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Culture & Health

"Health Happens Through Cultural Wellness"

In order to understand our philosphy you have to know the definitions of both Culture & Health.

The Definition of Culture

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"Culture consists of practices that people create to give themselves continuity and cohesion across generations. Culture consists of a set of highly patterned, unspoken implicit rules, behaviors and thoughts which control everything that [we] do. A people, peoplehood is at the core of culture." 

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Cultural Interfacing

“Community is a way of thinking”
 

1.        All interactions build community, empower the group as well as recognize the voice of each member. We need partners (incl. you) to do this work, we cannot do it alone. The Philosophy of Community. 

2.        Both partners are teachers and students, each member has something to learn and something to teach. The partnership produces new knowledge by mining and sharing the knowledge each member holds. Knowledge Production. 

3.        The level of sickness and disease in our communities and the complexities of causes and interpretations require multi-level strategies. Multi-level Strategies. 

4.        The partnerships require active collaboration, networking and looking for solutions outside “Conventional” ways of thinking. Holistic, Comprehensive Approach.

5.       The partnership models processes and relationships that create health: make connections, create knowledge, gather resources and honor wisdom from all directions, from all peoples.  Modeling Health. 

6. The partnerships respect that cultural knowledge belongs to the community. Protecting Cultural Knowledge.

 

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 ​The Definition of Health

The extent to which an individual or group is able, on the one hand, to realize aspirations and satisfy needs, and, on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. 

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  • Health is therefore seen as a resource for daily life, not the objective of living.
     

  • It is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacity. 
     

  • Health is a state of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.  
     

  • Health is the state of balance, harmony, and connectedness within and between many
     

  • Systems – the body, the family, the community, the environment, and culture. 
     

  •  Health is an active state of being; people must be active participants to be healthy. 
     

  •  Health is not only the absence of infirmity and disease.  
     

  •  Health cannot be seen only in an individual context.   
     

  •  Health cannot be achieved by being passive. 

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