Program Objectives

Students who complete the program will:

I. Develop the skills to:

• Generate balanced, evidence-based summaries of the health and wellness impact of self-care behaviors as well as traditional, complementary, and conventional medicine modalities
• Apply health and wellness coaching skills in a variety of practice settings including hospitals, clinics, health educational facilities, private practice, corporations, and schools
• Understand the power of the mind/body connection and the innate wisdom of the body
• Be able to build and sustain positive and trusting coaching relationships with clients
• Develop keen sensory skills so that coaches can observe symptoms as they may arise in their own bodies and to teach clients to do the same
• Learn to reconnect with the cycles of nature and understand the role that these cycles play in healing and health
• Develop a comprehensive set of health generating practices based in ancient wisdom traditions and common sense contemporary wellness education
• Demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to the core competencies and ethical principles of the profession
• Develop a set of competencies in integrative health sciences

II. Acquire a basic knowledge of:

• Integrative human physiology required to understand how traditional, complementary, and conventional medicine modalities and self-care practices support health and wellness
• Disease etiology and pathophysiology with an emphasis on preventable diseases
• Neurobiology relevant to the process of learning, behavior modification, and health interventions
• Cross-cultural, traditional and modern concepts of health, wellness, illness, and disease
• The principles and practices of traditional, complementary, and conventional medicine

III. Acquire a comprehensive knowledge of:

• The physiologic basis and the scientific evidence for the benefits of health promoting environments and behaviors
• The pathophysiologic basis and the scientific evidence for the negative health
consequences of environment and of harmful behaviors
• The evidence base for traditional, complementary, and conventional medicine modalities in addressing health and wellness needs of U.S. populations

Program Outcomes

Students who complete the program will:

• Be able to articulate integrative health modalities and wellness practices from a scientific perspective
• Have an evidence-based understanding of health and wellness that integrates traditional, complementary, and conventional medicine, as well as self-care practices
• Be able to articulate foundational health sciences from an integrative perspective that is rooted in the inter-relationship between psychological, social, and biological processes
• Be able to evaluate the evidence base for integrative health and wellness approaches
• Be able to evaluate the role played by cultural, social, and ecological environments on community health and wellness
• Be able to evaluate the relationships between environmental and genetic factors that support or hinder health and wellness
• Become skilled in the use of language, listening, and composure as a means to inspire and motivate clients to make health generating changes
• Demonstrate proficiency in designing and implementing personalized health and wellness plans with clients
• Demonstrate the skills necessary to inspire accountability in their clients to adhere to goals
• Demonstrate proficiency in the art of evocative and powerful questioning as a means to develop client self-awareness and effective action
• Demonstrate proficiency in active, reflective, and empathetic listening skills
• Demonstrate the ability to develop a comprehensive set of health generating practices based on the rhythms of nature, life skills, and language
• Understand the science of behavior change and be able to demonstrate application to motivating others toward health generating behaviors
• Demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles of the profession
• Apply the philosophy, skills, and competencies within a selected area of concentration in wellness studies