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.
Our transdisciplinary community of Scholars and Fellows investigates critical questions, elevates evidence-based practices, and discovers cutting-edge solutions. These incredible thought leaders come from diverse fields—such as medicine, photobiology, atmospheric chemistry, epidemiology, and psychology—and their work examines the full spectrum of health, healing, and flourishing through many lenses. Here we share some highlights of their work.
Nova Fellow Heidi Gullet and Scholar Kurt Stange co-authored an article published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice examining community-driven solutions to
Pointing to the rise of allergic diseases in the last century, Nova Scholars assert that exposome science and a planetary health mindset will inform critical research and approaches to tackling the grand challenges of our time.
Alan Logan and Nova Scholar Susan Prescott‘s recent article, “Planetary Health: We Need to Talk About Narcissism,” argues for a spotlight on collective narcissism, and the
Scholar David Scott Jones is among several authors building upon the research of The Healing Journey in an article published in the Integrative Medicine Journal.
Scholar George Brainard co-authored new research examining how light exposure impacts sleep, wakefulness, and body rhythms. This work also offers evidence-based recommendations for healthy daytime,
Nova Fellows Carley Riley and Brita Roy’s recent study used data from the Gallup National Health & Well-Being Index to examine trends and variations in hope in Americans from 2008-2020.
In Scholars Paul Dieppe and Sara Warber recent work, the word love featured strongly in the course of three research projects aimed at ascertaining what people thought healing was about.
Exploring the origins of the Advanced Research Project Agency and point to its potential to build integrated solutions, with wisdom and ethical value systems as a compass.
Nova Founder Brian Berman, Scholar Susan Prescott, and others argue, in a new article, that mindfulness deserves greater attention in the context of planetary health.
Scholar Chris D’Adamo’s groundbreaking, first-ever core culinary medicine curriculum for first- and second-year medical students is published.
Scholars Rebecca Etz and Kurt Stange co-authored an article that advocates for three simple rules for equitable, quality, and sustainable generalist and specialist care.
Scholar Sara Warber co-authored a handbook which is a great provider-oriented resource for social prescribing nature-based interventions.
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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.
