Karen Pischke, BSN, RN, CCRN Alumnus, Certified Hypnotherapist, Tobacco Treatment Specialist, Usui Reiki Master Teacher/Komyo Reiki (Teacher) Shihan. Founder, Owner/Manager of Dreamtime Wellness™

With an extensive background in both conventional healthcare and integrative therapies, I use evidence (research) to inform traditional and emerging nursing interventions that support the whole person – mind, body, spirit, family, and community.

Born into a family of nurses. My career in healthcare began in 1978. After graduating from nursing school in 1983, I began working as a registered nurse in critical care. First in Chicago at the University of Illinois Medical Center. Then in intensive care units (ICUs) coast-to-coast. Travel nursing offered a multitude of experiences, taught me to be flexible, brought me to Boston, and eventually to beautiful Cape Ann, where I currently live with my husband. The natural beauty and peace of Cape Ann beaches and forests offer a variety of places to exercise, relax and meditate, which are simultaneously energizing, calming and restorative.

Critical Care Nursing. Working in the ICU brought me great joy for many years. Honing critical thinking and assessment skills, passing the CCRN exam were personal goals and gratifying professional achievements.

‘Shift Happens.’  After many years working in the ICU, my nursing practice shifted from a focus on ‘disease and illness’ to one of ‘wellness and prevention.’ Seeing so many patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) admitted with stress-related illnesses that were largely preventable, caused the shift.  I wondered – What can be done to improve my own health as well as decrease stress to help keep people out of the hospital?

Integrative Healthcare was my answer. Incorporating complementary therapies that have been shown to be safe and effective to promote relaxation, stress reduction, behavioral changes, and healthy lifestyle management. In 1997 I began a new direction in healthcare, both personally and professionally, in integrative nursing and healthcare. 

Reiki Provider. My goal to help bring reiki into mainstream healthcare was quickly realized when in 1999 I was asked to be the Reiki Provider for the North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) Heart & Wellness Department. I began offering Reiki as part of a comprehensive cardiac risk factor reduction program. Teaching Reiki and lecturing on Reiki were part of this role. I went on to offer Reiki at NSMC’s Women’s Center, Shaunnessy-Kaplan (Spaulding) Rehabilitation, Northshore Physician Group (NSPG) Neuro-surgery and Spine, and Cancer Center (now Mass General North.) Following Mass General North came Mass General Boston Cancer Center . After 9 years at MGH, Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center came next. First offering a presentation on Reiki along with demonstration for their cancer survivor conference. Followed by sequential pilot programs. This led to my current position as RN/Reiki Provider in the outpatient Cancer Center, for which I am most grateful. 

Dreamtime Wellness™  was launched in 2000 in Gloucester MA. My goal – promoting optimal health and well being for mind, body and  spirit for others through integrative therapies. Wellness and Integrative Medicine (IM) was fairly new at the time. IM combines complementary therapies that have been rigorously studied for ‘safety and efficacy,’ with conventional healthcare (known as ‘evidence-based’ practice.’) Through IM, patients may receive care that is more supportive and collaborative, with the potential for improved outcomes and increased patient satisfaction. Since its inception, Dreamtime Wellness™ has grown and evolved to include an international client base along with national lecturing and teaching.

Bringing Reiki into Hospitals and Mainstream Healthcare. Offering reiki in hospitals was very new when I first began in 1999 as RN/Reiki Provider at the North Shore Medical Center. Few people even knew about reiki at that time. Since then, the practice of Reiki Ryoho, Japanese healing art, has grown both in acceptance and use. While it has been a slow and uphill climb, it has also been extremely rewarding to be able to offer reiki within the context of conventional care. Many Reiki pioneers before me helped to lay the stepping stones, to whom I am most grateful. In some settings I helped expand existing programs (North Shore Medical Center). In other settings, I began pilot Reiki programs (Mass General, Essex Park Nursing and Rehabilitation, Golden Living Gloucester (now Gloucester Healthcare) and Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Currently, I am the Consulting RN/Reiki Provider at Tufts Medical Center, Outpatient Cancer Center.

Reiki in Healthcare. Today, reiki is offered in some manner at most major teaching hospitals around the country as part of Integrative Medicine. Reiki is offered in some settings for Pain Management, Stress Management, and Before/After Surgery. A pilot study ‘Combining Reiki and Hypnotherapy Before Gastric Bypass Surgery’ was completed and presented at the American Holistic Nurses (AHNA) Conference and Massachusetts General Hospital in 2012.

My Role in Integrative Medicine – Since 1999 I have been employed to offer integrative therapy sessions and lectures (Reiki or Hypnosis) in a variety of settings – 

• Addison Gilbert Hospital (Gloucester MA)
• Essex Park Nursing and Rehabilitation (Beverly MA)
• Golden Living Center Gloucester, MA
• Northeast Healthcare/ Lahey Healthcare (Beverly and Danvers MA)
• Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center (Danvers, and Boston MA)
• North Shore Medical Center/NSMC (Salem and Lynn MA)
• NSPG North Shore NeuroSurgery and Spine (Peabody MA)
• Shaughnessy Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital (now Spaulding North Salem MA)
• Tufts Medical Center Outpatient Cancer Center (Boston MA)

… and lectures on Integrative Therapies at these and many other healthcare settings:

• Mercy Hospital (Springfield MA)
• Peabody Glen Nursing and Rehabilitation (Peabody MA)
• Providence Behavioral Health Hospital (Holyoke MA)

… and have offered Reiki ‘sample sessions’ for charity fund raising events and conferences-

• Reid’s Ride (Gloucester MA)
• Mass General Brain Tumor Center, ‘Strides of Survival’ (Newburyport MA)
• Relay for Life Cape Ann (Gloucester MA)
• Friend’s of Mel (Quincy and Randolph MA)
• Lung Force (Boston MA)

My Goal for My Patients and Clients – To educate, support and empower you to take a more active role in your overall health care. With the ultimate goal: Your Optimal Health and Happiness.

My healthcare experience includes – 

• Critical Care Nursing
• Cardiac Rehabilitation and Risk Factor Reduction
• Wellness and Integrative Medicine
• Tobacco Treatment and Smoking Cessation
• Clinical Hypnotherapy
• Traditional (Western) Usui Reiki and Japanese Komyo Reiki

Currently offering Private Reiki and Hypnotherapy Sessions and Reiki Training in Peabody MA at the Saltonstall Mansion in a peaceful setting on Suntaug Lake.

Monthly Reiki Clinics/Reiki Shares are offered in Manchester-by-the-Sea. With access by car or train, serving the Massachusetts communities of:

• Beverly
• Boston
• Cape Ann (Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport)
• Essex
• Gloucester
• Melrose
• Middleton
• Newburyport
• Peabody
• Plymouth
• Rockport
• Salem
• and More …

Lectures, Workshops, Trainings, Home, Hospital and Hospice Reiki – Available Locally, Nationally, and Internationally.

Thorough, Supportive Reiki Training Offered – Trained to the Reiki Teacher/Shihan level in 2 Reiki Systems – Traditional (Western) Usui and Komyo Reiki. All levels of Reiki offered with ongoing practice opportunity and mentoring available. From Level 1 to Reiki Master over 2-3 years. (250 Training hours.) Reiki 1 to Reiki Teacher (500 hours.)  Always learning … ‘Mastery’ of any craft consists of ‘life-long’ learning and practice.

Certified Member of:

• Association of Critical Care Nurses
• National Guild of Hypnotists
• Komyo ReikiDo™ (Formerly Komyo Reiki Kai™)

Member of:

• American Nurses Association (ANA)
• American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA)
• Sigma Theta Tau/International Honor Society of Nursing
• Society of Oncology Nursing (ONS)
• Society of Integrative Oncology (SIO)
• Japan Society of Boston

Certified. Licensed. Insured. Vendormate Credentialed. 

Hear more about my experience with Reiki in Hospitals – 
Reiki Radio Interview with Phyllis Furumoto of the Reiki Alliance and Karen Pischke.