INTEGRAL NEUROSCIENCE INITIATIVE
Opening the next page…
WHOLE-PERSON CARE
Understanding health means
understanding a person’s life.
Symptoms matter. So do relationships, daily circumstances, emotional life, and the things that give a person meaning.
Explore the whole pictureA SHARED STARTING POINT
Care begins with listening.
Whole-person care considers how someone’s health and everyday life affect each other. It gives the person a say in what happens next and helps the professionals involved coordinate their care.
It can include the body and its symptoms, feelings and patterns of stress, the support available at home, the demands of daily life, and the person’s values and sense of purpose. It respects the person’s choices, culture, and circumstances.
The aim is coordinated care, with the person and the people they want involved taking part in decisions. Different professionals contribute within their roles.
FOR YOUR NEXT CONVERSATION
What would you like your care team to know?
Understanding physical needs.
Pain, sleep, energy, movement, and physical symptoms are part of everyday life. Understanding what has changed begins with listening to the person experiencing it.
A question for your care team
What is happening in your body, and what concerns you most?
Room for what a person is feeling.
Fear, grief, uncertainty, and hope belong in the conversation about health. A person should have space to describe their experience in their own words.
A question for your care team
How has this been affecting the way you feel?
The people around the person.
Families, friends, caregivers, and communities can be central to a person’s life. Whole-person care asks who matters, who is helping, and who needs support themselves.
A question for your care team
Who do you turn to, and who would you like included?
Care has to fit into a life.
Work, transport, housing, money, and responsibilities can shape what support is possible. Understanding those circumstances is part of understanding the person.
A question for your care team
What is hardest to manage in an ordinary day?
What matters is personal.
Values, culture, identity, spiritual life, and a sense of purpose can all matter when decisions are made. The person’s own priorities belong at the center.
A question for your care team
What matters most to you as we think about what comes next?
These prompts are for general education. Individual assessment and treatment belong with qualified care professionals.
FOR PATIENTS AND FAMILIES
Your priorities belong in the conversation.
You can begin by sharing what matters most, what feels difficult to manage, and who you would like involved. You do not need to have the whole story organized before asking for support.
THE INITIATIVE’S ROLE
Research, education, and advocacy.
INI’s public purpose is to advance this conversation through research, education, and advocacy. Our future institute vision grows from the same commitment.
For further writing and educational resources, visit the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, our separately operated sister organization.
Explore the Center’s resources