitioners, acupuncturists, chiropractors, homeopaths, and others in the field of natural medicine have no collective voice or political body through whom they can present their knowledge and their passion to Washington policy-makers. By comparison, the pharmaceutical industry is represented collectively by powerful lobbyists who have long influenced health care policy. Voice for Hope believes that it's time that congress hears a new voice.

Voice for Hope is building a large membership base and drawing volunteers willing to help educate members of congress about ways in which health care might reshape itself. The membership of Voice for Hope includes both practitioners and consumers, and membership fees are accepted at whatever levels are affordable ("even one cent"). It was suggested that practitioners could volunteer by providing sessions to policy-makers and staff so that they could gain direct experiences of these modalities. In order to garner attention, organizations like this need large numbers of signed, paying members.

Voice for Hope is the brain child of Brian Thompson and Jim Turner, with important contributions from other like-minded souls. Brian is the president of a company that manufactures products he vaguely described as "in the Energy Medicine world." Jim Turner is an attorney with decades of experience advocating for consumer interests in Washington, D.C. Both men are passionate about helping to bring forth a new model of health care and joined forces because they knew that an aligned group would yield more influence than would individuals struggling with government agencies.

During the meeting, Jim stated, "We're in an intriguing political time when humanity has begun to rediscover itself as a part of nature. We used to think we could control nature, but that reality is gone." He said that we cannot, as a group, simply identify what's wrong with the current model, we must provide specific recommendations for the new model, and Energy Medicine, he repeated, can play a significant role.

The politics of health care reflect the state of politics in general and "politics needs healing," he said. "The truth is, everyone's politics are unique." According to one poll, two-thirds of Americans no longer identify with either the Democratic or Republican party, which suggests that the status quo of government is no longer appealing to many in our culture. Such discontent allows room for change. Regarding health care, everyone knows that the current system is not sustainable, and many sense that MDs will not retain their leadership positions in this industry. "There's a trillion dollars up for grabs," he said, dollars that can be spent on new (and some ancient) approaches based on our growing understanding of the nature of the human body. But timing is crucial, and the need to act is now.

At the beginning of the meeting, when I heard the words 'political group' and 'join,' I felt myself pulling back, but the longer I heard Jim talk, the more my inner wall collapsed. After talking with the leaders of ACEP (Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology) – they like his message – and looking at the Voice for Hope website, I found them to be genuine, credible, and passionate about this mission. It's a mission which I, too, endorse, so I actually joined Voice for Hope, and am glad to share the organization's message with you. The time is now, the mission is huge, and Voice for Hope has formed to help move it forward.

If you want to play some role in this new paradigm of healing, but do not know how to contribute, I encourage you to investigate the resources below.

About the author: Patricia Butler is an EM Advanced Practitioner who practices Energy Medicine at Orlando Health, a comprehensive health care network in Orlando, Florida.

http://www.issseem.org/ (303) 425-4625

Voice for Hope Prevention today or Cure tomorrow - The healers of planet earth have long been advocates of education, nutrition, prevention. These are the foundations of true healthcare. Current health reform dialogues are still not placing significant value on these important realities as integral and essential parts of our health care solutions.