Margaret Anne10 Burkhardt (Margaret Elizabeth9, Ralph Wallace8, David Edwin7, David6, David5, James4, Joseph3, Alexander2, Robert1), was born January 30, 1948 in Keene, NH. "Dr. Peggy" is the second of four children born to Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" (Junkins) and John Joseph Burkhardt, Sr. She has one brother, John Joseph, Jr. and two sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Teresa Louise.
Peggy received her elementary education at St. Mary's Parochial School, Stanford, CT and her secondary education at Stanford (now Trinity) Catholic High School and Stanford High School, graduating in 1966. In the fall of 1966, she entered Georgetown University School of Nursing, Washington, D.C. from which she graduated in June 1970 with a BSN degree. She also passed the RN test. In 1973, she entered the graduate program at the Unversity of Rochester School of Nursing, graduating in June 1975 with a degree of Master of Science. She also pursued a graduate degree in Theology at the University of Dayton and was granted the degree of Master of Arts in December 1984.
Peggy was employed as a Public Health Nurse in Greenwich, CT (1970-71). She went to Gallup, NM as a Field Health Nurse with the Indian Health Service (1971-73). As a BSN-RN, she was the top person to go out on the reservation with a Navajo driver who was a nurse's aide and translator. After her University of Rochester degree, she worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner at the Jordan Health Clinic, Rochester, NY (1975-77). She moved to Wheeling, WV and became an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Wheeling Jesuit College, working for one of her professors from Georgetown (1977-79).
She entered the pre-novate program of the Sisters of St. Joseph's-Wheeling and took her first vows in 1980. She became an Assistant Professor of Nursing at West Virginia University, Charleston. She did not take her final vows in 1983 but continues to teach at the West Virginia University. She also worked as a nurse practitioner at a clinic in Cabin Creek, WV outside of Charleston (1980-85).
In September 1987, she was admitted to the Doctoral Program in Nursing at the University of Miami, FL. In May 1991, she was granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. In 1992, she was promoted to Associate Professor at West Virginia University and in 1995, she received tenure and was granted a sabbatical to write a new nursing text on issues and ethics with a friend and to seek a better balance in her life, seeking out what was important to her.
On August 19, 1990 Dr. Burkhardt married Dr. Joseph I. Golden at Clifftop, WV. Although both had graduated from Stanford High School the same year, they did not know each other until they met in Charleston. Joseph had established an Independent Rural Health Clinic, the Gulf Family Practice in Sophia, WV in 1984. She and her husband, Joe, live in Beckley, WV. She works at the clinic one day a week as well as attending to her teaching chores that often are in Charleston.
Peggy and Joe do a lot of traveling, much of it to conferences in which they participate. Peggy has written many articles on Holistic Healing for the Journal of Holistic Nursing. She is also interested in spirituality and how to treat the whole person.
She became interested in Healing Touch while studying for her master's degree in the mid-1970s. Curiosity over why learning to give a back rub was so important in nursing school and conditions such as failure to thrive — infant mortality involving lack of touch — and Biblical healing processes inspired her to further study the modality.
Her first experience came through studying therapeutic touch—a method developed using the hands to direct human energies to help heal someone who is ill. "I know this is a useful modality in healing," Dr. Burkhardt says. "It does not matter if someone believes it works or not. Skeptics can be skeptic. I'm not looking to convince anyone. I will continue to offer it to patients."
Dr. Burkhardt's doctorate research focused on the area of spirituality in healing. She is associate professor of nursing at West Virginia University School of Nursing, Charleston Division. As part of her faculty role, she does clinical practice at Gulf Family Practice where she works with her husband as a family nurse practitioner and nursing field professor. She also conducts Healing Touch seminars for her friends and patients, upon request.
The following method is taught by Dr. Burkhardt as a way to become familiar with your own energy fields.
- Sit comfortably with both feet on the ground.
- Place your hands so that the palms face each other. Keep your arms relaxed and your elbows away from your body.
- Bring your pams close together but don't let them touch.
- Separate the palms slightly and bring them back to the original position. Move the palms out again — a little father this time — and bring them back to the original position. Continue to repeat this process, keeping the motions steady.
- Notice what you are experiencing between your hands. You may feel a tingling or magnetic sensation. Play with it.