Evolving Health and Wellness: Toward Resilient Communities and Ecological Stewardship

An online conversation hosted by the Integrative Health Studies M.A. program.

As epidemics of chronic illness and psychological distress surge alongside escalating ecological disasters and health inequity, our approach to health and wellness must evolve. There is a growing recognition that traditional health behavior change models, which focus almost exclusively on individual habits and rely on expensive, complex interventions, often perpetuate social isolation and fail to address deeper, systemic factors or degradation of planetary resources.

These models overlook the profound impact of stress, socialized narratives, hyper-consumerism, and structural barriers that shape access to health resources and outcomes. Individual health and wellness practices are informed by these systemic forces, yet can also actively contribute to social change and ecological stewardship. This event will explore how integrative, equity-informed personal health and wellness practices can serve as catalysts for wider societal and environmental healing.

We will:

• Examine integrative and biopsychosocial frameworks to health that contribute to ecological stewardship and the creation of resilient communities.
• Learn mindfulness techniques to shift dysregulating socialized narratives and gain insight and closure following adverse life experiences

This view is central to the M.A. in Integrative Health Studies at CIIS, where students learn to apply health behavior change strategies within a broader systems perspective.

Speaker Biography

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Megan Lipsett
Professor Megan Lipsett, Ph.D., M.A., RYT, NBC-HWC, is department chair of Integrative Health Studies, where her focus in on training integrative health professionals in socially- and ecologically-informed integrative behavioral health interventions. Megan holds a Ph.D. in Social Health Psychology from the University of Oregon, an M.A. in Integrative Health Studies from CIIS, and was a predoctoral research fellow of Clinical and Translational Research at Oregon Health Science University’s School of Medicine. Megan is also a qualified instructor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Her research interest is in complimentary and integrative health approaches to prevention of chronic illness and co-morbid psychosocial distress, with a special interest in mindfulness-based interventions for groups that experience higher rates of adversity, stigma, and health inequities. Drawing from health psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, contemplative science, and health neuroscience, she aims to contribute to translational research that identifies biopsychosocial factors of stress resilience and ultimately impacts policy and social change. She explores how socialized beliefs influence emotion regulation and health-relevant behaviors and is interested in the role of adversity, belonging, and self-concept in health outcomes and goal-attainment. She collects noninvasive biomarkers in order to understand how contextual social and environmental factors influence psychological well-being and health. Additionally, she is interested in social-ecological approaches to community-based health promotion. Megan has a thriving integrative health coaching practice and is the founder of COPIA Health, a company dedicated to teaching integrative, mindful, and sustainable lifestyle practices for individual, community, and environmental flourishing. She has done program development and facilitation for diverse organizations, including integrative medicine centers, transitional women's homes, social worker training centers, environmental awareness groups, benefit corporations, and health and wellness centers.

Related Academic Program

Master of Arts in Integrative Health Studies