Your brain is a really important part of your body. I’m sure no one would disagree with that. In this interview, Dr. Lee Cowden, cofounder of the Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine (ACIM), discusses some really simple and inexpensive strategies that boost brain health and support neuroregeneration. This is also the topic of this year’s ACIM conference, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, in November. 

The Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine was founded in 2008 with the vision of educating integrative practitioners around the globe, for the most part online. “Many practitioners are so busy that they can never take the time to go to all of the meetings they need to go to, to learn what they need to learn,” Cowden says, “so we decided to start putting educational courses online.”

ACIM Offers Training Programs for Laypeople and Health Care Professionals Alike

In 2014, ACIM began offering a 300-hour online integrative medicine fellowship training program. Workshops are held in Dallas every few months to allow practitioners to get hands-on training. This year, there are hands-on conferences July 19 through 21, and September 20 through 22. Those are all preludes to the main conference in Orlando November 8 through 11. 

“Everything we’re doing this year is focused on the brain [and] neuroregeneration,” Cowden says. “With integrative medicine, we look at the causation, and see if we can resolve the causation of the illness. Once the cause goes away, usually the illness goes away.” 

If you’re a health care professional, I strongly encourage you to attend the November conference and get involved with ACIM. But you don’t have to be a health care professional to benefit from ACIM. Even laypeople can study with ACIM. The academy offers a core wellness coach program that includes 70 hours of training. “I think every integrative practitioner needs to have half a dozen or more wellness coaches working with them to hold the hands of the patients until they get well,” Cowden says. 

ACIM Conference 2018: Neuroregeneration

The November conference will focus on strategies that can help regenerate all types of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s, autism, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and other less severe conditions such as the neurological effects of fibromyalgia, and less common conditions such as reflex sympathetic dystrophy and peripheral neuropathy. 

“We also are going to focus on what can be done to help people who are given no hope, who have chronic psychiatric conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, neurosis, insomnia and other conditions. We’re going to cover the gamut in the conference in November.

The tendency of the American public is to look for a magic bullet. But, really, for neurological diseases, I haven’t found a magic bullet. There’s a lot of very important pieces. I call those the foundational pieces: Diet, removing electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from the patient’s surroundings, physical activity, as well as brain games. There are a lot of other emotional issues that impact chronic neurological conditions that we need to address as well.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8C0Oaj5OZU