Whole-Person Healing to the People: Culturally Affirming and Community-Based Approaches to Integrative Health Equity.

In this viewpoint, we discuss how culturally affirming, community-based interventions grounded in an integrative health equity framework are essential for the advancement of health equity for racial minorities and immigrant communities. Through a case study of Freedom Community Clinic and its initiatives, we demonstrate how culturally affirming, integrative healthcare models can further advance equitable outcomes in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being for individuals and communities. The current landscape of persistent health disparities, particularly in chronic disease and limited healthcare access for racial minorities and immigrant communities, highlights the systemic inequities embedded in current healthcare structures. An integrative health equity approach is critical for addressing these inequities by sharing access to the benefits of complementary and ancestral medicines, particularly as low-risk and low-cost interventions for chronic disease. Cultural humility is critical for informing the practice of integrative health, as many healing practices categorized within integrative health have roots in the cultural traditions of racial and ethnic minorities and immigrant communities. Growing evidence suggests that investments in interventions that strengthen social ties and community networks can positively influence population-level health outcomes, including health behaviors. Freedom Community Clinic exemplifies a culturally affirming, community-based approach to integrative health with its Whole-Person Healing to the People model, which integrates six core components: ancestral and Indigenous healing, Western medicine, community healing, culture, community engagement, and social justice. This example emphasizes how integrative health equity approaches can create paradigm shifts in how we understand and deliver care, moving beyond the confines of a fragmented healthcare system toward one that truly serves communities that are most in need. Freedom Community Clinic and its Whole-Person Healing to the People model offers a promising framework for how healthcare can be re-envisioned as a tool for social justice, providing opportunities for all individuals to achieve optimal health.