The Nova Institute congratulates Media Fellow Maria Parazo Rose on launching an innovative Indigenous land return reporting projecting. with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Nova Institute congratulates Media Fellow Maria Parazo Rose on launching an innovative Indigenous land return reporting projecting. with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Nova Scholar Osagie Obasogie leads a project in partnership with the Los Angeles Review of Books exploring the history and persistent legacies of racism and eugenics in science and medicine.
Three years in, the Nova Institute project team details achievements and challenges in a demonstration project that equipped primary care patients and providers with effective, simple stress management tools.
In his new book, Healing and Medicine, Nova Scholar Paul Dieppe, BSc, MD, FRCP, FFPH, Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Exeter and Bristol, examines the relationship between healing and medicine through the eyes of an academic physician who changed his interests from biomedical research to healing late in his medical career.
Dr. Pragya Mishra discusses the gut-brain axis, metaphysical jurisprudence, and the promise of neurolaw to inform a more just legal system.
Dr. Diana Fishbein discusses the importance of prevention science and offers a solutions-based framework to address underfunding.
In this Nova Interview, Dr. Stephen J. Schoenthaler discusses the complex history and evolution of nutritional psychology and the value of perseverance.
David Wiss discusses the intersection of nutrition, mental health, and addiction recovery through his work and personal experiences.
Knellee Bisram discusses the global implications of inner healing, her work with young people, and the importance of connection.
Hannah Gosnell maps her inner and outer journey to conscious food systems, regenerative agriculture, and the inner dimensions of sustainable transformation.
We are thrilled to welcome our 2026-27 Nova Media Fellows: Yvette Cabrera, Tara Pixley, and the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale.
Dr. John Lear Randall, a dear friend and one of the founding spirits of the Nova Institute for Health, was known as a perpetual optimist with a profound love of service, care for people, and a heartfelt commitment to health.
The Nova Institute congratulates Media Fellow Maria Parazo Rose on launching an innovative Indigenous land return reporting projecting. with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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 some debate about whether people always 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.
