September 15, 2024 by Taylor Walsh Whole Health for the Whole Child? WholeHealthED is serving on the steering committee of the NCCIH Coalition for Whole Person Health. The Coalition was formed earlier in 2024 after NCCIH (the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health) began organizing a transformational research framework on behalf of NIH around whole person health in early 2021. WholeHealthED has been a member of the initiative’s external stakeholder group since its formation. Our participation in this important initiative is based on our advocacy for much greater research attention to the upstream prevention qualities that are inherent in student participation in whole health learning practices: in the garden, in mindfulness programs, environmental ed, physical activities and in the teaching kitchen. In practice and ideally, these qualities can help prevent the onset of ill-health and some behavioral issues that emerge from the intransigent mental duress and anxieties impacting too many kids in this prolonged post-COVID era. Sustained time engaged in Whole Health Learning practices may also help establish favorable mindsets and attitudes kids can take with them on leaving high school which empower them to sustain their own good health and wellbeing. Establishment of the Coalition will create a membership base of organizations in healthcare research and program development that are focused on the emerging field of whole health and whole person health. This will include non-profits in academic and research centers currently engaged in whole person health activities and in integrative, functional, and lifestyle medicine, or who are investing in developing a capacity in the field. Other members of the steering committee include leaders from: Institute for Functional Medicine Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health American College of Lifestyle Medicine American Holistic Nurses Association Academy for Integrative Health and Medicine Cornerstone Collaboration Institute for Functional Medicine Integrative Health Policy Consortium Teaching Kitchen Collaborative at Harvard On Nov. 1, NCCIH will host a first in-person, members-only conference at the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. For more information, including on applying for membership, see the NCCIH page: NCCIH Coalition for Whole Person Health.