History of the Integrative Health Initiative

Integrative Health (IH) Project

In 1997, it became apparent that there was increasing consumer demand

for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Research funding through the

NIH Office, CAM was beginning to provide evidence concerning the effectiveness and

science of mind/body approaches to health and healing. Given the historically holistic

philosophy of the Human Service program and its heavy emphasis on wellness and

complementary approaches to health and healing, it was natural that the Human

Service faculty would take a leadership role in this area. In 1998, the Human Service

faculty developed a new course on Integrative Approaches to Health and Healing

which remains very popular among our allied health students. As part of the “Learning

Community Project”, an Integrative Health Team was established with nursing, biology,

Physical education, human service, and humanities faculty as members.

The focus of the IH team was to redesign the College's Allied Health programs on an

integrative model. (Integrative health was defined by the Team as bringing together

the best of traditional health care with evidenced-based CAM and self-care/wellness

approaches, over-arched by healing relationships and the belief in the body’s natural

healing abilities.) Over the past five years, the IH Project has accomplished the

following:

· developed a Vision/Mission/Guiding Principles statement which was passed by the Board of Trustees n 1999 (See Appendix B-10b & c, Vision/Mission/Guiding Principles)

· designed a Letter of Recognition in Integrative Health (See Appendix B-10a, IH LOR brochure)

· developed new courses in IH: Introduction to Health Psychology, Medicinal Botany, Introduction to Mind/Body Skills, Yoga, Tai Chi, Mind/Body Movement for Stress Reduction, with plans to also offer courses in Spirituality and Health, Music and Health, and World Healing Traditions

· offered faculty retreats on spirituality and healing

· obtained a grant through the Spirituality and Medicine Foundation to identify foundational IH Core Skills that would be infused into every allied health curriculum offered at the College (See Appendix B-10d, IH Core Skills)

· developed a working relationship with Dr. James Gordon, Chair of the President's Commission on CAM who serves as mentor for ACM's IH program

· acquired faculty development funds to provide training by the nationally known experts in IH and CAM. Six faulty have been sent to Harvard’s CAM program, five to Seattle to the International Conference on IH, two to Dr. James Gordon's Intensive Training in Mind/Body Skills, four to the National Wellness Conference, two to Dr. Barry Bittman's Drumming for Health training, one to Stanford University's training on Herbal Medicine, three to Harvard's training on Mind/Body Science, and two to Harvard's conference on Spirituality and Health Care, as well as numerous other programs on integrative health)

· brought leading experts in IH to campus for faculty and community workshops, including Dr. James Gordon, Dr. Barry Bittman, and Dr. Jon Robison.

· developed a partnership with the Western Maryland Health System (WMHS) to develop an integrative model of health care delivery and with the Pastoral Care department to offer joint conferences on spirituality and health care

· are collaborating with the Physical Education faculty to redesign their facility and courses on a holistic wellness model

· developed a large collection of resources and teaching materials in IH: books, videos, CD's, drums, and other musical instruments, etc.

· using grant funds, developed an environmentally-designed "Serenity Room" in the Library which provides a place of reflection and study and houses the non-print collection of resources (See Appendix B-15, Serenity Room brochure)

· purchased a portable labyrinth

· are currently building a community Serenity Garden with an outdoor Labyrinth in the College's Arboretum