HealthQuest Mission

HealthQuest aims to lead the way in integrative and holistic medical practice in Australia through the development and implementation of new ways of conducting medical and health-care practices. In some very important ways, this means moving with and shaping the wave of interest in integrative medicine which has arisen both through community interest and demand as well as through research and innovation in the relationship between mainstream and complementary medicine. It is important to note that in the last year, over 50% of Australians will have used some form of complementary medicine, not simply out of discontent with mainstream medical practice, but more significantly out of concern for discovering ways of preventing illness and disease while being engaged in a supportive, healing-focused professional relationship. This trend is not merely a matter, either, of relative cost factors; rather, it points at the very basic need that exists in our population for a sense of meaningful inclusion in healing and preventative strategies at the personal level, and with a direct relevance to the life circumstances of each person.

Naturally, such goals require the re-framing of some fundamental concepts and their associated practices in medicine and health-care. In the first place, HQ has moved in the direction of focusing health creation and maintenance rather than on illness treatment and management. In this respect, it is concerned with functional health which concerns the extent to which the person may be assisted to live fully, vitally and in a self-directed fashion. Essentially, this comes down to:

• Performing optimally, with vitality, within appropriate biological and environmental parameters.
   
• Experiencing healing which means not just the removal or absence of symptoms, but through making the processes of prevention, illness and recovery meaningful and positively motivating.
   
• Enhancing longevity as well as quality of life.

This provides a clear platform for the engagement of two major strategies in HealthQuest:

1. Cultivation of the medical and health-care conditions under which optimal health can be developed. This means using integrative and holistic medical knowledge and practices to best serve patients' interests as well as following best practice guidelines in a professional context.
    
2. Cultivation of the person who may be or become a patient. This means facilitating the most complete expression of human beings to participate freely and fully in the acquisition of knowledge and skills which will assist their competent assessment and management of health-related conditions as well as optimising their participation in all aspects of their lives. cultural, social, work, spiritual and community.

It is this second dimension of HealthQuest's practice and philosophy which breaks it out of established health and wellbeing strategies and places it on a footing which extends far beyond the clinic.

Next

• HQ Objectives