What is "Integrative Health"?

Integrative Health is an approach to health care that is based on a partnership between the health care provider and the patient in which conventional, "complementary" and self-care approaches are used to stimulate and support the body's natural healing potential.

According to Dr. Rachel Remen, Integrative Health is (This) new way of practicing medicine is not integrative because it merges alternative and conventional approaches, but because it allows us to reclaim the integrity and the art of medicine which is healing by moving toward wholeness. Integrative medicine offers the hope of healing not only for people. It offers hope for the healing of medicine itself, to restore it to its wholeness and reclaim its original meaning and purpose."

Integrative Health treats the person:

• As a unique individual
• Holistically (mind/body/spirit)
• As an equal partner with health-care professionals
• Based on a foundation of self-care and personal responsibility
• Using perspectives and practices from all the great healing traditions
• As part of a group or social support system
• Within the context of hope, growth, and transformation - even when a cure is not possible.
  

Integrative Health Care Core Principles based on Dr. James Gordon's "Seven Pillars of Healing"