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Brief Introduction to American Holistic Nurses Association...Founded in 1981, the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) serves as a bridge between the traditional medical paradigm and universal complementary and alternative healing practices, and as a practice, promotes the art and science of nursing. . The mission of AHNA is to nurture and inspire its members and advance the philosophy and practices of holistic nursing. In December of 2006, Holistic Nursing was officially recognized by the American Nurses Association (ANA) as a nursing specialty with a defined scope and standards of practice, acknowledging holistic nursing’s unique contribution to the health and healing of people and society. Standing behind this great achievement is the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA). AHNA submitted a 76-page document to the ANA that clearly describes holistic nursing as a focused area of nursing practice. My association with AHNA begun in 1996, and has been a foundation for my
practice as a nurse specializing in a holistic approach to healthcare. Please
visit AHNA’s site to explore all the wonderful resources available
to nurses (and the public In early 2007, I stepped into a leadership role as a Networker for AHNA, and became the Network Leader for the Ventura County Network, a group of nurses, and affiliate holistic practitioners. Within this role, I have initiated many exciting projects that have a potential for national, and even global impact, to include the Local-to-Global Healing Project. Our group is ever growing, and draws upon project leaders and group members to facilitate, and give life to, the many projects. A project, which is currently in the developmental stages and has historical implications, is a documentary that will explore holistic nurses in action as they integrate traditional nursing skills with a holistic approach to patient care. This documentary will introduce the scientific research and evidence, used as a basis for a holistic practice, promoting public awareness for resources, and self-care. This documentary will not only help individuals learn about how they can begin to include holism and gain empowerment and knowledge for Mind, Body, & Life, but will also educate other nurses, and healthcare professionals. This documentary can truly accelerate the ongoing national movement from strict allopathic medicine and practice, to holistic and integrative approaches in mainstream healthcare. For so many years, nurses have quietly gone about integrating holistic and complementary therapies for patient care, laboring (with love) often in the background. Now it’s time to bring nurses to the forefront of holistic education, practice and expertise. If you are a nurse practicing holistically within your current nursing role, and would like to be a part of this documentary, please email to: ahna.vecon.wow@brightestblessingscreations.com and write “Documentary” in the subject line. We are also looking for financial support in the form of sponsors, investors or grants for this project, so if you can see the phenomenal potential for a documentary of this type, and can assist and support this project, please contact us through the same above email address, with the “Support Documentary” in the subject line. If you live in Southern California, and you are interested in becoming active in our group, or want to work with us as an affiliate, for healing projects, please email us at: ahna.vecon.wow@brightestblessingscreations.com What many people (and I include healthcare professionals) don’t realize about holistic nurses (if they’ve heard of us at all ?), is that we are a core group of founders and pioneers who are ushering in change within the old, mechanistic medical paradigm, from within, by researching, and staying current with the overwhelming scientific evidence that supports change in how we think about health and healing, which in this day and age, includes the heart and art of healing. Part scientist, part healer, holistic nurses are the true educational and hands on experts for the practice of holism within the healthcare field, with the ability to apply most therapies and interventions independently, as part of our scope of practice. However, as part of our commitment to healthcare partnerships, it is important that we promote education, respect, support and cooperation within the healthcare team as a whole – from physicians to aides, all of whom are an important facet of our partnership in health and healing. Yet nurses are at the center of this change, and holistic nurses truly are the bridge between modern science, ancient healing wisdom, and mainstream traditional healthcare. Although we are now welcoming the visibility of physicians and other healthcare professionals who are stepping forward to educate the public in this seemingly new medical paradigm, nurses have been at the core of this movement since the beginning (dating back as far as Florence Nightingale), ushering in change, transformation, and healing, one person at a time. Modern holistic nurses have been at the helm of this change for at least 30 years. Unlike allopathic healthcare, which promotes separateness between our lives and our work, (i.e. a nurse can provide procedures, medications and treatments that are viewed as separate from the nurse providing them) holistic nursing incorporates self-awareness as a central factor in our healing interactions. Just by our very presence, nurses can effect psycho-physiological changes both in ourselves, and in those that we interact with. Thus we must incorporate ‘being’ tasks (consciousness centered), as well as the ‘doing’ tasks, calling upon the growth and awareness within our selves as human beings, who are functioning in roles as nurses in therapeutic partnership with individuals, families, communities, nations, our world, and the universe. When we participate in self-healing as a way to promote healing in others, that doesn’t mean that we have to be already ‘healed’ to provide healing care for those we tend to, as we must all accept ourselves as perfectly imperfect on this life’s journey. But, it does mean staying open to, and actively participating in, the healing process for ourselves, and those we care for. It means remaining open to the healing of our own pain and suffering, as we tend to the pain and suffering of others. It also means honoring such life giving and healing experiences as joy, love, hope, faith and self-actualization, to name just a few, as part of the healing process. Healing is an ongoing journey, one we move in and out of, embracing and resisting the changes that come with the healing process. Since healing is individualized to each person’s experiences, values, meaning, and patterns we cannot put a ‘one size fits all’ box around it. Thus healing for ourselves, and those we care for may look completely different in the way we approach it, and experience it. Holistic Nurses also recognize that our healing interactions and relationships extend beyond the individual, impacting familial, societal, and global patterns in the potential for positive change and healing transformation. Holistic Nursing, A Handbook for Practice, states, “A key characteristic of the hierarchy of natural systems is information flow. Regardless of the point at which it originates, information spreads up and down the components of the hierarchy. Information flow has a domino effect as it affects the whole system.” It is difficult, if not impossible, from a holistic perspective to separate the human experience on any level, from any relationship, including that of nurse, and those that we interact with and care for. It is one of the key components of a holistic approach to recognize this. Combining My Leadership Roles with AHNA & The Center for Nursing Advocacy My role as a Network Leader for AHNA complements my role as the President for the Center for Nursing Advocacy, Los Angeles Chapter, and is for me, perfectly blended and strengthened by the above view of healing and wholeness. Being an advocate for nurses is just as important as being a patient advocate. Both are intricate factors in the health of nurses, and those we serve, because when nurses come from a place of self-care, self-empowerment, and self-actualization, we can better facilitate healing in others. Although these organizations have different goals and missions, both can be directly related to ‘healing’ for society and for the nursing profession. The image of nursing in society, often negatively perpetuated by film and media, is still coming from a place of ignorance, and is quite frankly, in many cases, toxic to the nursing profession on many levels, to include a lack of much needed funding to equip nurses to provide the life changing and life saving skills and education that are our gifts to society. Until our roles are better defined and understood, supportive organizations such as the Center for Nursing Advocacy, serve to promote positive change for nurses, and our societies, on a national and international level. Please see the Center For Nursing Advocacy page to learn more.
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For instance, a book I’ve long recommended to nurses, but also to a
public who is interested in gaining knowledge and empowerment in their own
lives relating to health, healing, and well-being, is: Holistic Nursing,
A Handbook for Practice, 4th Edition, by Dossey, Keegan & Guzzetta (PhD
RN’s), published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers, which can be found
at