LIVING
LAB
Research and evaluation of
Mind - Body - Spirit healing practices.
Founded by Dr. Lenore Matthew
Demonstrating the efficacy and credibility of Mind-Body-Spirit practices.
Through rigorous qualitative, quantitive, and mixed-methods evaluations, the Living Lab helps healers document the effects of their work. This empowers them to demonstrate the impact of their practice as well as adds to the overall evidence base of Mind-Body-Spirit healing.
We evaluate the impact of Mind-Body-Spirit practices:
-
Psychic mediumship;
-
Energy healing, including Reiki and Kundalini;
-
Sound and frequency healing;
-
EFT Tapping;
-
Breathwork;
-
Somatic body healing;
-
Meditation;
-
Yoga;
-
And many others.
We measure the impact on key measures of well-being:
-
Mental and emotional health;
-
Physical health;
-
Spirituality;
-
Overall well-being and joy;
-
And other outcomes.
Helping healers and training organizations about the effect of their work-and learn now to evaluate it themselves.
We Conduct Evaluations of Your Healing Work
-
We assess the impact of healers' work on clients' health and well-being. This helps you determine how effective your work is, as well as demonstrates the credibility of your efforts.
-
We assess various indicators of client satisfaction. This helps you assess key indicators of business growth and efficacy.
We Teach You How to Evaluate Your Work Yourself
-
Through training workshops, we teach healers how to measure their work on their own. This helps you know if your work is really working and provides invaluable information to help evolve your business and practice. Evaluation results, for example, provide the data to market your practice, demonstrate your competitive advantage, and apply for funding and grants.
Mission
The mission of the Living Lab is to conduct rigorous, independent evaluations, to document the efficacy and credibility of Mind-Body-Spirit practices. We aim to demonstrate that these interventions are effective, evidence-based, and truly transformational — especially for people who have survived trauma.
How the Living Lab Got Started
The Living Lab was founded by Dr. Lenore Matthew, an expert in program evaluation and evidence-based practice — as well as a psychic medium. Lenore's intuitive gift of psychic mediumship suddenly awoke when her late husband passed away by suicide.
She has doctoral-level specialization in research and evaluation and previously worked as an evaluation specialist with international humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations.
The opening of her ability of mediumship and her late husband's passing opened Lenore up to a path of holistic healing through a multitude of spiritual and mind/body practices. Through these practices, she has found deep healing at the mind, body, and spirit levels, as well as joy, purpose, and even happiness — even through the pain and devastation of traumatic loss. She has met numerous clients and peers also healing through trauma who have also revolutionized their life and pain through these practices.
Inspired by her personal experience and drawing on her background in research and evaluation, she founded the Living Lab.
Research Studies Under Way
Below are the studies that are currently being conducted.
The Effects of Mediumship Readings on Widows' Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health and Grief Processing
This study assesses the impact of multiple mediumship readings on widows' mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well as their grieving process.
Specifically, it examines ways in which mediumship readings (with Dr. Matthew and mediums in general) have affected widows' healing process and connection to their loved ones in Spirit. The study focuses on the effects on mental health, emotional health, spirituality, and the overall healing process.
The purpose of the study is to set forth evidence that will help evolve and expand mental health care for survivors of partner loss, focusing on implications for the mental health and grief support community, and the field of intuitive and spiritual healing.
All study participants are women and range in age from their mid-twenties to eighties. All study participants lost either their spouse or fiance.
The study uses a phenomenological approach, a form of qualitative inquiry which examines a person's lived experience. It aims to understand a given phenomenon as an individual personally experienced and perceived it.
The study participants received two mediumship readings from Dr. Lenore Matthew over one year. Some study participants received readings from other mediums as well.
Data is collected at two points in time via two methods. First, each widow completed an in-depth, qualitative survey examining the effects of mediumship readings on her mental health, emotional health, spirituality, and grief processing. The survey was administered several months after the first mediumship reading, and qualitatively captured effects over time.
Second, an in-depth interview on the effects of mediumship on grief was conducted. The interviews took place on the day or within a few days of the second reading with Dr. Matthew. This captured impressions and shifts attributed to the second mediumship reading, and the immediate experiential and physiological effects of having a mediumship reading.
Data collection will take place from February to April 2023.
Preliminary findings will be published on this website as well as presented at conferences and to professional associations in the grief, mental health, and mediumship/spiritual arenas. Further, Dr. Matthew intends to apply for grants to support holistic healing programs for widows, blending mental health with spiritual and intuitive practices, including mediums.
Sudden Mediumship Awakenings in Grief
Dr. Matthew is collecting stories from people whose ability of psychic mediumship (i.e., the ability to sense and communicate with people in the spirit world) opened up after their own loved one passed away.
This study is inspired by Dr. Matthew's experience, as well as that of many of her clients and peers.
Dr. Matthew's psychic mediumship ability awoke in 2020 when her late husband unexpectedly took his own life.
Since her awakening, she has met dozens of people with similar experiences. Like her, their ability to communicate with people in Spirit opened up when their loved one crossed over.
The problem is: When our abilities awaken, especially in grief, we may not understand what is happening with our experience, or know where to go for help. What is more, there's not much information for people whose gifts spontaneously awoke — and even less for those whose gifts awoke amidst the loss of a loved one.
This study addresses this massive gap in both the spiritual/intuitive world and grief/mental health support. The study aims to understand this experience and set forth ways to support people living through it — in their grief, their intuitive development, and their soul path forward.
Study findings will be published on Dr. Matthew's website and other outlets, and will be presented at conferences and to professional associations in the grief, mental health, and mediumship/spiritual arenas. Further, Dr. Matthew intends to apply for grants to fund intuitive development and healing programs for people whose mediumship abilities opened up in grief.
Other Research and Evaluation to Come
Below are some of the research and evaluation areas to come in the future.
Psychic Mediumship
We will document the impact of psychic mediumship readings in one-on-one and group settings on people grieving the loss of a loved one. We will also explore the impact on specific populations, including young widows, suicide loss survivors, and grieving parents.
Energy Healing
We will document the impact of various energy healing techniques, including Reiki, Kundalini Activation, and other practices. Working with specific energy healers, we will document energy healing on targeted populations, such as suicide loss and childhood trauma survivors.
Yoga
We will set forth mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual impact of specific types of yoga (e.g., yin; vinyasa) over time on targeted populations, including trauma and grief survivors.
Meditation
We will set forth effects over time of different types of meditation (e.g., mindfulness; transcendental). We will look at the impact on specific types of meditation over time on targeted populations, including trauma and grief survivors.
EFT Tapping
EFT Tapping is an intuitive somatic healing technique. We will document the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual impacts of this practice over time on specific populations, including those grieving the loss of a loved one.
Breathwork
We will document the impact of this body-centric body somatic technique, focusing on specific populations, including those grieving the loss of a loved one.