Explore how UWS’s focus on whole-person health allows for a comprehensive approach toward patient care, considering all aspects of well-being including physical, mental, and social factors. Learn more about how we teach a whole-person approach for better overall patient care.
Whole-Person Approach to Patient Care
What is whole-person care? Whole-person care is a evidence-based and patient-centered approach, that evaluates the patient’s physical, mental, and social factors. The focus is to treat root causes of disease and dysfunction with holistic, individualized approaches to health and well-being. Teaching future medical professionals to consider the whole person in their evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and patient management, not just suppressing symptoms. This approach factors in physical, mental, and social wellness to guide treatments and patient care management.
Patient-Centered Approach to Nutritional Wellness
Human nutrition is the provision of essential nutrients in food and the process of transforming it into body tissue and energy. Proper nutrition supports good health and bodily functions, whereas poor nutrition can weaken the body and immune system. Poor nutrition typically stems from poverty, food security, or a poor understanding or execution of meeting nutritional requirements for the body.
University of Western States offers a Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine program with a professional certificate, Master of Science, and a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition degree. Each program builds students’ knowledge on how to take a whole-person approach to nutrition by using natural methods, specifically diet, lifestyle, and mental or emotional health as a central focus. UWS teaches this comprehensive understanding of whole-person consideration and evidence-driven data as a forefront model for health care practice that seeks to address the causes of disease, dysfunction, and poor nutrition rather than suppressing symptoms.
Patient-Centered Approach to Mental Health Wellness
Mental health is the emotional and psychological well-being of an individual. It influences how one thinks, feels, and acts. This is why it is important to understand a patient’s mental health and how it may affect their stress, and relationships, as it can hinder any healthy habits.
UWS reinforces the whole-person approach in all graduate degrees, including our Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Our future mental health counselors learn to provide treatment to individuals, families, and couples for a range of mental health conditions that affect emotional health and relationships. CMHC graduates use a patient-centered approach to address concerns such as anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem, stress, and suicidal impulses. The methods and techniques for treating each condition are fully adapted to the individual—their life experience, lifestyle, current state of mind, and genetic factors that may contribute to mental illness.
Professional counselors use evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people confront the challenges that keep them stuck and develop healthier patterns. This process can be both cathartic and emotional, and counselors are trained to respond to crises such as suicidal thoughts or vocational burnout with skill and compassion. In addition, professional counselors may support clients in building creative outlets that promote well-being, such as exercise, meditation, or other activities that foster expression and creativity. At UWS, our program is uniquely aligned with sport and performance psychology, giving graduates the added ability to support athletes, military and tactical personnel, and other high-achieving professionals in both their mental health and performance needs.
Whole-Person Approach to Social Wellness
Social wellness is the relationships and interactions between people. Maintaining social wellness can be done through spirituality, contemplative practices, and building healthy relationships. Spirituality can be practicing religion or faith and applying the values to real-life scenarios. Contemplative practices include self-reflection and analysis for deep concentration and quieting the mind during times of distress. The goal is to explore the cause and effect of one’s emotions and reactions, breaking it down into understanding, and processing the next steps rather than being overwhelmed. Contemplative practices are practical, radical, and transformative for self-awareness and can be achieved through therapy, meditation, or other reflective practices. Building healthy relationships is made easier through awareness, intention, and boundaries. All of which heavily rely on honesty with oneself and the other, trust, respect, and communication.
If a patient is struggling in one area of physical, mental, or social wellness, it can make it harder to maintain wellness in the other areas. This is why future medical professionals need to take into consideration the whole person, pinpointing the cause of a condition, rather than suppressing the symptoms.
Using a Patient-Centered Approach in Your Career
The University of Western States offers a variety of graduate programs in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine and Clinical Mental Health Counseling. We offer an accredited master’s degree in nutrition that combines holistic and integrative health. Start your journey as a future medical professional with a graduate degree that teaches a whole-person-health approach to patient care.