Healing Starts Within: How LVHN Nurses Are Leading a Holistic Movement

Across the country, health care professionals are looking for ways to reconnect with their purpose, restore their well-being and bring deeper meaning to patient care. At Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), part of Jefferson Health, the Integrative Healing Arts Academy (IHAA) is doing just that – empowering nurses with the tools of holistic nursing to transform themselves, their units and their patient relationships.

On March 28, the 28 members of the second IHAA cohort celebrated their graduation. This second group of nurse leaders, bedside clinicians and patient care advocates represented departments and campuses from across the health network, from critical care to cardiology to pediatrics, and included senior nurse leaders such as Tammy Torres, DNP, Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Hazleton President, Karen Clark, DNP, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, and Heather Faust, MSN, Director of 4T-Trauma Recovery Unit and 6 Tower at LVH–Muhlenberg.

Through a blend of evidence-based practice, self-discovery and compassion-focused care, this immersive experience opened new doors for holistic healing in nursing.

Christelle Reglas, MSN, Patient Care Manager at LVH–Pocono Cardiovascular Telemetry Unit, joined the second cohort hoping to bridge her passion for spirituality and energy work with her professional practice.

“As nurses, we take on the hurt, anger and pain of our patients,” she says. “We carry that home with us if we don’t know how to release it.”

Through the academy, Reglas found strategies for personal renewal and the inspiration and confidence to share them with her team. Her project involved implementing deep breathing during daily huddles and spearheading plans to create a renewal room at LVH–Pocono: a calming space for colleagues with aromatherapy, books, guided mindfulness and even heart math technology to promote stress relief and cognitive clarity.

“The most impactful part of this experience was the unity within our cohort,” she says. “We came from all over LVHN, but we were all seeking something deeper and now we can bring that back to our teams.”

For senior nursing leaders such as Torres, Faust and Clark, IHAA was a powerful reminder holistic practices begin with self-awareness and ripple outward.

“This program was a catalyst to reconnect me with the reason I became a nurse: to care for the whole patient, not just the disease,” Faust says. “I now have a self-care practice that helps me show up as the best version of myself.”

Faust found particular value in the practice of grounding – a way to pause and refocus before or after emotionally intense moments. “That ability to reset is invaluable for every nurse, no matter their role,” she says.

Clark reflected on how IHAA deepened her understanding of human energy fields and their impact on well-being. “As a nurse leader, I must model self-care and create the supportive environments that allow holistic nursing to flourish,” she says. “This program changed my way of being. I’m more grounded, focused and centered on what really matters to patients and to the nurses who care for them.”

For many bedside nurses, the academy validated instincts and care practices they’ve always used.

Summer Server, RN, from the 2K South intensive care unit at LVH–Cedar Crest, joined hoping to find a way to share compassion and mindfulness with her burned-out team. Her project focused on intention setting and grounding, quick moments of self-awareness that can change the energy of an entire shift.

“You don’t hear people talk about holistic nursing,” she says. “But this showed me we’ve been doing it all along and now we have the language and tools to make it a formal part of our practice.”

Server also introduced a holistic wellness segment into her unit’s healthy wellness committee, leading conversations about stress relief, grief and emotional recovery.

Kaitlyn DeVries, RN, joined the academy at a time when she felt stuck in her career. Five years into nursing and unsure of her next step, she hoped IHAA could offer direction and renewal.

“I told my husband, this is exactly what I needed,” she says. “It reminded me of why I became a nurse and helped me see the bigger picture again.”

DeVries’ project focused on guided imagery, giving nurses access to QR codes linked to calming audio sessions for stressful moments during their shift. She believes these resources could also benefit patients who are experiencing anxiety before procedures.

“As a newer nurse, this is something we didn’t learn in school,” she says. “But it’s exactly what we need to keep going, to grow and to care for ourselves and others.”

Across the board, IHAA participants describe a renewed connection to themselves and to each other. Through projects using mindfulness, music therapy, guided breathing, grounding exercises and acupressure, participants measured real impact in reducing stress and enhancing emotional resilience.

Pre- and post-program surveys demonstrated the efficacy of these interventions, giving nurse leaders the skills and the data to inspire others into practicing sustainable well-being interventions across LVHN.

As Torres puts it, “I’ve learned so many skills I can use in my personal and professional life. I now feel confident training my team in guided imagery, breathing techniques and more. It’s been a transformational experience.”

As more nurses complete the IHAA program, a shared vision is taking root: holistic nursing isn’t a niche – it’s the future.

“We hope this becomes embedded in how we practice across the health network,” DeVries says. “I want holistic nursing to just be nursing.”

With the support of their leaders and the passion of LVHN’s nurses, that future feels within reach. And it all starts with a deep breath, a grounded moment and the willingness to care for ourselves as we care for others.