Integrative Care

Mission Statement

We believe the future of healthcare is integrative and person-centered. The Master of Health Science in Integrative Care prepares practitioners, administrators, and other healthcare professionals to be collaborative leaders in that future. Through this flexible online program, you’ll gain the knowledge and skills you need to transform healthcare and make a difference in the lives of patients.

Bring innovation, equity, and sustainability to healthcare

Together, we can improve the lives of patients and build better healthcare for all. We are educating:

Healthmakers who want to work collaboratively across diverse disciplines to treat the whole person
Changemakers who want to work with complex aspects of health, remove barriers to care, and empower patients to advocate for themselves
Healthcare leaders who understand patients, their diverse communities, culture, and beliefs about health and healing
Systems analysts who want to change healthcare from the inside and build a healthcare system that centers patients and improves outcomes
Health creators who can apply a holistic framework to their own lives to enhance personal growth, health, and resiliency as a professional in the field of integrative care

Programs of Study

Learners will benefit from engaging with people from many different approaches to healthcare and areas of expertise. NWHSU’s MHS in Integrative Care has designed an overall program that provides a 360 degree perspective to the ecosystem of healthcare. Changemakers come from any perspective and area of expertise, but they need to view of the whole to imagine innovative change. We offer three areas of specialization that are going to be essential to the future of healthcare.

Each specialization area offers a unique complement to core integrative care concepts, expanding your opportunities to affect change in a meaningful way from wherever you are positioned within the healthcare industry:

Trauma Informed Integrative Care: With a focus on better understanding the inextricable link between the mind and body, this specialization seeks to support people in healing from trauma and restoring wellness. Learn ways to provide multifaceted care that recognizes the relationship between trauma and pain, and how awareness of your own unconscious behaviors can make you a better provider. Transform healthcare, beginning with yourself – and create real change in the lives of your patients.
Integrative Health Coaching: Enter or advance in the growing health coaching field to inspire whole person well-being in individuals and communities through functional and integrative health practices. With a curriculum designed to meet the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) criteria to earn the (NBC-HWC) certified health coach credential, you can build a career helping others live healthier, active lives.
Integrative Healthcare Administration: Deepen your knowledge of the complexities of the healthcare industry to transform it from within and design systems that are collaborative, financially viable, and equitable. Learn how to communicate your ideas, gain support from within your organization, and build systems that center patients and improve outcomes. Apply your skills to reimagine technology, financial models, and healthcare delivery to be a leader that advances healthcare for individuals and their communities.

Northwestern Health Sciences University’s (NWHSU) Master of Health Science (MHS) in Integrative Care is a fully online program, designed to meet the needs of professionals from diverse career fields. Depending upon prior degree(s) and/or credentials, along with professional experience, you may advance in leadership positions, patient care, administration, health coaching, clinical practice in healthcare, organizational leadership, academic teaching, program and policy reform, and research in health and wellness.

The Master of Science in Integrative Care requires 30 credits for those students meeting all the prerequisite pre-program course requirements. The curriculum is designed for maximum flexibility for entry into the program at multiple times of the year and in many different courses. No face-to-face on-campus components are required for this degree. Students will complete a Capstone project that brings together program elements in their final semester to graduate from the program. No thesis is required. The program runs with condensed a 7-week course schedule with one week breaks in-between sessions. The 30-credit program can be completed in approximately 12 months following the default course schedule for students enrolled full-time or 24 months for part-time students. Program length can vary depending on learner’s need to take courses at a difference pace.

NWHSU may accept up to nine graduate transfer credits into the Master of Health Science in Integrative Care from other regionally accredited colleges and universities prior to entrance. Transfer credits must be suitable for transfer to the intended degree and approved by the Program Chair. Credits are applied to the number of elective or required course credits needed for degree completion.