About Us

OUR STORY

Welcome to our growing global community of traditional, complementary and integrative healthcare (TCIH) professionals, advocates, educators and learners. Our purpose is to be a global facilitator of health and wellness through access, education and advancement of TCIH.

Founded in 2019, the SoulAdvisor Foundation is a non-government, 100% not-for-profit organisation. In the TCIH industry, we are proudly the first of our kind approved and registered by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

We support conventional medicine and are committed to complementing each other. Importantly, we believe every individual is unique, and requires professional support for their wellness needs in our complex and fragmented global healthcare landscape.

What is traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIH)?

Traditional, complementary and integrative healthcare (TCIH) refers to the respectful collaboration between various systems of healthcare and their health professionals with the aim of offering a person-centred and holistic approach to health.

The Peoples Declaration for TCIH talks of what we are all working towards – a system that

• Focuses on the whole person in its physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions
• Is patient-centred and supports self-healing and health creation
• Is participative and respects individual choices
• Is evidence-based by integrating clinical experience and patient values with the best available research information
• Respects cultural diversity and regional differences
• Is an integral part of community and planetary health
• Uses natural and sustainable resources that are respectful of the health of our planet
• Integrates traditional, complementary and biomedical practices in a supportive and collaborative manner

Complementary healthcare refers to a broad set of health care practices that are not part of a country’s own traditional or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant health care system.

Traditional healthcare has a long history. It is the sum total of the knowledge, skill and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Integrative healthcare  brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way emphasizing multimodal interventions, which are two or more interventions such as conventional health care approaches and complementary health approaches in various combinations, with an emphasis on treating the whole person rather than, for example, one organ system. Integrative health aims for well-coordinated care among different providers and institutions by bringing conventional and complementary approaches together to care for the whole person.

The WHO reports that 70% of deaths worldwide (80% in developed markets) each year are due to the following prominent non-communicable diseases:

• Heart Disease
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Diabetes / Obesity
• Lung Disease

TCIH is an important and often underestimated health resource with many applications, especially in the prevention and management of non-communicable or lifestyle-related chronic diseases, and in meeting the health needs of ageing populations in the 21st century according to the WHO.

Our vision is to contribute to the prevention and healing of these diseases through evidence-based research as well as raising public awareness and knowledge of the many benefits of TCIH.

We believe people across the world have the right to make informed decisions about their health and well-being. We hope that our efforts can provide a forum for further inquiry and discussion for the public with respect to choices available based on their own needs.

References:
WHO, “Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine”
Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What’s In a Name?
The People’s Declaration for Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Healthcare