Class Description

Guided Imagery for Healing and Self-Care

Instructor: Emmy Vadnais, OTR/L
Date: November 14, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Central Time (7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET)
Location: Zoom live video
Price: 

• $99 Member 
• $129 Non-Member 
  
  

CEU:  5 Hours 

Course Description

This course invites health care professionals to explore the healing power of guided imagery for enhancing wellness, recovery, self-care, and spiritual growth. Participants will learn how guided imagery elicits the relaxation response to reduce stress, anxiety, and pain, while supporting emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Research shows that guided imagery can lower blood pressure and cortisol, improve sleep, strengthen the immune system, enhance self-esteem, and improve motor performance through imagined practice—benefiting athletes as well as individuals healing from stroke or injury. Guided imagery works by tapping into a person’s consciousness and engaging the full sensory system—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—along with the inner senses of intuition and imagination to promote healing and transformation. It has also been linked to deeper spiritual connection, meaning-making, and inner peace. This five-hour introductory course provides a strong foundation for integrating evidence-based imagery practices for children and adults into professional care and personal renewal, and serves as a stepping stone for those who wish to explore advanced applications of guided imagery for healing and transformation.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Summarize and interpret evidence-based research on guided imagery, including its effects on physiological stress markers, emotional regulation, pain reduction, performance enhancement, and motor recovery.
2. Understand how to facilitate basic guided imagery experiences to elicit the relaxation response and promote reduction of stress, anxiety, and pain.
3. Differentiate guided imagery from other relaxation and mindfulness techniques by understanding its use of conscious visualization and imagination in the healing process.
4. Engage in and practice introductory guided imagery methods to elicit the relaxation response and promote reduction of stress, anxiety, and pain.  
5. Identify ways to incorporate foundational guided imagery concepts into professional care settings to enhance wellness, coping, and recovery, and recognize opportunities for continued study in advanced guided imagery facilitation.

Who this course if for:

This course is designed for health care professionals—including occupational therapists, physical therapists, nurses, counselors, psychologists, massage therapists, and other integrative health practitioners—interested in learning foundational guided imagery techniques to support client well-being, enhance practitioner self-care, and improve performance or recovery outcomes.

CEU: 5 Hours

Certificate of Completion:
Upon successful completion of the course, you will automatically receive a certificate of completion. We will send out the official certificate within 72 business hours.

PDUs:
These courses meet requirements for NBCOT – National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. Check with your state occupational therapy or professional health care board or association to learn about what is required for your state or local license. This course offers a class evaluation and a class quiz. Therefore, you may be able to earn more PDUs.