RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE
Insight Research Center
A research centre focused on wellbeing and human development. Its involvement encourages dialogue between research, education and practice, with attention to the foundations and scope of each approach.
ABOUT US · ISHSA holistic perspective
A holistic perspective
on human wellbeing.
International Society for Holistic Studies brings together practitioners and schools committed to wellbeing, education and dialogue between different ways of understanding human experience.
Explore our perspectiveWellbeingHolismResearch
A SHARED SEARCHUnderstanding human experience.
Understanding human experience.
Supporting wellbeing.
The search for healing, relief from suffering and meaning in life has accompanied humanity since long before psychology emerged as a scientific discipline. Across cultures, people have developed knowledge, practices and traditions to care for one another, understand their experience and support processes of change.
ISHS was founded out of an interest in understanding this diversity and contributing to a culture of holistic wellbeing. We recognise the essential contribution of psychology and scientific research, alongside the importance that relationships, cultural practices, reflection, symbolism and spirituality can have in people’s lives.
We understand holism as a perspective that considers people’s physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual dimensions in interaction with their surroundings. This perspective allows us to explore different forms of support and requires us to understand what each proposes, what supports it and where its limits lie.
OUR APPROACH TO EVIDENCE AND FOUNDATIONSOpenness to explore.
Openness to explore.
Discernment to understand.
Our approach distinguishes the foundations of each practice to guide its study, communication and responsible application.
Plausibility, historical use or personal meaning do not, on their own, demonstrate a practice’s effectiveness.
- Established evidence
- Relevant empirical support, with findings and limits defined for specific applications.
- Emerging evidence
- Initial findings that require further research to establish their scope.
- Theoretical plausibility
- Proposals consistent with existing frameworks, but not yet sufficiently validated as interventions.
- Tradition and symbolism
- Cultural, interpretive or experiential resources presented within that framework.
- Spirituality and worldview
- Beliefs and experiences of meaning and transcendence, distinguished from scientific claims.
WHAT GUIDES USResearch. Education.
Research. Education.
Open dialogue.
We promote research, education and dialogue across disciplines. We seek to understand experiences of wellbeing, evaluate outcomes that can be studied and communicate both findings and unanswered questions clearly.
We aim to bring greater clarity, visibility and responsible development to practices focused on human wellbeing. In this context, we understand healing as a search for integration, relief and meaning, without automatically equating it with curing an illness.
OUR INSTITUTIONAL ORIGINSThe institutions behind
The institutions behind
this initiative.
Research and education come together at the origins of this initiative, with a shared purpose: contributing to human wellbeing.
EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY
Proyecto Amauta
An educational initiative of Fundación Hojear para el Desarrollo del Ser. It connects education and human development with community wellbeing, recognising the transformative role of education.
CRITERIA AND GUIDANCERecognising your background.
Recognising your background.
Supporting its development.
We review the foundations, training and scope of each proposal using public criteria. If there are areas to complete, we guide you in strengthening them and reviewing your application again.
Explore our criteria and how we support youKNOWLEDGE · COMMUNITY · WELLBEING