History of the Integrative
Health Initiative at ACM
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
eight years, the IH Project has accomplished the following:
developed a Vision/Mission/Guiding Principles statement
which was passed by the Board of Trustees in 1999
designed a Letter of Recognition in Integrative Health
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
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
worked with Physical Education faculty as part of the 2+2+2
Health Promotion and Wellness Grant
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
purchased a portable labyrinth
constructed a community Serenity Garden with an outdoor
Labyrinth in the College's Arboretum
obtained a $513,970 Integrative Health Core Curriculum Project
grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Health
Resources and Services Administration
