We look at the whole picture, the entire lived experience that influences health.
Our work examines health through many lenses that intersect, and it often helps people who are underserved or experiencing trauma — for example, veterans suffering from PTSD, children with serious illness, low-income residents grappling with systemic racism and neglect, and others.
The meeting will bring together a tremendous network of like-minded people from diverse fields whose interests span from planetary/population/ environmental health to microbial ecology/ systems biology and the deep biological mechanisms—all aiming to work in a more integrated systems framework as we seek to improve personal, environmental, economic and societal health alike.
Originating at Georgetown University School of Medicine, this experiential program provides faculty at health professional schools with the training, tools, and strategic thinking necessary to implement the course in Mind-Body Medicine Skills at their institutions.
The Institute for Integrative Health, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Maryland State Department of Education are proud to announce a new learning opportunity
How do ingredients combine to create incredible flavor? What culinary techniques should you learn to make an amazing 30-minute meal? How can you master your kitchen,
During Nova Institute’s Healthy Happy Hour, participants learned how food and lifestyle can optimize your genetic potential.
The Institute for Integrative Health, as the Nova Institute was then known, and the Gordon Parks Foundation held an exhibition and program series, A Beautiful Ghetto,
In November, the Institute for Integrative Health hosted the In Good Health Holiday Market & Wellness Expo. During this event, participants could enjoy a homemade market, demonstrations of all kinds, and talks in our wellness lounge on a variety of different subjects.
James Roeder, DC, of the Chiropractic Wellness Center of Baltimore, gave a presentation at the In Good Health Holiday Market & Wellness Expo on November 18, 2017.
During the In Good Health Holiday Market & Wellness Expo, the Institute for Integrative Health hosted a presentation by Chris D’Adamo, PhD., on how to avoid the cold and flu this season.
At our November 18th In Good Health Holiday Market & Wellness Expo, speaker David Rosario, representing the Latino Providers Network and State Farm, discussed the importance and challenges of financial planning.
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Over the past thirty years, we’ve been part of a movement to shift the primary approach to health from a focus on disease to a more complete approach. As reflected in our tagline, “For Health of People, Places, and Planet,” how we are building on “person health” and looking at the context of peoples’ lives and communities as well as the health of the planet we all share.
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Healing is facilitated through safety, persistence, and trust.
Resources support us as we heal. They include reframing, responsibility, and positivity. “Making connections enabled participants to acquire and refine resources and skills that were essential in their healing journey. People also brought their own personal strengths to the journey.”
“Connection to others was an essential part of all the healing journeys.” Humans are social creatures, and even the most introverted of us need close relationships. Friends and family add meaning and value to life and help support us, in good times and bad.
When we experience relational trauma, relationships can feel scary, but reestablishing safety and trust in relationships is where the healing happens. (To be clear, we do not mean reestablishing safety and trust with abusers, but rather finding other healing relationships.)
“When safety and trust had been established, people were able to connect with helpers. The nature of the behaviours of helpers that fostered healing ranged from small acts of kindness to unconditional love.”
Healing probably means different things to different people, but one definition that emerged from the study is: “The re-establishment of a sense of integrity and wholeness.”
Healing was an emergent property that resulted from each individuals’ complex healing journey, a result of bridged connections between resources and relationships. “…they gradually found relief from suffering and began to exhibit emergent characteristics: a sense of hope, self-acceptance, and a desire to help others—the immediate precursors to healing.”
In varying degrees, “they were able to transcend their suffering and in some sense to flourish.”
Suffering is the ongoing pain from wounding.
There is debate about whether or not one actually needs to experience suffering on the path to healing.
Wounding happens when we experience physical or emotional harm. It can stem from chronic illness or by physical or psychological trauma for which we do not have the tools to cope, or a combination of those factors.
“The degree and quality of suffering experienced by each individual is framed by contextual factors that include personal characteristics, timing of their initial or ongoing wounding in the developmental life cycle and prior and current relationships.”
Characteristics: How predisposed someone may be to wounding/how many tools and resources someone may have to deal with trauma/illness.
Lifestages: Developmental timing plays an important role in the impact of trauma — young children often do not have the same resources as older adults.
Relationships: Relationships can provide solace and support for those suffering, while lack of healthy relationships can prolong suffering.
