Series description
What does it mean to be whole? It’s an enduring question of the human experience, and one that ultimately reminds us we are far more than the sum of our parts. When we apply a whole-person lens to our lives, we recognize that wellbeing is shaped by a variety of interconnected factors including our health, relationships, security, purpose, community, and environment. By understanding how these areas impact us at the individual, family, community, and population levels, we can navigate our own health journeys from a more integrated perspective.
In this series, we will explore widely relevant conditions and timely wellbeing topics through this comprehensive framework. Our facilitators are experts in their field who translate evidence-informed research into accessible information and actionable tools so you can apply what you learn into your daily life to enhance your wellbeing.
These workshops are designed for everyone. Whether you are navigating a health condition yourself or supporting someone else as a caregiver, family member, friend, or colleague, you are welcome here.
Upcoming workshops
Future topics
Future topics
- GLP-1 support with nutrition education
- Addressing perimenopause and menopause
If you would like to be notified when future workshops open for registration, please fill out our interest form.
Who These Workshops Are For
Adults (18 and older) interested in learning to support their wellbeing. This programming is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please use any and all information discussed in the workshops to support discussions with your healthcare team.
What to Expect
The workshops are educational with time for questions and answers, and depending on the topic may contain experiential components. Recordings will be made available to registrants for one month, for those who would like to revisit the workshops or who are unable to attend the live workshops.
February 3: Complementary and Integrative Health for Pain Management
Pain has long been treated as a purely physical problem — a structural or biomechanical issue to be fixed. That framing has left many people cycling through treatments that address their symptoms, but not other areas that are impacted, but rarely talked about. Pain affects sleep, mood, work, relationships, and even identity, and those dimensions in turn shape how much pain interferes with daily life. A growing body of rigorous research now shows that complementary and integrative non-drug approaches addressing the whole person — not just the painful body parts — can meaningfully reduce how much pain interferes with people's lives.
This session will introduce what a whole-person approach to pain actually looks like in practice, drawing on findings from large, federally funded clinical trials conducted at the University of Minnesota. Participants will learn about the core elements of effective non-drug approaches — pain education, movement, and mind-body skills. The session will cover common barriers that keep people from sustaining these practices, and will emphasize that the goal is not eliminating pain but restoring the ability to live well with it. Whether you have pain yourself, support someone who does, or work with people in pain professionally, you will leave with a clearer framework for what helps and why.
Learning objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Define what a whole-person approach to pain means and how it differs from treating pain as a purely physical problem.
- Identify complementary & integrative non-drug approaches with research evidence for reducing the impact of pain.
- Apply strategies for supporting oneself, or others, in sustaining pain self-management over time.
Facilitator biographies
Dr. Roni Evans is a Research Professor and founding Director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program at the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing, where she designs and evaluates non-pharmacologic pain programs that address people's physical, psychological, and social needs. A clinical research scientist with more than 30 years of experience leading multidisciplinary research teams, she has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on numerous National Institutes of Health studies. She holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Northwestern Health Sciences University (formerly Northwestern College of Chiropractic), a Master of Science in Clinical Research from the University of Minnesota, and a PhD in Clinical Biomechanics from the University of Southern Denmark. A long-standing advocate for elevating patients’ voices in research and care, Dr. Evans is passionate about removing systemic barriers to evidence-based care.
Dr. Brent Leininger is an Associate Professor in the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program at the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing, where he designs, tests, and evaluates the real-world value of non-drug and self-management approaches for pain. Clinically trained as a chiropractor, Dr. Leininger has over a decade of experience conducting clinical trials and currently co-leads two National Institutes of Health–funded projects assessing whole-person approaches for back and neck pain, with an emphasis on addressing health disparities. He holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic, and both a Master of Science in Clinical Research and a PhD in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Leininger also teaches an evidence-informed course on complementary and integrative health for pain, and has a long-standing commitment to partnering with communities in the design and conduct of research.