What is Integrative Medicine?
Integrative Medicine focuses on how factors of body, mind, and spirit can impact health, wellness, illness, and disease. The philosophy of Integrative Medicine stresses the importance of combining treatments that were once labeled as complementary and alternative into our current Western Medicine healthcare model. From this perspective, the treatment and prevention of chronic illness is centered around lifestyle strategies including stress management, diet, movement / exercise, and spiritual practices (i.e., meditation, energy medicine strategies, etc.). It is a healing-oriented model that emphasizes the central importance of the client-practitioner relationship. Healing does not equal curing but instead is geared towards relieving emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and physical suffering. For the Integrative Medicine practitioner, it is our deep sense of connection, compassion, and unconditional positive regard that creates a safe container for the optimal healing work to happen.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a term that was created by Dr. Jeffrey Bland. Functional Medicine provides an explanation for how the external factors of stress, environmental toxins, diet, exercise, lifestyle, and social support impact all the systems in our bodies, including our genetics. While the term Functional Medicine is relatively new, the underlying principles of health and disease are akin to the ancient practices used in other World Medicines of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic (Indian) Medicine practices. These medicine practices focus on “root-cause” versus symptom-focused care. More recently, the term Transformational Medicine has been suggested by Drs. Steve and Sandi Amoils (2011) to help serve as a model moving forward that utilizes the best of conventional and complementary medicine to promote health.
What is Mind-Body Medicine?
It is an approach to health that focuses, not only on the physical body, but also on the conscious and unconscious mind, as integral parts, contributing to your experience as a whole person and impacting your overall health and wellness. As a doctor of Mind-Body Medicine, I focus on the relationship between emotions, the mind, and physical health. I utilize a holistic, psychodynamic, root-cause perspective focusing on the integration of mind, body, brain, and spirit to help clients develop a personalized, lifestyle plan to restore balance.
What is Integrative Mental Health?
Integrative Mental Health is an emerging field within Mind-Body Medicine that serves as a bridge between traditional Western medicine and other World Medicines (Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, Tribal Medicine), that can help you understand how your emotions and your physical health are connected, thereby giving you knowledge and skills to create a sustainable self-care practice to restore balance.
What makes me different?
As an Integrative Mental Health Specialist, I incorporate various cognitive, psychological, energetic, and somatic practices within my work with adult clients.
