Unique, whole and wellNo two individuals are the same. Even if two people have the same disease the particulars of their symptoms, the effect of those symptoms on their lives, and their ways of coping will be different. There are no treatments which produce the same outcomes for every person who receives them. Therefore, the uniqueness of the individual must be at the core of all health care. Your values, your beliefs and your knowledge of your own life should inform all of your health care choices.

Human beings are not machines. Every organ, every tissue and every cell within you influences and is influenced by the others. You live in a particular family, community, society and environment. To understand you, your health and your illness it is necessary to know you as a whole person, not as a machine with a broken part.

Health is not the mere absence of disease. It is an experience of wellbeing, of vitality and of resilience. In a healthy person there is harmony and coherence within. A healthy person has positive self-worth, and is fully engaged with Life through the mutually enhancing relationships they have with others and with Nature as a whole.

Healing involves more than the management of disease. It requires attention to be paid to helping an individual to develop good coping strategies, to make best use of their energy on a daily basis, and to become aware of their own capacities, as they increase their resilience and wellbeing.

www.thevitalforce.org

The Vital ForceNHS Centre for Integrative Care, Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital, 1053 Great Western Road. Glasgow. G12 0 XQ

Campaigning for healthHealthcare costs are rising exponentially throughout the world, partly due to the fact that greater numbers of older people who are living with multiple chronic conditions, all of which are treated with more, expensive investigations and drugs which only partially reduce some symptoms. This disease management approach is highly successful in acute, life threatening situations, but it fails to restore health in the longer term.

Health should not be thought of as what is left once disease is managed. Health is an experience in its own right. It is a dynamic, lived condition of wellbeing, resilience, harmony and growth.

The healthier people are, the less likely they are to become chronically sick, and the more likely they are to make a full recovery from any acute traumas or illnesses.

Our health service is built around disease management. Where are the services which build resilience and wellbeing? How do we learn how to live healthier, more fully engaged, creative lives filled with vitality and wellbeing?

Courses, classes and workshops

The best way to remain healthy, or to recover your health when you have been unwell, is by learning what contributes to the daily experience of health. You can learn practices, make choices and take actions which can build your resilience, your wellbeing and your access to energy.

The Vital Force offers a range of courses, classes and workshops which cover approaches to the body, the mind, and the spirit (by spirit we mean whatever we are connected to which is greater than us, be that the human species, Nature, the Universe, or Spirit as taught in traditional religious practices)

Additionally, The Vital Force offers courses for healthcare professionals to teach integrative approaches to health and illness which can expand your skills, and increase your job satisfaction.

Full details of all courses, classes and workshops can be found at http://goo.gl/3tb6g

Keep in touch by becoming a member or supporter of The Vital Force. Get in touch through www.thevitalforce.org

Wellbeing and Integrative Care

We need health services which keep us healthy, which maximise our ability to recover when we fall acutely unwell, and which support the development of our coping strategies to increase our vitality and wellbeing in the presence of chronic conditions.

We need health services which engage the whole person - body, mind and spirit.

We need health services which help us to grow, to adapt and to change, and which help us to make sense of our lives.

As there are no single treatments which have the same effects on every person who receives them, we need both a diversity of approaches and methods, and the trained professionals who can guide and mentor people through the options.

The Vital Force will support the provision of integrative services throughout Scotland.

The Vital Force. Registered Scottish Charity number - SCO 43636