The UC Wellbeing Channel

Integrative Mental Health Care

In today’s society, we are often disconnected from the elements of a balanced life, making emotional wellness harder to achieve.

This new series brings together integrative mental health experts inspired by the wisdom of healing paradigms from around the world. Speakers explore and illuminate the multiple dimensions of emotional well-being and share practical methods of cultivating resilience and recovery in the face of changing stressors and evolving life narratives.

Browse more programs in Embracing Life Challenges: Finding Balance through Integrative Mental Health Care

Future Patient/Future Doctor

Larry Smarr is defining the future of healthcare. As he, a world-renowned computer scientist and Michael Kurisu, the much-in-demand osteopathic physician at UC San Diego demonstrate, the balance of power between patients and doctors will change as technology gives patients the tools to know more about their own bodies. And the more informed they become, the more likely they will work with their doctors to develop treatment and prevention plans that are appropriate for them. Using Smarr as a case study, this patient and doctor show the benefits of hands-on, systems-based thinking in treating sciatica and self-diagnosing Crohn’s disease. Kurisu then takes these concepts to Project Apollo, a group of highly educated and motivated patients who call themselves “Little Larry’s” as they use the same techniques to address and treat their own health problems. All of this pointing to what theologian and physician Albert Schweitzer envisioned in the last century, “the doctor of the future will be one self.” Smarr and Kurisu are showing us how.

Watch Future Patient/Future Doctor – Larry Smarr, PhD & Michael Kurisu, DO .

Let Food Be Thy Medicine

Eat well. Stay healthy. That’s the message that a panel of experts from UC San Diego and elsewhere made clear in this fascinating discussion on the benefits of fresh, organic foods. Hear the case studies presented by people who have overcome serious illnesses by changing their diets. It’s true! Healthy food can be powerful medicine in treating diabetes, arthritis, Lyme disease, cirrhosis and high blood pressure, among other ailments. And the stories told here are compelling. Stepheni Norton recalls her own harrowing journey that led to the founding of Dickinson Farm and “farmacy.” Zen Honeycut, founder of Moms Across America, recounts how changing to a non-GMO, organic diet resolved the symptoms of allergies and autism in two of her sons. These kinds of outcomes didn’t surprise the MD’s on the panel — Gordon Saxe of UCSD’s Center for Integrative Nutrition and Sheila Patel of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing — as they confirmed their own experiences with patients using food as medicine.
Thanks to Michelle Lerach and the Berry Good Food Foundation for convening this 7th edition of the Future Thought Leaders series exploring paths to a sustainable food supply. Now go eat some kale!

Watch Let Food Be Thy Medicine — Future Thought Leaders .

Advancing Global Health

UC San Diego played host to the 2018 UC Global Health Day earlier this year, attracting faculty, staff and students from all UC campuses who came to hear and share the latest research and best practices for global health. After a compassionate keynote from Vikram Patel of Harvard on the need for universal mental health coverage https://www.uctv.tv/wellbeing/search-details.aspx?showID=32915, an inspiring group of UC students presented the UC Global Health Institute’s Advocacy Initiative, https://www.uctv.tv/wellbeing/search-details.aspx?showID=33666 a systemwide effort to coordinate events and outreach to members of Congress and other elected officials who support their agenda. These students and their faculty mentors reflect the UCGHI’s commitment to harness the power of the University of California to improve health around the world.

Watch Universal Mental Health Coverage — UC Global Health Day 2018 .

East Meets West: The Tibetan Medicine Conference on Mind-Body Health

Highlights of this conference feature medical doctors and other Western researchers trained in allopathic medicine – as in treating diseases with drugs or surgery – who now include healing, whole-systems therapies that have been practiced in Tibet for centuries. Speakers from Harvard, the University of California and other respected institutions engage with Tibetan practitioners to map the benefits of traditional therapies and explore research collaborations that will lead to evidence-based conclusions on the value of Tibetan medicine.

Watch the Series: Tibetan Medicine Conference on Mind-Body Health 2017