Creative Healing

Welcome to Creative Healing

This holistic method of natural healthcare, founded by Joseph B. Stephenson in the 1920’s may be described as a combination of Swedish Massage, Lymphatic Massage, and MyoFascialwork. Though it is more than that also.  The principles of ‘Creative Healing’ as Stephenson called it, helps to bring the body to harmony by increasing movement in the circulatory and nervous systems and releasing tension in the muscles and fascia.  It also increases the energy flows in the body and it is all accomplished with light hand movements and the ‘creative power of the mind’ with the intention of the practitioner being a powerful component to the work.  This holistic massage technque uses light olive oil as a lubricant and many of the applications are done with the client seated on a bench.

Gentle and Effective

This system has 4 basic principals which guide the practitioner and are easy to learn.

Creative Healing is simple to learn and you do not need to be a massage therapist to take our classes.  In Europe and Australia, most Creative Healers work with prenatal clients and they include midwives, doulas, naturopaths, and wellness consultants.

In the US where Creative Healing originated it is used for men, women and children of all ages.  Applications for Creative Healing include gentle treatments for sinus problems, back pain and digestive issues.  There are so many ways you can use this modality for your family.

Creative Healing in the News

  Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle uses Creative Healing as part of her postpartum care.

Classes are currently ongoing

Creative Healing in the News

The Gentle Birth Method is an internationally recognized program for prenatal clients pioneered by Dr. Gowri Motha ObGyn.  Creative Healing is just one part of the program.  As with much of this holistic program, Creative Healing is used to help bring the body into harmony and is used throughout pregnancy.  “The Gentle Birth Method”, Dr. Motha’s book describes in detail which Creative Healing applications to use and gives guidance for each of the trimesters during pregnancy. The Gentle Birth Method program has many parts including Reflexology, different types of bodywork,  diet, visualizations, yoga exercises, applications of oils, Ayurvedic supplements, and teas.

Creative Healing has definitely found a home with pre and post-natal clients within the context of Dr. Motha’s program.  Arkansas presently does not have a birthing center as the only one we had closed in 2019. Birthing centers are facilities where women give birth naturally, typically with a midwife. Unlike a hospital, there’s no medically induced labor, no Cesarean sections and no epidurals. Also, unlike a hospital, women are generally encouraged to give birth in whatever position feels natural to them and offered alternative options, such as water births.  Dr. Motha pioneered water births at a hospital in London.

  Buy This Book on Amazon 

 

Joseph B. Stephenson, History and archives access

The history of Mr. Stephenson is fascinating.

Stephenson’s prophecy

  JBS told his students before he died in 1956 that his work would not become mainstream for 50 years.  Now nearly 65 years later his prediction is coming true.

Creative Healing - History

Creative Healing had humble beginnings.

Joseph B. Stephenson was born in northern England in 1898 and at an early age knew one of his goals in life was to keep people from dying too soon.

Joseph was an intuitive healer.  He knew without knowing how or why his hands moved as they did.  He only knew to trust his hands and the inner voice that told him if someone needed help.  He felt in his heart his gift of healing came from God and never doubted what God told him as he knew it would be true.  This unerring confidence in his work as it developed would be one of the strongest attributes of his ability and he felt this was the CREATIVE principle.

 

Stephenson was a coal miner by trade.  Joseph's father and several other relatives were also coal miners. In the village of Wylam on Tyne where his family lived there were several coal mines.  When Joseph was small in stature but he went to the mines as well and became an accomplished engineer.  Later he became a pit boss with men under his guidance.  He left England when the mines were playing out in his birthland and immigrated to the United States with his wife in the early 1920s.  He was employed by the Berwin mining company in Windber, Pennsylvania.  In a freak mining accident, one of his legs was crushed and he was taken to the nearby Windber Hospital where he would spend 2 1/2 years waiting for the orthopedic surgeon Dr. William Wheeling to replace his femur.

After living in Pennsylvania for many years and after using his method on many people both in and out of a local hospital, he retired to Long Beach, California.

The first Creative Healing book to be distributed globally

It was in California where he began to teach his work and this is where 'Creative Healing' was really born.

Much of Stephenson's work was recorded and documented by a small group of people so it could be distributed worldwide.  John and Patricia Bradley edited the original books which are still available on Amazon.com today.  If you are curious about the history of Mr Stephenson you can access the page here.

Rebecca A. Jackson and her husband Bill became students of Creative Healing in 1986.  She had a couple of different instructors including John and Louise Hunt.   She fell in love with the work and became a Master of Creative Healing. Becky later knowing she wanted to teach Creative Healing to massage therapists went to school to learn massage.  A native Texan, Becky moved to  Arkansas and opened her massage school in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1996.

  • Brenda (Messling) Schwarzbach graduated from Becky's school (The Northwest Arkansas School of Massage) in 1999 and she became a Stephenson practitioner in 2000.
  • In 2004 Brenda and Becky traveled to London, England, and taught a class for Dr. Gowri Motha Obgyn and her team of practitioners and midwives.  Today, Black Brook School of Massage LLC is the only massage school in the United States that teaches Stephenson's work.
  • Since 2004 Dr. Motha and Brenda have been friends and have been dreaming of a Creative Healing/ Gentle Birth Method school or facility.  Brenda has been teaching continuing education classes for massage therapists in Creative Healing since 2002 and has had the certification class for Creative Healing including the applications specifically for the Gentle Birth Method approved by the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork since 2016.
  • In 2017 Brenda opened the Black Brook School of Massage in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and has included Creative Healing in her general massage program for all students.
  • 2021 sees the first year the full 100-hour certification program in Creative Healing has been offered since 2016.  Two graduates of this class are planning to study with Dr. Motha when she has classes this fall.

"I am so grateful for my friendship with Gowri and her support in my work". (Brenda)

Creative Healing’s General Treatment

The video will show you how to do the application that is used for everyone to clear the head and as a way of preparing the client for other applications.

Find out more about Stephenson’s Method

Creative Healing applications for various conditions can also be employed in a standard massage routine.

  • headaches
  • low back pain
  • sciatica
  • sore throat
  • sinus problems
  • headaches
  • migraines
  • pigeon toes – really!
  • digestive problems
  • infertility
  • PMS
  • Night Sweats
  • Restless legs and many more.

Brenda is the only person who is approved by the NCBTMB  to teach this modality nationally for continuing education.

The only books in print at this time in the USA are “The Stephenson Method of Natural Health Care”  and “Creative Healing” both published by the Joseph B Stephenson Foundation and edited by Patricia Bradley.  The books can be found on Amazon.

Historical and more current teaching videos of Stephenson’s work can be found on the Black Brook channel.