Establishing healthy behaviors is key to being well and staying well. And few behaviors affect us more than our relationships to food and its creation.  As social animals, the rituals of cooking and sharing meals, of wholesome food in healthful quantities, are profoundly important to recovery, wellness, and well-being. Food is loaded with meaning […]

On its face, depression seems like something we are all familiar with. You, or someone you know, are feeling down or “blue.” You’re dealing with a bout of sadness more prolonged than you’d like. But when does this feeling escalate to a diagnosable level? Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is classified as a […]

How can the gap between medicine and faith be more widely and rapidly bridged without falling into the silos of medical dogma and denominational competition? Are there tools that both faith-based and health care providers can implement now, even if there is not an environment of explicit faith-health collaboration? Here are four suggestions that any […]

One of the largest gaps in health care between two professionals trying to help the same sick person heal is the one that exists between the physician/clinician and the chaplain/member of the clergy. The gap does not usually result from animosity, but simply neglect of serious communication and integration with one another. This faith–health care […]

There are many instances of successful merges between faith-based care and health care which reveal a substantial pool of best practices for confronting the challenging work of bridging the gap. The following are some of the challenges in creating faith-health collaborations, and how best to address those challenges. Definitions and Terminology One of the major […]

Each person has inherent healing capacity. Through small changes in your daily life, you can increase your body’s ability to heal. You also may foster that same healing capacity in your own community, school and workplace. With the changes you make today, you can create an environment in your life, at home, at work and […]

I’ve come to recognize the look of skepticism from new patients. Should they trust me? Will I listen? Will I be a partner to them? I don’t take it personally. I’ve been a patient, too, and unfortunately, understand the situation all too well. You wait for what feels like an eternity for an appointment. Then […]

It is no secret that medicine needs to be reimagined. For one, only about 15 to 20 percent of health-related outcomes are because of medical interventions. The rest are related to health behaviors such as diet, physical activity, smoking status, as well as the physical, social, and economic environment affecting a person’s ability to make […]

This article concludes the Five P series—protect, promote, permit, partner and payment—which serves as a guideline for patients seeking to find an integrative physician or health team. To this point, we’ve explored the characteristics of a good integrative doctor, one who protects their patients, promotes proven therapies, permits the inclusion of alternative treatments, and is […]

Self-care is often overlooked in discussions around healing, but it is a critical aspect of our health and well-being.  The best path to health is for physicians to work with patients so they can take control of their health.  This is most impactful when patients take an active part in their self-care to achieve and […]