Healwell

Massage therapy can be genuinely transformative in the care of people of people with serious illness, but it takes more than good intentions. Cal Cates, Founder and Executive Director of Healwell explains why all three pillars of Healwell's mission are inextricably connected and equally important.

Why Healwell? Why three pillars? Healwell's mission is Touch. Teach. Advocate.We touch people affec...

🌱 FINAL FRIDAY: Become a Healwell Trailblazer

There’s something powerful about showing up—not just once, but again and again.

Our Trailblazers are Healwell’s recurring donors, and they are truly the heart of our donor community. Their monthly gifts create a steady foundation that helps us keep bringing massage therapy, education, and connection to people affected by serious illness.

This Final Friday, we’re looking for 5 new Trailblazers to join them.

Your monthly gift can be whatever feels right for you. $10. $25. $50. Every recurring gift matters because every month, you’re there.

🌱 Five new Trailblazers.
🌱 A stronger foundation for Healwell.
🌱 A commitment to keep showing up.

Will you be one of the 5 people who helps Healwell move forward?

Become a Trailblazer today.

💻 Happy National Online Learning Day!

Learning doesn’t have to happen in a classroom. Sometimes, the most meaningful growth happens when we make space to listen, reflect, and consider how we show up in the world.

This National Online Learning Day, we’re highlighting Healwell’s Course of the Month: The Power of Our Words.

Words matter. The language we use can shape how people feel, how they see themselves, and how safe and welcome they feel in our care.

The Power of Our Words invites us to slow down and consider the impact of the words we choose—and how thoughtful communication can help create more compassionate, respectful experiences for the people we serve.

Whether you’re looking to deepen your practice, earn continuing education, or simply become more intentional about the way you communicate, this course is a chance to learn wherever you are.

📚 Make learning part of your practice. Explore The Power of Our Words today.

https://online.healwell.org/courses/power-of-our-words

Behind every diagnosis is a person. Behind every treatment is a human experience.

These words from patients, caregivers, and healthcare staff remind us that compassionate care helps make space for comfort, dignity, and connection.

Swipe through to hear the people who know its impact best. 💛

What does it mean to truly feel at home in yourself?

For those of us who spend our days caring for others, it can be easy to become disconnected from our own needs, our own bodies, and our own inner lives.

That’s why we’re beginning Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming with a keynote that asks us to turn inward.

Cindy E. Farrar will open Homecoming with “At Home in Your Being: Living from the Inside Out,” an invitation to pause, reconnect with ourselves, and explore what it means to live and practice from a place of greater presence and authenticity.

Because the work we do asks us to be present with other people’s bodies, experiences, and stories.

But what happens when we bring that same curiosity and compassion to ourselves?

Come begin Homecoming by slowing down.
By listening inward.
By remembering that you are part of the care equation, too.

Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming
October 23–24, 2026 | Arlington, VA
13 CEs • Yoga • Sound Bath • Rooftop Reception • Meals Included

✨ Come home to your practice, your community, and yourself.

Event sponsor American Massage Therapy Association - AMTA

A scar may be small. The changes happening beneath it can be anything but.

After surgery or injury, the body continues to heal, adapt, and reorganize long after the incision has closed. Scar tissue, lymphatic function, mobility, sensation, and movement can all be part of the picture—and understanding that bigger picture can change how we approach our clients.

At Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming, Cathy Ryan and Laura Bryant-Earner will lead Scar Tissue and Lymph, a science-informed exploration of post-surgical healing and the ways skilled touch can support recovery, mobility, and long-term outcomes.

This is an opportunity to move beyond simply working on a scar and develop a deeper understanding of what’s happening throughout the healing process.

Come ready to learn, ask questions, think critically, and build your clinical confidence.

Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming
October 23–24, 2026 | Arlington, VA
13 CEs • Yoga • Sound Bath • Rooftop Reception • Meals Included

✨ Come home to your practice, your community, and yourself.

Event sponsor American Massage Therapy Association - AMTA

What if some of what we were taught about fat… needs to be rethought?

Fat is more than something we see, measure, or try to change. It’s living, dynamic tissue with important roles in the body—and the way we think and talk about it can have a real impact on the people in our care.

At Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming, Nicole Trombley will lead The Big “Fat Agenda”: Rethinking How We Touch Fat, inviting us to question assumptions, examine the science, and consider how our beliefs about bodies can influence the way we practice.

Because our clients deserve more than care based on outdated assumptions.

They deserve practitioners who are curious.
Who keep learning.
Who question what they think they know.
And who approach every body with skill, respect, and compassion.

Come challenge your thinking—and rethink what it means to touch fat.

Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming
October 23–24, 2026 | Arlington, VA
13 CEs • Yoga • Sound Bath • Rooftop Reception • Meals Included

✨ Come home to your practice, your community, and yourself.

Event sponsor American Massage Therapy Association - AMTA

📸 It’s National School Picture Day!

You know the drill: questionable hairstyles, awkward poses, big smiles, and a photo you definitely thought was going to look better. 😂

Some of the Healwell team are taking a trip down memory lane and sharing their childhood school pictures—and we want to know:

👀 Can you guess which Healwell staff member is which?

Swipe through, make your guesses, and let us know in the comments! And while you’re at it, share your own school picture if you’re brave enough. 😉

Because before we were massage therapists, educators, advocates, and nonprofit folks, we were all just kids trying to figure it out.

Happy National School Picture Day! 🎒📚✨

What if the most powerful thing you can offer someone isn’t another technique—but an invitation to exhale?

At Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming, David Lobenstine will lead Excellent Exhale, an exploration of breath, relaxation, movement, and therapeutic presence.

The exhale can be a doorway.

A moment to soften.
A chance to slow down.
A way to reconnect with the body.
A reminder that we don’t always have to hold on so tightly.

In this session, David will explore how paying attention to the breath can deepen our work and help us create more space for relaxation, connection, and meaningful therapeutic care.

Because sometimes, before we can help someone feel more at home in their body, we need to remember how to breathe in our own.

Join us October 23–24 in Arlington, VA, for 13 CEs and two days of learning, connection, and restoration.

Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming
October 23–24, 2026 | Arlington, VA
13 CEs • Yoga • Sound Bath • Rooftop Reception • Meals Included

✨ Come home to your practice, your community, and yourself.

Event sponsor American Massage Therapy Association - AMTA

You can care deeply without carrying everything.

As massage therapists and caregivers, we’re often asked to hold space for other people’s pain, uncertainty, grief, stress, and vulnerability. And sometimes, in the process of being present for someone else, we lose track of where they end and we begin.

At **Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming**, Sakinah Irizarry and Ericka Clinton will explore **Holding Space Without Losing Yourself**—a thoughtful conversation about boundaries, presence, emotional labor, and the skills we need to stay grounded while caring for others.

Because being a compassionate practitioner doesn’t mean absorbing everything your clients bring into the room.

It means learning how to be present **without disappearing yourself.**

Join us October 23–24 in Arlington, VA, for 13 CEs, meaningful education, connection, and restoration.

Come learn how to care for others without leaving yourself behind.

**Body & Soul: A Healwell Homecoming**
October 23–24, 2026 | Arlington, VA
13 CEs • Yoga • Sound Bath • Rooftop Reception • Meals Included

✨ Come home to your practice, your community, and yourself.

Event sponsor: American Massage Therapy Association - AMTA

healwell.org/homecoming