Help Inform the Nova Integration Hub
We are excited to be working with several partners on a new endeavor: the Nova Integration Hub. This new, web-based forum will empower a transdisciplinary
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.
We are excited to be working with several partners on a new endeavor: the Nova Integration Hub. This new, web-based forum will empower a transdisciplinary
On February 4, 2019, the Institute for Integrative Health hosted a dinner symposium featuring a keynote presentation with Sandro Galea, MD, MPH, DrPH. Dr. Galea gave an inspirational speech on the urgent need to reorient epidemiology and public health to make a difference in health outcomes.
A person’s environment can profoundly impact their sense of well-being and, in some cases, how well they heal.
A multimedia exhibit by Scholar Paul Dieppe, MD, was a source of respite and inspiration for visitors and staff at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset, England in 2017.
In 2014, The Network on Inequality, Complexity, and Health (NICH), led by George A. Kaplan, convened a conference supported by The Institute for Integrative Health
In 2017, the Nova Institute hosted a rich dialogue on healing trauma in our communities to examine trauma’s impact and the needs of Baltimore City residents and military veterans.
With the goal of optimizing the positive impact of these programs, the Institute for Integrative Health convened a forum in February, to envision a new, integrative approach to community program development and evaluation.
Music, painting, poetry and other forms of creative expression can help individuals and communities overcome physical, mental, and emotional obstacles. This is why the Institute for Integrative Health is developing a program that will connect Maryland’s military veterans with community-based arts activities.
People who suffer from cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, chronic pain, and severe trauma may improve symptom management, reduce stress or pain, and experience improved energy levels when their treatment is augmented with acupuncture, herbs, music, massage and other complementary therapies.
The Institute for Integrative Health convened a forum at its headquarters February 3-4, 2016, to envision a new, integrative approach to creating and evaluating community-based programs that improve the health of urban and disadvantaged youth.
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RT @jonlevyBU: ICYMI, great article in @AMJPublicHealth about unequal environmental burdens on the LGBTQ+ community.... Read More
RT @DrSueIshaq: Apply by June 9: Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Animal + Veterinary Science, UMaine!... Read More
On #WorldEnvironmentDay, we look to #NatureConnection & the importance of natural systems for the flourishing... Read More
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.