Osher Collaborative Forum: Outlooks, Opinions and Opportunities

By Kathryn A. Hansen, Elizabeth G. Walsh, and Cynthia Price

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 12 Feb 2021.

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Excerpt:

Complementary and integrative health and medicine (CIH) includes a diverse collection of healing systems and clinicians not often represented in modern conventional medicine. While there are many differences among these CIH systems and clinicians, many have a shared value of relationship-centered care with an emphasis on nonpharmacological therapies. To address a history of trauma, patients would be best served if trauma-informed care was incorporated into all CIH practices. A structural shift in education and expectations is needed for this to occur.

Over the past several decades, awareness of the widespread prevalence of traumatic experiences and the potential for related lifelong negative impacts on mental and physical health has increased dramatically. The interplay of mind, body, and spirit could not be more apparent in the myriad ways trauma impacts individuals, families, and communities. The mission of complementary and integrative health and medicine (CIH) is to emphasize care that is relationship centered, whole person, and interdisciplinary, to promote optimal health and healing. CIH is thus highly appropriate for individuals dealing with the sequela of trauma exposure.

CIH includes a diverse collection of healing systems and clinicians not often represented in modern conventional medicine. While there are many differences among these CIH systems and clinicians, many have a shared value of relationship-centered care with an emphasis on nonpharmacologic therapies. To address a history of trauma, patients would be best served if trauma-informed care (TIC) was incorporated into all CIH practices. A structural shift in education and expectations is needed for this to occur.

Click here to read the full article.