About Heart Touch

Vision Statement

The vision of The Heart Touch Project is a world in which massage therapy and other forms of healing touch are a standard patient care benefit in every healthcare setting.

Mission Statement

The Heart Touch Project is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the training and delivery of compassionate and healing touch to homebound or hospitalized men, women and children.

The Heart Touch Approach

Heart Touch teaches a gentle, nurturing and mindful form of touch therapy based on a profound respect for the physical and psychological needs of the individual. Strictly speaking, the Heart Touch approach is neither a technique nor a modality, but a specialized form of skilled touch, based on a holistic approach to therapeutic massage.

In his landmark publication Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, Ashley Montagu characterized touch as “above all, an act of communication.” He further says that the “use of touch and physical closeness may be the most important way to communicate to acutely ill persons that they are important as human beings.” It is in this spirit that Heart Touch staff created a variety of trainings to assist volunteers develop the awareness and skills needed to communicate that importance. For these reasons, the trainings put great emphasis on the dignity and worth of those struggling with serious illnesses and medical conditions.

Two Important Resources

Heart Touch relies on two singular resources to fulfill our mission. Our first resource are the women and men who generously donate their time, skills and compassion to serve as a supportive presence for others. Our volunteers regularly stand with those who are at what are arguably the two most important transitions in their lives—birth and death—and often at many critical times in between.

The second resource is the financial support provided by generous individuals, companies and foundations that believe in our mission and contribute funds to help insure our continued success. Without this help, no volunteer would be able to extend a hand in heartfelt compassion. The names of those persons and foundations whose support allows us to continue our work are given elsewhere on this site.

Tax Status

The Heart Touch Project is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. All contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Click here to contribute to Heart Touch.