The Wounded Healer Journey. The pain, gifts and learning that comes from the wounded healer archetype.

Exploring the Wounded Healer Journey from the healers perspective. How our own deepest conscious and unconscious wounding, birth’s the gift to help heal others.

Why the healers’ journey is a lifelong path of self-discovery and self-exploration into our own inner world as much as the clients or patients we are called to help.

What is The Wounded Healer?

The Wounded Healer is a term that comes from the view that the healers is born from the light that enters the wound, the compassion that comes from one’s own suffering. In turn wanting us to help others because of that wounding.

The Wounded Healer concept originated from Greek Mythology;

When Chiron the Centurion was deeply wounded by Hercules’s deadly poisoned arrows. And although he could not heal himself, he used his deepest core wounding to help save another.

And in relation to the story of Asclepius the god of medicine, a Greek doctor who began a sanctuary to help heal others because of his own wounds.

The Light and Shadow Traits Of The Wounded Healer

The wounded healer is generally more conscious that their desire to help others heal is because of what they personally suffered from. But the reality is every physician, health or wellbeing practitioner, therapist or healer has core wounding.

Every person has wounds that cause them pain, suffering, triggers some sort of emotional reaction. That is why a healer who believes they are healed, have very little awareness and self-awareness.

No matter how healed you think you are. We are all a work in progress, all healers, all humans are wounded at some level.

We all have both light and shadow traits that show up as archetypal patterns in everyday life. That is why the healers’ journey is a never ending path of self-discovery and healing of our shadow wounds.

We all have shadow traits that need to be healed and as healers we need to be more self aware about any internal wounding’s or projections we may put onto our clients. So as not to cause more harm, as they say “heal thyself”.

My Own Wounds On The Wounded Healer Journey

As a wounded healer myself who began my own journey into becoming a healer over 30 years ago after facing all sorts of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wounding. Especially wounding around medical harm and injury, and further wounding from a broken medical and healthcare system, ill equipped healers and therapists.

My own wounds led me to down a long path, a very road less travelled path. Where I met and worked with so many wounded healers. Many compassionate and self aware healers but equally many healers who lacked compassion, awareness or even just proper training. Who were actually inflicting further wounding and harm to their clients, patients and students.

From a therapist and healer’s perspective this made me question so much around the healers role and standardisation from an ethical perspective. Do healers today get enough training, go through a long enough and deep enough apprenticeship to prevent them from really harming others.

Every week I see so many over generalisations or comment by healers, therapist s or coaches that comes from deep lack of awareness, insight and experience. Ideologies that on so many levels can be deeply damaging to the psyche of the vulnerable and suffering client, the naive student.

Common Traits Of The Wounded Healer

Light Traits Of The Wounded Healer

Here are some gifts of the wounded healer.

Awareness and Self Awareness:

Wounded healers naturally have good self-awareness and awareness of others.This is what makes them natural healers as they are more aware of others needs, challenges and themself. They tend to know themself at a deeper level so are more aware of their own shadow which is extremely important in any sort of healing work.

Compassion and Empathy:

The wounded healer has great compassion for others, some have great empathy, that is why many empaths are natural healers and strong caregivers and nurturers who have to heal their own wounding around boundaries.

Deep Calling Or Purpose:

A deep sense of purpose, they just know in the heart and soul their calling is to help or help heal others.

Hero Traits:

Wounded healers can also have an element of the hero archetype where through courage, tenacity and determination through their own suffering they inspire, empower and motivate others. That is why the wounded healers journey is part of the hero’s journey.

Intuitive And Insightful:

The wounded healer is a natural healer, deeply intuitive and aware of things at a deeper level, they can sense beyond the surface of what is going on at the individual and collective level. That is why many wounded healers become energy healers and spiritual healers.

Helper Since Childhood:

Wounded healers tend to have always been life’s little helpers, starting from childhood.

Self Growth:

Have the ability to look at all pain, suffering and learning as an opportunity to grow and evolve.

Shadow Traits Of The Wounded Healer

Here are some dark traits that can show up in the unhealed wounded healer

Burn Out And Compassion Fatigue:

End up suffering mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual burnout. Due to lack of healthy boundaries, psychic protection.

Destroyer Traits:

Destroys or disables others through their own wounding, their own pain, or egoic desires. Causing direct nor indirect pain to others or those they work with.

Co-dependency and Enabling:

When one constantly enables or rescues others. Provides strength, support and rescuing to others preventing the other take self-responsibility or co-dependent relationships. Or where therapists encourage clients to come to them for years or months and the client is not making huge progress.

Gaslighting:

Where one gaslights their clients, patients or students reality. This can come from narcissistic wounding, or even to control over power the client or patient such as from very biased, fixed ideology about what is going on with the client.

God or Saviour Tendencies:

Where the physician or healer projects on to the patient or person that they are the one doing the healing, the one saving them. Implying at some level they are their god or saviour.

Martyr Traits:

Will sacrifice their own wellbeing and life for others, for their work.

Illusion And Manipulation:

One of the strong archetypal traits in many healers is the alchemist and magician. The dark magician will often use illusion or trickery to manipulate, control or seduce the client or patient. For example making implications or promises they cannot guarantee, misrepresent information or knowledge for their own gain or from naivety.

Prostitute Traits:

Where one sells their soul, their spiritual integrity and gifts to the highest bidder for material or financial gain. This has become a big problem in world where spirituality and healing vocations has become inverted, over commercialised, seduced by glammer, populism and even celebrity status. Than what is at the heart of the true healers journey.

The Healers Journey

What I came to realise as a wounded healer on my own healing journey, was that as healers we need to constantly evolve and grow in our own healing, consciousness and awareness. What I believed 30 years ago as a healer is very different on what I believe know.

In a polarised world where we have so many light and shadow aspects to us and the collective. It is important to remind ourself that the healers path is painted with pain, gifts, especially of privilege and honour to the people we get to help and support. Because in that process we heal ourselves through the shadow aspects of another.

About Eileen Burns

Eileen is a highly compassionate and dedicated healer, therapist, soul empowerment coach and mentor. Who is passionate about helping awakened healers and lightworkers step more fully in their life and soul purpose with strength and ease. She provides a wide range of self study courses, meditations, one to one inner child, archetypal and spiritual business support sessions. More about Eileen’s Expertise and Qualifications Click Here.

The Wounded Healer Podcast

Wounded Healer To Hero Podcast is a brand new video podcast with Eileen and healer friends as co-hosts.