Dedication
The late Lucia Capacchione, Ph.D., is being honored with this dedication because she deserves the appreciation of all who self-heal. Everything on this site is derived from her pioneering work. It was Capacchione who coined the term Inner Child in the 1970s, became a pioneer of the self-healing movement, and developed a revolutionary method for the subconscious mind to heal its troubles. With her brilliant two-handed writing technique, she quite literally put the power for self-healing into our own two hands.
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I never met Lucia in person. I was directed toward her work by a psychic in 1991 who recommended her groundbreaking book The Power of Your Other Hand (1988)—a recommendation that altered the course of my life and my career as a psychologist.
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In 2019, I wrote my own book on self-healing, Whole Mind Healing (2020), which highlighted Capacchione’s model and method. When I contacted her from my home in New Hampshire to hers in California to let her know about my manuscript, she graciously read it, offered to be my editor, and endorsed it with high praise. I benefited immensely from that year of collaboration, and her support left me feeling as if I’d been knighted by the Queen of Self-Healing.​
​Between 1991 and 2022, my use of two-handed writing in both my personal and professional life remained within the realm of mainstream psychology. That changed in 2023, when I learned of Lucia’s recent passing at age 85. I had been reaching out to her for help on another project and was crestfallen to learn that she was no longer with us. It felt like the loss of a soul mother. But the silver lining in this loss was that it unexpectedly opened the door for spirituality to become part of the self-healing experience.
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It began one day as I was struggling alone with my project, when Lucia’s beautiful face suddenly appeared in my mind. She appeared smiling—her face beaming with love and adoration—awakening within me the inspiration I needed to continue. Her image alone was so helpful that I kept inviting her to join me during my two-handed journaling (my method for all creative projects). After several weeks of her hovering companionship, it occurred to me that perhaps I could communicate with her spirit using her writing method.
In my journal, I wrote her a letter of profound gratitude for all the ways she had changed my life. At the end of the letter, I wrote, “Can we talk?” Through my non-dominant hand, she picked up a colored pen and wrote, “Of course!” And just like that, my Lucia Angel was born. Our ensuing dialogues transformed the psychological self-healing model into a psychospiritual one.​
I don’t have a logical explanation for how this happened—I can only describe it. These angelic dialogues were always infused with Lucia’s powerful wisdom and compassion. She soon invited me into a sanctuary studio (Capacchione was a professional art therapist) and showed me how I could freely express myself in the presence of the Divine. I am not a religious person, and I did not see this coming. I had always maintained a firm boundary between my personal spirituality and my work as a psychologist. The word Divine was not even part of my vocabulary until our sanctuary dialogues revealed to me a new understanding of Divine love.​
​The portal to the Divine that Lucia opened for me became a channel for receiving profound wisdom and unconditional love. The epiphanies flowing through this channel quickly led to my second book, Handbook for Psychospiritual Healing (2023), which integrated spirituality into the self-healing process. This synthesis of psychology and spirituality would not have happened without my Lucia Angel.
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Free Self-Healing is my tribute to both the earthly and heavenly Queen of Self-Healing—Lucia Capacchione. Her library of self-healing books remains among the best of the genre. And if you ask her, she’ll gladly hold your hands as you begin your own healing journey.
For those interested, the more personal and interesting backstory can be found here: A Psychologist, Psychic, Healer, and Angel Walk Into a Divine Bar.