The 7 Pillars of Integrative Care

By: Olivia Bornhoft

Over years of practice, we at Day by Day have found patterns and themes within the healing work that we do with our patients. This, coupled with our own personal healing journeys, have led us to develop our “Seven Pillars of Integrative Care” which serve as the foundation for every service we offer. Here’s a little bit about each pillar. 

Belonging

Friendship and community are vital components of well-being for all people. Brene Brown sums it up well, writing, "In the absence of connection, love, and belonging, there is suffering." Some of us have never experienced this fully. Others of us have had glimpses of belonging off and on throughout our lives. When we have never experienced unconditional love, it can be very difficult to approach ourselves with kindness and fully experience friendship with others. And so, here at Day by Day, we explore what it means to be in community - to trust our capacity to love and be loved.

Authenticity 

Growing up many of us were taught that it is "wrong to lie", but simultaneously learned that we must not express our feelings, perspectives, or be fully ourselves. In an effort to create some sense of safety, we slowly gave up bits and pieces of ourselves. Later on in life it can sometimes feel as though we have no idea how to be truly honest, real, authentic. And when we start to show up in our lives as more authentic, it can be quite frightening and disrupt our current relationships. At Day by Day, we explore what it means to be authentic, gently peel back the layers, and get to know ourselves with compassion and acceptance. 

Bodywork

Somatic Services not only relieve pain and tension from achy muscles, but they have also been found to improve mental health! It does this by decreasing cortisol (a stress hormone) and regulating serotonin and dopamine. These two neurotransmitters play a key role in mood regulation, motivation, emotional processing, and feelings of hopefulness. Trauma often lives within the physical body, so bodywork plays an integral role in integrating full body healing. It does this by easing the body and nervous system out of chronic fight-flight-freeze survival responses- ultimately, helping you to find a sense of balance and renewal. 

Attuning

Oftentimes with traditional therapy, the healing focus is solely on the mind (which can work wonders!). However, the energetic body is often left unattended to or even given a glance. At Day by Day, we take a 360 degree view of your healing and that means tending to your mental, emotional, physical, and energetic experiences. Through a variety of energetic therapies like reiki, lumni, past life regression, and meditation, we will help you tap into your energetic body and begin healing at the source. 

Nourish

A gift from the Earth, food is one way that we can show ourselves care and nurturing throughout the day. And, as Hippocrates famously taught, it can serve as medicine. Certain foods have medicinal properties that help nourish our organs, boost our immune systems, and heal imbalances. We have a variety of integrative nutrition providers on staff to help you heal and cultivate your relationship with food and your body. 

Feeling 

Emotions let us know important data about the present moment. For example, if we experience fear, we know that we are in a situation that does not feel safe and we can then take the necessary steps to find safety. Sometimes it can be hard to discern what emotion we are experiencing, and in turn, know what to do with that information. Additionally many of us were taught that it is "not okay" to feel certain emotions which makes it difficult to relate to others. For example, if we have never been taught how to healthily navigate anger, we may end up pushing that emotion down and act out in passive aggressive ways. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we all experience a wide range of emotions every day. Our emotions - or internal messengers - are a bridge between our minds, bodies, and relationships. We are committed to helping you gain insight about the emotions you experience, where you feel those feelings in your body, and what to do with the information. 

Moving

Our bodies hold our stories, our traumas, our fears, our joy and excitement. They are the reason we can move through the world and live into our hopes and dreams. Sometimes our bodies can feel like achy burdens that are impossible to tend. When a lot of trauma has occurred in our lives, the body can feel like our enemy - a thing to be avoided or punished. Movement is the sixth component of our integrative care wheel because healing can't happen if the body is left out and neglected. To fully know who we are and to live into our goals, we must reconcile and reclaim our bodies. Movement brings us into the here and now and we settle into ourselves in every way - physically, emotionally, mentally - and organically we begin to feel more whole.