Integrative Nursing: A Framework for Whole-Person Mental Health Care.

The incidence of mental illness continues to increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mental Health America, 2022). Demand for mental health services has grown, and providers report being "unable to meet the demand" or having an increase in wait times for access to care (American Psychological Association, 2022, para. 1). Due to this increase in demand, more patients are seeking mental health care from their primary care providers. Over the past decade, integrative models of care have been expanding into mental health care (Lake, 2017). Integrative Nursing is a strategy for improving the quality of care provided to patients seeking care for mental health diagnoses, as well as those with a goal of increasing mental health and wellbeing. This article proposes that Integrative Nursing can serve as a framework for providing whole-person mental health care.

Food First: Nutrition as the Foundation for Health.

The principles of integrative nursing advocate that food be considered as a primary intervention for health promotion, risk reduction, and generally improved well-being. Food provides information to the body, signaling basic biological functions and normalizing physiological processes. Health care professionals should query patients about their nutritional intake, recognizing that adjustments in the types of foods consumed can often address long-standing symptoms that create distress, including pain, fatigue, anxiety, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. A Food First approach to care offers a novel approach that champions whole person/whole systems emergent health and well-being.