Mission

Notre Dame of Maryland University's School of Integrative Health (NDMU SOIH) promotes whole-person and community health and wellness through relationship centered integrative health education, care, and leadership.

Principles

The School of Integrative Health operates under a set of five foundational principles that align with its mission and lay the foundation for a climate that fosters respect and encourages community. These principles are universal truths that anchor the School, inform our decisions, and shape our preferred future.

Interconnection:

Everyone and everything in the universe is intrinsically connected. Modern science and ancient healing traditions both reflect our interdependence with the environment. Health care research shows that individual well-being is directly connected to the health of both the social community and ecological environment. Ancient healing traditions assert that individually and collectively people shape the world in which they live through their words, actions and thoughts.

Holism:

A person, organization, or system is more than the sum of its parts and can ultimately only be understood and explained as a whole. This holistic perspective significantly impacts healthcare, research, and community life. Working from this orientation, practitioners take into consideration the entirety of a person (body-mind-spirit); researchers apply systems approaches rather than reductionist models to the study of therapeutic disciplines; and educators, policy makers, and community members make decisions and take action within the context of the whole.

Transformation:

People, communities, and organizations have the potential for profound and ongoing change. Transformation is catalyzed by the environment and receptivity to change. The availability of resources and a sense of empowerment are central to positive transformations. Time-honored traditions assert that living in harmony with nature, cultivating mindfulness, and serving others are paths to individual and community transformation.

Diversity:

Diversity underlies the health of any system. In the natural world, biological diversity generates and reflects a sustainable ecology. Diversity of people within an organization or community contributes to creativity, adaptability, and the checking of group bias. Recognition of diverse explanatory models of health and disease, the value of different healing modalities, and the uniqueness of each person provides the foundation for an inclusive and robust model of healthcare.

Resilience:

Resilience is the process of navigating change and effectively recovering from challenges. It is a type of adaptation that involves maintaining core integrity while adjusting to meet the demands of shifting circumstances. At its best, resilience involves not only meeting a challenge but also evolving and thriving as a result of the process. Physiological resilience reflects the capacity to maintain and adjust biological states, as needed. From a whole person perspective, resilience emerges from a multitude of factors, including accepting circumstances that cannot be changed; taking decisive actions when required; cultivating a healthy, positive perspective; developing a sense of purpose in life; and establishing strong social support.

Values

The School of Integrative Health is guided by five core values that influence how its members embody the foundational principles through their behaviors and interactions. These values are reflected in individual actions, supported by policies and procedures.

Community:

We operate from an acknowledgment and declaration of interconnection. Our strength and success derives from each of us individually and collectively taking responsibility for the whole.

Mindfulness:

We are intentional and thoughtful in our interactions and in our choices. We listen deeply to one another, choose our words with care, and take actions that serve each other and the common good.

Integrity:

We ground our actions and words in honesty, compassion and dignity. We aspire to excellence and accountability in all we do.

Inquisitiveness:

We are committed to lifelong learning. We examine our positions and assumptions to discover new perspectives and ways of being. We strive to be open, to receive coaching, and to respond effectively to feedback.

Discernment:

We make decisions with reference to our past, present, and future. We honor and learn from the elders, align with our principles and values, and consider the impact of our choices on future generations.

History

The school’s lineage includes a fifty-year history as one of the leading academic organizations for integrative health in the nation. Founded in 1974, the Centre for Traditional Acupuncture was as a small acupuncture clinic and school, and one of the first acupuncture clinics in Maryland. The school changed its name in 1978 to the Traditional Acupuncture Institute (TAI) as a reflection of its growing multi-faceted approaches. In 1986, the Maryland Higher Education Commission approved TAI to award its first graduate degree. In recognition of its expanding mission and scope, the institution took on a new name in 2000, Tai Sophia Institute. The name linked the Chinese word Tai, meaning “great,” and the Greek word for wisdom, Sophia. The new name continued to honor the Eastern healing traditions on which the institution had been founded, while the inclusion of Sophia signaled the philosophy that underpinned every program offered. In 2006, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education granted initial accreditation to Tai Sophia Institute. In 2013, university status was officially achieved with the Maryland Higher Education Commission, and the name of the institution was changed to Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH). With this landmark achievement, MUIH became one of a small number of regionally accredited universities in the country exclusively committed to integrative health. MUIH was acquired by Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) in 2024. In 2025, the School of Integrative Health was formed upon the merger of MUIH into NDMU, making it the first and only school dedicated to integrative health within a comprehensive university in the U.S.

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Approach to Integrative Health

Integrative health is commonly defined as the coordinated use of multiple health approaches in health care, and it also describes a holistic perspective of what it is to be healthy. Notre Dame of Maryland University's School of Integrative Health (NDMU SOIH) promotes a holistic approach to health and well-being. We consider the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual domains of health and wellness. We also consider a range of contributing factors including the environment, personal behaviors, and genetics. Our educational and clinical practices are grounded in a whole-person and relationship-centered perspective that supports collaboration between the patient and the healthcare team. We aim to empower individuals to become informed, take personal responsibility, tap into their inner resilience, and choose the best options for themselves. We use approaches that are evidence-informed and tailored to each individual. Our model emphasizes a preventative rather than disease-based model of healthcare and recognizes the unique value of complementary health approaches and conventional medical systems and their collaborative power.

Healing Presence

Healing Presence is the quintessential hallmark of a School of Integrative Health education and an essential element of life within the School. Healing Presence is a constellation of personal qualities, relational skills, and professional behaviors that can have a transformational influence on individuals, groups, and communities. Healing Presence is an antecedent to optimal health and healthcare interventions; it transcends technical skill and supports the innate wholeness of individuals and their capacity to heal themselves. The qualities, skills, and behaviors that make up Healing Presence can be intentionally cultivated through specific practices. Healing presence is composed of the personal qualities of compassion, mindfulness, empathy, humility, and curiosity; the relational skills of listening deeply, practicing nonjudgement, offering support, and communicating effectively; and the professional behaviors of respecting others, acting ethically, collaboration, and demonstrating cultural competence. It can be cultivated through the practices of self-awareness, self-regulation, and selfcare. It manifests with individuals, groups, and communities in the form of safety, trust, empowerment, unconditional acceptance, increased self-efficacy, and increased resilience.