Now that I've got a full set of toons that I can use almost interchangeably in our weekly raids, that is, I have a DPS, a tank, and a healer, I can say confidently that I am a healer through and through. However, I'm not completely ignorant of the fact that my other toons teach me about being a healer. What can a hunter and a warrior teach you about healing? Plenty.
As a Hunter/DPS, I didn't have too much use for healers in dungeons/raids unless I accidentally stood in the stupid or a mob got loose and I pulled aggro. I did like it when healers would throw up a heal or two on my pet, that made me happy that they acknowledge my pet was a valuable part of the party. Even if it was AOE-heals, my pet still got something other than Mend Pet and that was nice. From that experience, I don't think of pets (Lock pets included) as non-members of the party, if I can, I'll throw some heals their way. Or if I see a hunter rezzing a pet, I'll rebuff it. Hunters spend time with their pets, they level together, they quest together, they get to pick out talent points for them, pets are very important to the hunter, even if they're not Beast Master spec'ed. Keeping the hunter's pet happy also keeps the hunter happy. And if the hunter's happy, they won't misdirect to you on purpose...(I've been offered gold to MD to random people in the party/raid, which I've taken XD, but not usually if I like the person)
As a Warrior/Tank, where do I start? Tanks and healers have to be close, they need to trust each other, the tank especially needs to trust the healer. My method of healing has typically been to keep the tank topped off whenever possible, or at least be my main focus. The tank moves, I move. The tank doesn't loot, I don't loot. Only in extreme cases will I /oom and stop to drink. When I'm on my tank, the way I heal is only reinforced, especially when I get healers that can't keep up or have to drink after every other pull. As a Warrior specifically, I get to watch my rage drain as the healer's mana bar goes up. I get itchy, ready to pull the next group and refill my rage. I LOVE charging into groups and using Thunderclap. I HATE when I can't charge because the healer went AFK at the last second and I suddenly have to stop mid-pull and pop cool-downs. I tank the way I do because I'm also a healer and I heal the way I do because I'm also a tank. I make sure my healer has the mana they need and when I'm healing I make sure that the tank isn't slowed down by me.
If you read my previous post, you'll see that I have a new appreciation for Warlocks and Life Tap since I'm leveling one myself now. I had one sitting on my character page for a while, as is typical me, and I decided to get her more heirloom gear (only had the shoulders from leveling Kady, bought the robe and the staff) and actually start leveling her. It was a struggle to get her out of Redridge, but I pushed through and got to questing regularly. It's so nice to be leveling again, to have a goal to be working towards, something to do that's within fairly easy reach and that I can do at my own pace (not once a day for example).
Each alt that I level teaches me something new about healing and about my play-style, even if they only sit on my character screen for months eventually seeing only the "DELETE" window instead of level 20. But they only teach me if I'm willing to pay attention, like right now, I have no idea what makes Shammys happy because I haven't leveled one past the ability to turn into a wolf...
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