The Woman Behind Healing Touch: Remembering Janet Mentgen’s Legacy

Lisa Mentgen-Gordon & Linda Lee Smith on Janet Mentgen, Preserving the History of Healing Touch & the Book That Brings It Together

Who was Janet Mentgen before she became known as the founder of Healing Touch?

In this special episode of The Energy Healing Podcast, Leila Briggs sits down with Janet's daughter, Lisa Mentgen-Gordon, and longtime colleague and friend Linda Lee Smith to celebrate the release of their new book, Healing Touch: Restoring Balance Within the Human Energy Field.

Through stories gathered for the book—and memories of their own—Lisa and Linda offer an intimate look at the woman behind the work, the people who helped build Healing Touch, and the community that has carried it forward.

From Janet's life as a mother and nurse to her spirituality, mentorship and determination to create a professional program with standards and certification, this conversation explores how Healing Touch began, what has sustained it, and what it means to preserve its history while continuing to imagine its future.

What You'll Hear

How the idea for a book dedicated entirely to Healing Touch began
Why Linda invited Lisa to become her co-author
How stories from Healing Touch's early community helped reconstruct its history
Lisa's memories of Janet as a mother, softball coach, entrepreneur and nurse
How Janet balanced raising a family with developing Healing Touch
Linda's unforgettable first encounter with Janet at a holistic nursing retreat
The Healing Touch Level 1 class that changed the direction of Linda's path
Why Janet decided Linda was going to become one of her teachers
The importance of community during Healing Touch's earliest years
What Lisa discovered through Janet's journals and writings
Linda's perspective that Healing Touch's early development was spiritually guided
How Lisa's perspective as Janet's daughter complemented Linda's firsthand experience of the program's beginnings
How Lisa brought present-day practitioner stories and experiences into the book
The touching story of reconnecting with early Healing Touch leader Myra Tillotson near the end of her life
The story of how Healing Touch received its name
What “guardianship” of Healing Touch means to Lisa
Why Lisa doesn't believe preserving Janet's work means becoming Janet
Janet's hope that Healing Touch would continue for seven generations
The role community continues to play in Healing Touch today
The funny and deeply human stories that reveal another side of Janet
Lisa and Linda's hopes for Healing Touch in homes, healthcare and future generations

Chapters & Timestamps

00:00 Welcome Lisa Mentgen-Gordon & Linda Lee Smith
02:00 Celebrating the New Healing Touch Book
03:30 How the Book Began
05:00 Linda Invites Lisa to Become a Co-Author
06:00 Reconnecting With Healing Touch's Early Community
07:30 Two Perspectives Come Together
09:00 Discovering the Community Behind Healing Touch
10:00 Lisa Remembers Janet as Her Mother
12:30 Janet's Life Before Healing Touch
14:45 Linda's First Encounter With Janet Mentgen
17:00 “It's Just My Spirit Guide”
19:45 Linda Takes Her First Healing Touch Class
20:15 “I Saw the Next Step on My Path”
22:30 Becoming One of Janet's Early Teachers
24:00 Janet's Journals & Spiritual Life
25:00 Was Healing Touch Spiritually Guided?
26:30 Lisa & Linda's Different Perspectives on the History
27:30 Bringing Present-Day Healing Touch Into the Book
29:30 Remembering Myra & Healing Touch's Early Leaders
33:00 How Healing Touch Got Its Name
35:00 Lisa on Guardianship & Carrying Janet's Work Forward
38:00 Preserving Healing Touch for Future Generations
39:00 The Community That Keeps Healing Touch Alive
41:00 The Practitioner, Teacher & Business Balancing Act
44:30 Remembering Janet Through Photographs
45:45 The Story Behind Janet's Famous Dress
49:00 What Is the Future of Healing Touch?
50:00 Bringing Healing Touch Into Homes & Healthcare
52:00 Compassionate Touch & the Future of Healing

About Lisa Mentgen-Gordon

Lisa Mentgen-Gordon is the daughter of Healing Touch founder Janet Mentgen and CEO of Healing Touch Program. Her relationship with Healing Touch spans both its personal and professional history—from growing up while her mother developed the program to becoming one of the people responsible for carrying its standards, education and legacy forward.

In this conversation, Lisa describes her role through the lens of guardianship: not attempting to become her mother, but helping protect and sustain the program Janet created while supporting the practitioners and future generations who will continue it.

As co-author of Healing Touch: Restoring Balance Within the Human Energy Field, Lisa brings both a daughter's memories and the perspective of someone intimately involved in Healing Touch today.

About Linda Lee Smith

Linda Lee Smith is an author, nurse, educator and longtime member of the Healing Touch community whose relationship with Janet Mentgen reaches back to the early years of the program.

After meeting Janet at a holistic nursing retreat, Linda attended her first Healing Touch Level 1 class and quickly became involved in the developing program. Janet became her mentor, and Linda went on to become one of Healing Touch's early instructors.

Today, Linda is also an accomplished author with multiple books exploring holistic health. Her desire to write a book devoted entirely to Healing Touch ultimately led her back into its history, reconnecting with early practitioners and instructors and gathering the stories that became Healing Touch: Restoring Balance Within the Human Energy Field.

About the Book

Healing Touch: Restoring Balance Within the Human Energy Field brings together the history, stories, science, research and lived experiences of the Healing Touch community.

Co-authored by Lisa Mentgen-Gordon and Linda Lee Smith, the book draws upon memories from people who were present during Healing Touch's formative years alongside perspectives and stories from the practitioners carrying the work forward today.

Through those voices, the book preserves an important part of Healing Touch's history while introducing its work to a new generation of readers.

About Host

Leila Briggs is the host of The Energy Healing Podcast, presented by the Healing Touch Program. A Healing Touch Certified Practitioner since 2015, Leila brings a lifetime of intuitive experience into grounded, heart-centered conversations about energy healing and lived spiritual practice.

About the Podcast

The Energy Healing Podcast explores the world of Healing Touch through practitioner stories, education, research, real-life experiences and healthcare perspectives. Hosted by Leila Briggs, the show invites listeners to discover the people, practices and stories behind Healing Touch while exploring the evolving role of energy healing in our lives and communities.

Disclaimer

The information shared in this episode is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or mental health advice or as a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment, or care. Experiences and observations described by guests are personal or organizational accounts and should not be interpreted as evidence that Healing Touch treats, prevents, or cures any particular physical or mental health condition.

Healing Touch and other complementary approaches discussed in this episode are intended to complement, not replace, appropriate conventional medical or mental health care. If you or someone you know is experiencing a medical or mental health concern, please seek support from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

🌐 Explore Healing Touch training: https://www.healingtouchprogram.com

💚Find a Practitioner: https://www.healingtouchprogram.com/find-a-practitioner

📚 Get certified in Healing Touch: https://www.healingtouchcertification.com/

Follow Us & Stay Connected

➜ Healing Touch Program Website

➜ Facebook

➜ Instagram

➜ LinkedIn

➜ Twitter/X

➜ Pinterest