SEF-EDG8028 - Certificate in Global Healing Systems

Course Description

Course Outline

• Global healing traditions date back thousands of years and have a long and rich history. They reflect the specific and unique characteristics of the culture, history, philosophy, and availability of resources in different parts of the world. Global healing traditions involves a combination of health practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs that address healing and wellness while using ceremonies, plants, animals, or mineral-based medicines, energetic therapies, and/or physical/hands-on techniques. These traditional healing systems provide the primary form of health care for the majority of the world's population. Understanding the various global healing practices provides health care professionals with improved knowledge and skills to support their clients who use various traditional healing practices and techniques.

• Ayurvedic medicine is a highly sophisticated religion, philosophy, and system of medicine that has been practiced in India for over 2,500 years. As with other forms of complementary and alternative medicine, it focuses on the whole individual and one's relationship to one's environment. Health, vitality, and longevity are achieved through a balance within the body and between the body and the external environment.

• With a long and complex history, curanderismo, or indigenous medicine, is the broad healing tradition found in Mexico and Mexican American communities throughout the United States. For some Hispanics, conventional medicine has not been deemed effective or well received. As a result, folk medicine and curanderismo have experienced a revival during the past several decades as a legitimate part of an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach to health and healing. Comprehensive cultural competency must include knowledge and awareness of culturally based healing and wellness practices.

• Millions of Native North Americans (indigenous peoples) utilize traditional healing as a way of maintaining balance and wholeness. To traditional Native Americans, all aspects of life are intimately connected to good health and well-being, and life is a sacred path. This ancient, holistic healthcare system is complex, utilizing medicine wheels, sacred plants, and a variety of healing techniques. Today, there are encouraging signs of acceptance and cooperation between conventional Western practitioners and American Indian healers.

• Traditional healing has existed in South Africa for thousands of years and is utilized by the majority of individuals who live in the region. Drawing from a primarily oral tradition, traditional African healers come from many cultures, speak many diverse languages, and they specialize according to their talents and "calling." To the individual who uses this form of healing and to the traditional South African healer, the body, mind, and spirit are intimately connected.

• Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the oldest continuously practiced professional medical systems in the world, with origins dating back more than 3,000 years. TCM emphasizes the holistic view of the human being and encompasses many different treatment modalities such as acupuncture, acupressure, herbal medicine, and Qigong.

• Unani (or Yunani) medicine is an ancient medical system based on Greek origins. Officially recognized by the World Health Organization as one of several alternative traditional systems of medicine, it is a comprehensive medical system that provides preventive, curative, and rehabilitative healthcare to millions of patients throughout the world. Primarily practiced in the Eastern Mediterranean, Unani medicine is a sophisticated healing system that has profoundly influenced Western medicine.

Learner Outcomes

Notes

This is an asynchronous online course offered through the third party vendor ed2go. This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook. The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online. There are no set meeting times and you may work on the material whenever it is convenient for you. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

Completion Requirements:
You must complete all lessons to receive your certificate. You must pass the final exam in all lessons with a score of 80% or higher AND complete the Evaluation Form in order to receive your Certificate of Completion. Finals are graded as Pass or No Pass. Receipt of your certificate indicates successful completion of the course and that you have passed all final exams with a score of 80% or greater. You may retake final exams as many times as necessary within the duration of the course at no additional charge.