A Proactive Innovation for Health Care Transformation: Health and Wellness Nurse Coaching

A cohort of holistic nurses, recognizing opportunities inherent in health care transformation, organized and worked together from 2009 to 2012. The goal was to hold space for holistic nursing by developing a health and wellness coaching role and certification program for holistic nurses. The intent was to ensure that holistic nurses could work to the fullest of their ability within the evolving health care system, and others could discover the merit of holistic nursing as they explored the possibilities of nurse coaching. Challenges emerged that required the cohort plan strategies that would hold the space for nursing while also moving toward the intended goal. As they worked, this cohort demonstrated leadership skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes of holistic nursing that provide an example for others who follow in the wake of health care transformation. The American Holistic Credentialing Corporation's perspective of the events that unfolded and of the related decisions made by the coalition provides a record of the evolution of holistic nursing.