GENERAL POLICY

FACILITIES

FACULTY AND STAFF


The Chicago College of Healing Arts Mission Statement

Healing Wisdom. Practical Knowledge. Education For a Better Life. The overall mission of the Chicago College of Healing Arts is to provide innovative programs in complementary medicine and the healing arts. We hope to serve those who are already working in existing mainstream medical fields and who wish to learn adjunctive therapies, or to help those who are entering the field of complementary medicine to become highly trained professionals capable of interfacing effectively with mainstream medical practitioners.

We are committed to creating programs that blend scientific knowledge, clinical skills and energetic models of thinking, and which include the spiritual dimensions of healing.

We also have as a goal the development of the field of holistic medicine as a whole, and we are committed to actively encouraging local and national dialog on the scope of alternative therapies and their educational requirements. We hope to work closely with organizations such as the American Herbalists Guild and the the United Plant Savers, the American Massage Therapy Association and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork to help establish continuing excellence in the field of complementary medicine.

We seek to serve the community by providing courses related to healing that can be taken for self-enrichment or general education.

It is our goal to develop in our students a commitment to the highest standards of ethics and community service.

The Methods of the Chicago College of Healing Arts

We believe learning happens in a lively environment where students are engaged with each other and a rich body of work. In particular, we believe that students need hands-on experiences to ground their intellectual understandings. Because of this our courses have elements that appeal to all the senses, and all levels of being. Students taste, smell, observe, grow and experience herbs. Nutrition and medicine making classes have lab components, and the Clinical Practicum allows students to grow into being powerful healers in a nurturing environment. “Living with Herbs,” the original name of our school, comes from our commitment to knowledge which is based on relationships to that which is known; our students spend time in the beauty of nature as well as in the laboratory. We view slides of plants we are learning, while also tasting the herb and experiencing its spiritual energy by taking in its flower essence. Our rigorous didactic studies are leavened with humor and a playful spirit of inquiry.

The experiential nature of our programs is profound. Students learn how to be sensitive practitioners and careful observers by participating in training that teaches them mindfulness. Bodywork classes focus on doing the work in a supervised setting that emphasizes not only what the students are doing with their hands, but also on their internal experience, their own physical state while doing the work, and on the overall process between themselves and their clients. Tests for all courses are geared to measure not so much what the student doesnt know, but what they do know.

We wish to create programs that will weave together the principles of holistic medicine, the best of current scientific knowledge, ancient therapies, energetic models of healing and strong clinical skills.

The Chicago College of Healing Arts is committed to the belief that learning occurs best when students are engaged in a wide range of learning activities in an atmosphere that is expressive of caring and concern for students on every level. We are committed to providing mentorship and teamwork opportunities whenever possible. Because our programs are geared for adult learners, our faculty strives to be companions in learning with the student body. We value our staff not only for their special knowledge, but also for their breadth as human beings. We prefer teachers who take a multi-disciplinary stance, and our faculty loves to work together to create team-taught courses. While no institution can function without administrative structures, we strive to make our structures open and warm, expressive of our own concern for the humanity of our students and ourselves.

Finally, the philosophy of the Chicago College of Healing Arts is that holistic healing is about addressing all levels of being; the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. We wish to provide a wide range of course offerings that allow students to explore all of these areas of personal and professional development, in an environment that actually supports them. We believe that all healing programs should be in and of themselves healing - that they need to be humane in their structure and pace, and that they should nurture students intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.