The Hunter Press Releases Educational Opportunities in Integrative Medicine:
The A-to-Z Healing Arts Guide and Professional Resource Directory

BURLINGTON, VT, NOV. 1, 2008 — Integrative medicine practitioners, career seekers, students and holistic-minded healers have been making space on their bookshelves for the most up-todate, indispensable guide to resources and careers in their field.

Educational Opportunities in Integrative Medicine: The A-to-Z Healing Arts Guide and Professional Resource Directory by Douglas “Las” Wengell, MBA, with Nathen Gabriel, ND, is now available. It was released this fall through Independent Publishers Group by Atlanta-based publisher The Hunter Press.

The book provides a comprehensive look at integrative, alternative and complementary medicine therapies, their study and practice. It examines licensed degrees such as natural and allopathic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture, as well as holistic nonlicensed disciplines including ayurveda, biofeedback, herbal medicine, midwifery, and Yoga training. There is also a selection of general and networking resources including relevant conferences and retreat centers in the United States.

It covers all 12 major medical licenses and 50 nondegree modalities, and includes more than 2,500 entries. For each discipline, Wengell provides the latest available information on its history and philosophy, where it is practiced, techniques and methods, training and licensure, careers, salaries and internships and residencies. He also covers nondegree holistic programs, continuing education and postgraduate studies, online resources and social networks, associations and research institutes, and major periodicals and publications.

“In 1995, as integrated therapies were beginning to receive more mainstream attention, I wrote the first book that rounded up and synthesized this important educational reference material,” said Wengell. “It’s been more than a decade since then, and I wanted to create the major, substantive update our nation’s newfound interest in integrative therapies demands. Whether someone’s just beginning to consider a career in integrative medicine or looking to further his or her knowledge, I’m confident this book will provide all the necessary answers.”

Indeed, Wengell’s observations about the rising interest in integrative therapies are right on target. According to recent research conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Center for Health Statistics, 36 percent of U.S. adults use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for a wide array of diseases and conditions. Limit that group to U.S. adults older than 50, and that percentage jumps to 63 percent, says a recent survey by NCCAM and senior citizen membership organization, AARP. And with more patients choosing therapies such as acupuncture, chiropractic, massage and others to find relief from their aches and pains, the demand for care providers schooled in these areas will grow as well.

Respected physicians and authors of many backgrounds already have praised Wengell’s guide. “This one-of-a-kind book performs an immense service by providing a panoramic view of integrative medicine,” said Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words and Reinventing Medicine.

Christiane Northrup, MD, author of the groundbreaking Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and a proponent of medicine and healing that acknowledges unity of the mind and body, described the book as “invaluable when choosing a career (or practitioner) in integrative medicine.”

James Fadiman, PhD, author of Unlimit Your Life, deemed it “remarkable in its full and helpful
descriptions.”

Wengell is an accomplished author, an active participant in holistic health care and a passionate, environmentally conscious businessman. He wrote the first education guide to complementary and alternative medicine, which won the 1995 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best New Reference volume. In 2007, Wengell founded Know Your Source (www.knowyoursource.com), a “mindful” supplier of environmentally friendly and organic health care products to integrative health practitioners and spas. He is also the founder of the Association for Integrity in Medicine (AIM), a 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporation. Wengell holds a BA in rhetoric and philosophy from Rutgers, and an MBA in entrepreneurship and finance from Emory. He also studied somatic and health psychology at San Francisco State.

Educational Opportunities in Integrative Medicine: The A-to-Z Healing Arts Guide and Professional Resource Directory, by Douglas “Las” Wengell, MBA, with Nathen Gabriel, ND, is now available from the publisher and at bookstores nationwide. It is also available online at www.knowyoursource.com. The book’s cover price is $24.95.

For more information on Douglas “Las” Wengell or Know Your Source, or to order copies of Educational Opportunities in Integrative Medicine: The A-to-Z Healing Arts Guide and Professional Resource Directory, please contact Marianne Balczuk at mbalczuk@knowyoursource.com.