Holistic Healing

“This book is a wonderfully rich and comprehensive overview of holistic healing in the human service field, as it embraces not only individual healing but also healing at the community, national, and global levels. It provides many innovative ways that can complement and transform professional practice and influence social change. I particularly appreciated the outline of the critical holistic paradigm as it promotes personal and social action that challenges oppressive forces in our societies. Holistic Healing is an inspiring overview of the importance of ‘thinking outside the box.’”

—John Coates, PhD, Professor Emeritus and former Director, School of Social Work, St. Thomas University, and author/editor of books on spirituality, environmental social work, and decolonizing social work

“I really enjoyed reading this book – it is easy to follow and read. The inclusion of Indigenous authors is appreciated as often they are included as a token rather than a focus. This book highlights the value of Indigenous knowledges and is mindful to address oppression and to include and integrate anti-oppressive practices and approaches.”

—Sherri Pooyak, MSW, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, University of Victoria, and First Nations University of Canada

“Holistic Healing offers a range of approaches to health, education, and human relations while emphasizing that it can only suggest and not contain the breadth of possibilities.… We need a complementary and vital paradigm that helps us respect infinite differences while understanding what is shared and how we participate in a communion of creation modeled by nature. Peter Dunn and the contributing authors advance and renew this ancient and sustained vision.”

—Shaun McNiff, SM, PhD, established the groundbreaking Expressive Therapies programs at Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts and is the author of over a dozen books including Art Heals and Imagination in Action

“One would expect a text on holistic health to include the definition and purposes of holism, modalities used to promote healing, and the importance of practitioner self-care. Dunn’s book does this and much more.… Readers will appreciate discussions of Indigenous well-being and Indigenous health as well as the thoughtful comments on cultural appropriation and truth and reconciliation. In addition, the ways that social inequity impacts holistic health is presented in light of the need for strategies to achieve the overarching goal of global health. This text is truly unique in the field.”

—Noreen Frisch, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and former Director of Nursing, University of Victoria, Member of the Board of Directors of the American Holistic Nurses’ Credentialing Corporation, and Past-President of the American Holistic Nurses Association

“This book represents a substantive advance in our understanding of holism and how it manifests in diverse healing methods. Holistic Healing can serve as means of our grasping the breadth, depth, and possibilities in this field, while at the same time being personally moved by what it teaches us about our own well-being.”

—Christine Caldwell, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT, Founder and former Director of the Somatic Counseling Program, Graduate School of Counseling & Psychology, Naropa University and written extensively in this field including two books.