What Is Collective Healing?

A lens & practice for being in relationship with the world’s pain

People use the term “collective healing” in different ways. Here’s how I use it:

A Practice

A set of tools that helps us work with the many normal feelings that come with caring about the world.  

Outline of a person with a heart on chest, surrounded by leaves, on a black background, glowing in pink.

A Lens

A healing-centered way to make sense of the question, “Why is the world in so much pain?”

Neon outline drawing of Earth showing Asia and Australia on a black background.

We’re not separate from the world’s pain, we’re in relationship with it. Collective healing supports that relationship, in transformational ways.

Collective healing as a practice

Line drawing of a person with a heart in their chest, surrounded by leaves, in a minimalist style.

Collective Healing Framework

A spiral diagram with circles connecting phrases: 'Create Space', 'Process', 'Unearth Wisdom', 'Bring It Into Your Life', 'Have Experiences', 'Be Supported'. Each phrase is accompanied by an icon: a globe, a geometric pattern, a sprouting plant, feet, and a lotus flower.

Collective healing as a practice

Our hearts are inextricably tied to the world and our desire to be of service to her. As a practice, collective healing recognizes this, and sees your heart as a key capacity to strengthen. More than self-care, it helps you unearth the wisdom within what you feel (about your morals, shifting values, existential questions in our complex age) and bring that into your life and the world so you can play the role you're meant to.

The Collective Healing Framework

The collective healing practice follows a framework of five key steps that work together in an ongoing spiral:

1. Create space. For what you’re feeling and experiencing, current events and crises, and the questions you’re holding and grappling with.

2. Process. Use healing-centered tools to help your emotions move in constructive ways.

3. Unearth wisdom. Receive guidance and wisdom from what you feel.

4. Bring it into your life. Put those insights into practice by integrating them into your life.

5. Be supported. In an ongoing fashion through community and more.

We Heal For All Circles

The main method of collective healing I practice are through the use of my We Heal For All Circles.

Learn about Circles here

We have a new, more intimate relationship with the world. Collective healing helps us actualize the potential and possibility within this.

Collective healing as a lens

Neon outline of a globe showcasing North America, Central America, and parts of Asia against a black background.

Why is the world in so much pain?

Decorative arrangement on a metal surface with dried pink flower petals, small rocks, and a spherical object with a colorful map design.

Collective healing is also a lens I use to make sense of the times we live in.

Throughout my journey, I began to see the world’s pain not just as chaos to solve or systems to fix, but also as a symptom of something larger taking place.

Studying spirituality and healing-centered sciences, I began to wonder, “What would it be like to look at the world—and her pain—the same way we look at a person in pain?” What new insights might that offer? How might that help explain certain phenomenon I see, especially at the collective level?

This shift in lens—and the insights it offers—has become just as important as the tools themselves. It has changed how I make sense of the world, and that change has shaped how I respond.

Read more in my book

Connect with Liz to learn more about this collective healing practice & framework

For workshops, interviews, & speaking engagements contact connect@wehealforall.com.