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Doctor of Whole Health Leadership

  • Overview
  • Program of Study
  • Admissions Requirements

Overview

At a Glance

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DESIGNED FOR WORKING CLINICIANS AND ADMINISTRATORS

  • Two Years Online Coursework
  • Four On-Site Weekend Intensives (Spring, Fall)
  • Capstone Project

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Start Dates:

Fall: September 30th, 2024
Spring: April 7th, 2025

Become a leader in the integrative, whole-person health movement

Introducing the first-ever Doctor of Whole Health Leadership (DWHL) program. The DWHL was developed with Cornerstone Collaboration for Societal Change, the nation’s leading expert in whole health, and is offered with an optional fellowship through the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), the premier association for the interprofessional integrative health community.

The premier association for the
interprofessional integrative health community

Leaders of change in societal systems and
the nation’s experts in whole health

The Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine issued a consensus study report in February 2023 titled “Achieving Whole Health: A New Approach for Veterans and the Nation.” The report says that a “seismic culture shift in attitudes, structures, processes, and policies” is necessary to scale and spread a whole health approach. SCU’s DWHL seeks to address this need by equipping a new generation of leaders in whole health with the tools to bring about this shift.

This is an intellectually rigorous program that incorporates advanced whole health concepts and care models, personal self-exploration, and leadership development. In just over two years you will have the skills and knowledge necessary to influence the complex challenges of adopting an integrative, whole health approach to health in the United States. The capstone experience allows you to design real-world solutions to affect real-world change. Your fellow students and faculty will become a meaningful professional network of like-minded change agents.

What you’ll learn

  • Leadership skills and strategies to drive system transformation
  • The science, research, and cases supporting a whole health approach
  • The healthcare policies, politics, and history impacting system change
  • Critical elements of integrative and whole health models
  • Whole health coaching skills
  • The role of whole health nutrition
  • The importance of self-care

What you’ll experience

  • An engaging community of like-minded change agents
  • The opportunity to learn from national leaders in whole health, including the architects of the VA’s Whole Health Initiative
  • An exploration of what whole health means to you personally
  • The chance to design a capstone experience that addresses real-world challenges and opportunities
  • Intellectually rigorous coursework that provides you with the knowledge and skills to become a whole health leader

What you’ll be prepared to do

  • Lead your organization in integrating whole health
  • Consult with professional associations, accreditors, clinics, government agencies, and other organizations interested in adopting whole health
  • Speak and publish on issues relevant to whole health
  • Advocate for whole health locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally

Three Tracks

  • DWHL WITH AIHM FELLOWSHIP TRACK: Designed for Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine fellows interested in earning a doctorate concurrently with their fellowship.
  • DWHL FOR INTEGRATIVE FELLOWS: Designed for graduates of an Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine (ACIHM) recognized integrative medicine fellowship.
  • DWHL FOR ADMINISTRATORS: Designed for healthcare administrators with at least three years of leadership experience in the healthcare field.

DWHL WITH AIHM FELLOWSHIP

The DWHL with AIHM fellowship track is designed for Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine fellows interested in earning a doctorate at the same time as their fellowship. Fellows completing the DWHL degree concurrently with their fellowship will earn 60 credits (22 fellowship credits + 38 degree credits) over 2 years of self-paced online asynchronous coursework and a capstone.

DWHL FOR INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE FELLOWS

The DWHL Post-Fellowship track is designed for graduates of an Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (ACIMH) approved fellowship interested in earning a doctorate in just over two years. Fellowship graduates will earn 38 credits (22 fellowship transfer credits) over 2 years of self-paced online asynchronous coursework and a capstone. Students take half the degree credits per term as the fellowship option.

DWHL FOR ADMINISTRATORS

The Administrator Track is designed for non-clinician healthcare administrators with at least three years of leadership experience in the healthcare field. Healthcare administrators will earn 60 credits, including 22 credits of electives from SCU’s various health sciences programs, over 2 years of self-paced online asynchronous coursework and a capstone.

FINANCIAL AID ELIGIBLE

Federal financial aid is available to those who qualify. Contact the Office of Financial Aid at FinancialAid@scuhs.edu to learn more. SCU also provides a Fixed Tuition Guarantee that ensures your tuition per term rate is guaranteed for the scheduled duration of your program* providing price certainty and the ability to plan your finances in advance.

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Submit an inquiry for more information on the program or call/email to speak to an Admissions Consultant.

*Some limitations apply. View the Fixed Rate Tuition Guarantee page for more information

Program of Study

Program Tracks

Dwhl with aihm FELLOWSHIP

The DWHL with AIHM fellowship track is designed for Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine fellows interested in earning a doctorate at the same time as their fellowship.

  • 60 credits (22 fellowship credits + 38 degree credits)
  • 2 years + capstone
  • Capstone takes 12-24 weeks to complete
  • Fellowship hours completed at the same time as degree coursework
  • Coursework is online with four in-person weekend intensives (held in the Spring and Fall)
  • Financial aid available
  • Ten terms of coursework, 6-7 degree credits per term

Dwhl FOR integrative medicine FELLOWS

The DWHL Post-Fellowship track is designed for graduates of an Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health (ACIMH) approved fellowship interested in earning a doctorate in just over two years.

  • 38 credits
  • Students receive 22 fellowship transfer credits
  • 2 years + capstone
  • Capstone takes 12-24 weeks to complete
  • Coursework is online with four in-person weekend intensives (held in the Spring and Fall)
  • Financial aid available
  • Ten terms of coursework, 3-4 degree credits per term

DWHL FOR ADMINISTRATORS

The Administrator Track is designed for non-clinician healthcare administrators with at least three years of leadership experience in the healthcare field.

  • 60 credits including 22 credits of electives
  • 2 years + capstone
  • Capstone takes 12-24 weeks to complete
  • Coursework is online with four in-person weekend intensives (held in the Spring and Fall)
  • Financial aid available
  • Ten terms of coursework, 6-7 degree credits per term

Course Descriptions

  • Whole Health Concepts and Clinical Applications: This course highlights the fundamental principles and philosophies of whole health and expands on the foundational knowledge of integrative medicine. It also emphasizes the unique characteristics of the whole health approach conceptually and in its application to specific clinical conditions. (3 credits)
  • U.S. Healthcare Systems and Policies: This course provides students with an overview of the history and current landscape of healthcare in the U.S. It covers the role of health sector finance, policy, and the relationship between politics and healthcare. The course also examines the impacts of these factors on access, equity, outcomes, costs, and compares the U.S. health system models to other countries. (3 credits)
  • Implementing a Whole Health System: Using the implementation model developed and researched in the VA as a case study, this course will examine the critical elements needed in a system designed for whole health. Students will learn how a whole health system can be operationalized while maintaining fidelity to the model, driving cultural transformation, and measuring meaningful outcomes. The course emphasizes an approach to transforming a healthcare system beyond mere incremental changes. (2 credits)
  • The Case for Whole Health: This course discusses the pressing need for a radical redesign of the U.S. healthcare system, emphasizing the whole health approach. Through a review of literature, students will explore the current system’s challenges, the need for change, and the evidence supporting the shift to a whole health model. (2 credits)
  • System Transformation and Transformational Leadership:  Large systems are difficult to transform.  This course will cover the principles of system change and systems thinking and methods and strategies to drive large system transformation.  It will also focus on the unique types of leadership skills needed to catalyze broad and far-reaching, sustainable change. (3 credits)
  • Foundations for Living Whole Health:  This course introduces selfcare practices which are foundational to whole health and which are essential core knowledge for leaders driving the transition to whole health. Students will explore the power of the mind and specific mind-body skills. They will also learn about whole health nutrition and its distinctive philosophical approach to food and the food system. (2 credits)
  • Whole Health Coaching:  This course will teach the skills of whole health coaching which involves working with people to focus on their goals, identify strengths and values, and work towards building the kind of life they wish to live. Whole health coaching explores different aspects of life that can optimize health and well-being including body, mind, personal development, community and surroundings, spirit and soul, social relationships, sleep, and nutrition. Students may use this course toward certification if they are interested. (3 credits)
  • Whole Health Models and Interprofessional Collaboration: This course will explore different whole health and integrative health models, including clinics and community-based efforts.  Case studies will analyze what has succeeded and what has failed, both clinically and financially, and lessons learned.  Successful whole health models depend on new levels of interprofessional communication and collaboration that reach beyond healthcare disciplines, to include non-clinical roles such as coaches, peers, and instructors. (2 credits)
  • Four Weekend Intensives:  Self-care and Personal Transformation; Meaning, Purpose, and Empowerment; Skill building; Learning from Leading Efforts Nationally. These weekend courses will provide direct experience with the ways that building networks and communities between siloed people and projects can provide a powerful accelerant for change. The relationships students will develop will lay a foundation for changes which live and grow long past the two years of the doctorate. Students will get the personal experience required to fully understand whole health. These experiences will provide the intrinsic motivation necessary to be a leader able to catalyze a whole health transformation. (4 credits)
  • Capstone Prep: Students will apply the latest research and knowledge bases that support whole health practice and/or implementation and contribute to the growth and expansion of the field through in-depth knowledge applied in the doctoral capstone project and experience.  Students are encouraged to apply their expertise and creativity to address real-world challenges and opportunities and can customize their capstone project based on professional goals and interests. Preparation for the capstone experience includes the development of individualized learning goals and objectives, a supervision plan, and a timeline. Students will also finalize capstone sites, complete an initial capstone project proposal, and present it to the capstone team.  The Capstone prep will be built into the intensives to allow for active mentoring and partnership.  (2 credits)

Program Learning Outcomes

  • Whole Health Principles and Practice: The graduate will be able to apply comprehensive knowledge and understanding of whole health principles, practices, and the implementation of a whole health system of care.
  • U.S. Healthcare and the Imperative for Change: The graduate will be able to make an evidence-based case for the transformation to whole health, grounded in an in-depth knowledge of the current challenges in the U.S. healthcare system.
  • Leading Large System Transformation: The graduate will have the knowledge to assume leadership roles in organizations committed to the transformation to whole health, influence policy development, and work to improve health and well-being, outcomes, and costs.
  • Creative Solutions in the Real World: The graduate will be able to conceive of and advocate for innovative, financially viable, cost-effective, outcomes-based solutions for complex real-world problems in their fields to advance the transformation to whole health.
  • Purpose, Empowerment, and Practical Skills: The graduate will demonstrate the skills needed to empower and equip others and themselves to take charge of their physical, mental, and spiritual health and live their most meaningful life.
  • Interprofessional Collaboration and Whole Health: The graduate will serve as an effective member of a healthcare team and collaborate with other professionals to improve whole health and patient outcomes for individuals and the community.

Admissions Requirements

Admissions Requirements

Applicants for the Doctor of Whole Health Leadership degree must meet the following admissions requirements. Applicants who do not meet all requirements may be admitted with the approval of the Program Director or Dean; exceptions are made on an individual basis.

  • Licensed clinician or practitioner with an active license from one of the following professions: Advanced Practice Nurse, Chiropractor, Dentist, Licensed Acupuncturist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Medical Doctor, Naturopathic Doctor, Occupational Therapist, Osteopathic Doctor, Pharmacist, Physical Therapist, Physician Assistant, Podiatrist, Psychologist, Registered Dietician.
    • Registered Nurses and certified Midwives must have at least 30 graduate level credit hours to enter the program.
  • Students seeking to enter the DWHL after completing an integrative medicine fellowship will be required to provide proof of graduation from an Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health-approved Fellowship (ACIHM).
  • Healthcare administrators with a master’s degree and three years leadership experience in a healthcare related field. Healthcare administrators without an active license seeking to enter the program must submit a current resume.
  • Professional/graduate degree must be from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or its foreign equivalent.
  • Personal statement of 250 words describing why the program fits your personal and professional goals.
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By submitting this form, I authorize and agree that a representative of Southern California University of Health Sciences can contact me about educational services and future offers by email, phone and/or text messaging at the email and telephone number provided above using automated technology for calls or text messages. Message and data rates may apply. I understand that consent is not required to purchase any goods or services from this school and that my consent can be revoked at any time by emailing info@scuhs.edu. All information provided shall be subject to our privacy policy.

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