Our Mission
EmbodiWorks is creating a better world through integrative cancer care education and advocacy to reduce cancer risk and improve cancer-related survival, quality of life, and whole person health care.
Our Values
We believe health is about the whole person.
Your whole—the totality of who you are.
Body. Mind. Spirit. Social. Environmental.
And optimal health is about a full and meaningful life.
We believe in education and empowerment.
Providing the most definitive, reliable resources.
And placing you in the center of care and yourself.
We believe in the power of integrity.
We believe in supporting your health and healing with or without cancer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is EmbodiWorks?
EmbodiWorks is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on creating a better world through integrative cancer care education and advocacy to reduce cancer risk and improve cancer-related survival, quality of life, and whole person health care.
What is integrative cancer care?
Integrative cancer care makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, providers, and disciplines through partnerships supporting optimal health and healing. Providing compassionate, comprehensive care for the whole person, integrative cancer care addresses the totality of body, mind, and spirit, including social and environmental health, for each individual.
How does EmbodiWorks see integrative cancer care?
Integrative cancer care is about
placing the person with cancer in the center of their community,
the center of the room,
the center of the conversation,
the center of themselves.
Recognizing that each person is not defined by their diagnosis.
Seeing each person confronting the disease as integrated.
Helping each person embrace themselves as intact and complete—
whole today and for the balance of life.
What is the whole person?
The whole person is comprised of body, mind, and spirit, including social and environmental health.
All of the parts of you and your life create your whole—entire physical body, lifestyle, self-care routines, beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, religion, spirituality, home, work, activities, family, friends, the larger community, culture, government, socioeconomics, and more.
Your whole—the totality of who you are.
What does EmbodiWorks do?
EmbodiWorks provides educational information and supports advocacy through our website of integrative cancer care resources. At this time, we are unable to provide individual direct assistance to people with cancer. EmbodiWorks hopes to add other programs and services in the future to offer one-on-one support.
Who is EmbodiWorks for?
Our deepest desire is to serve people affected by cancer through educational information about integrative cancer care. We strive to reduce the sense of isolation in the midst of an overwhelming disease. We work to empower and inspire people with the best and most reliable information. We support people to resource themselves.
Our website content is also for health care providers supporting cancer patients.
What does EmbodiWorks mean?
EmbodiWorks affirms life and living well with or without cancer through supporting the whole person in their healing.
The parts of our name convey the depths of person-centered empowerment. Embod, for embody and embodiment, encompasses taking in and incorporating information, being in your body, and finding your center. The i honors you and your life. Works stands for everything about your body of work and unique path to wholeness.
Our symbol also reflects wholeness through pathways and networks to your center with supportive interconnection. The ripples of the circles convey the strong, expansive, and never-ending nature of healing.
Why did we create EmbodiWorks?
Current statistics from the National Cancer Institute indicate that nearly one in two American men and women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. In the United States between 1950 and 2005, the death rate from cancer declined by 5 percent. The death rate from heart disease fell in the same time period by 64 percent. These statistics and trends are unacceptable.
Cancer care needs innovation. New models are required to reverse the current statistics and trends. Integrative cancer care reduces cancer risk and improves cancer-related survival, quality of life, and whole person health care.
EmbodiWorks was created to help the people that hear the words, "You have cancer." People affected by cancer need and benefit from high quality education and advocacy. Our definitive, reliable resources about integrative cancer care contain the heart of this vision. Our focus is to support and empower people affected by cancer with information, educate health care providers and policymakers, as well as help improve cancer care systems. We aspire to create a better world.
How is the EmbodiWorks website content created and updated?
Our website content is created through research on each topic, including reviews of health and cancer literature. We provide references in our content.
EmbodiWorks also consults with experts on our Integrative Cancer Care Advisory Board for input to achieve our mission. Some of our Integrative Cancer Care Advisory Board members provide expert information for, review, and/or author website content. Our Advisors are MDs, PhDs, social workers, patient advocates, integrative health care providers, visionaries, and other professionals serving people affected by cancer.
Our educational information is constantly updated and expanded to become increasingly detailed and comprehensive. Our content builds over time.
EmbodiWorks welcomes feedback and suggestions about our website content. We are also interested in contact from providers who would like to contribute writing about integrative cancer care topics. Please see our Expert's Corner for more information.
How is EmbodiWorks funded?
EmbodiWorks is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization funded currently through individual giving, foundation grants, and other philanthropic contributions.
What is the history of EmbodiWorks?
EmbodiWorks is rooted in a desire to transform adversity into opportunity to help others through cancer and create positive change.
The effort began with a seemingly random encounter and a shared commitment. Linda Starck and her sister Joyce Wolfkiel met Jeannine Walston through their cancer experiences in the fall of 2006. The friendship between Linda, Joyce, and Jeannine developed through their respective journeys each searching for their best cancer options, an understanding about the needs of other people dealing with the disease, and the vision of a better world for anyone affected by cancer.
Linda Starck died in February 2007. After Linda's death, Joyce and her husband Bill decided to fund an initiative to support people affected by cancer in honor of Linda. Joyce and Bill approached Jeannine and they decided to create EmbodiWorks.
Joyce and Bill Wolfkiel bring decades of experience in high level business development through estate planning, real estate, other investments, and community service. Joyce and Bill, along with their entire family, lovingly supported Linda, including through researching conventional and alternative cancer therapies. Learning hard lessons about gaps in cancer care and quality information, the Wolfkiel family has an abiding commitment to integrative cancer care education and advocacy.
Jeannine Walston's background and qualifications can be read in the Staff section.
Our most popular resources
 Diet and Cancer
You are what you eat! Some foods kill cancer cells and others promote cancer cell growth. Learning the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods in the midst of cancer is essential.
 Cancer Resources
Knowledge is power. Reliable resources are empowering. We provide clear information, explanations, and maps to educate and empower. Explore our integrative cancer care resources for navigation tools and support.
 Mind-Body Strategies
The mental and emotional inner life impacts health and healing through the mind-body connection. Learn about empowering mind-body practices supporting mind, body, and spirit for cancer patients and caregivers.
 Spiritual Support
The spiritual dimensions of life often become more prominent in the midst of cancer for cancer patients and their loved ones. Explore our empowering information about spirituality for support and strategies.
|