President Elect Molly Roberts, M.D. San Francisco

I’m excited to lead AHMA’s first transpersonal member and guest retreat at the Earthrise Retreat Center at IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences) in Petaluma, Calif., Oct. 14-16. I hope you will attend!  Co-created with good friend and colleague Lee Lipsenthal, this pilot weekend will be replicated for holistic healers all over the country, run by skilled retreat leaders. One of those talented teachers is my husband, Bruce Roberts, M.D., who will co-lead our inaugural event in Petaluma.

As AHMA’s President Elect, I am especially honored to have this opportunity to work with our members and friends in this intimate retreat setting. My work here is an expression of AHMA’s recognition of its important, evolving role in holistic care. We got to this place after a lot of hard work and soul searching.

These days, the AHMA is enjoying a rejuvenation of both our mission and our membership. After some troubled times, we explored the big question of whether we were still needed, given all the holistic medical organizations that have sprung up around us. What could we do – what must we do – that is needed and wanted in this space of holistic care?

What we came back to was our original focus of being of support to the individual practitioners and a caring community for those doing healing work in the world. We are re-focusing on the heart and soul of medicine and of the healers themselves. We are committed to exploring together with our members ways we can connect ourselves more fully with our shared holistic principles. We are well positioned to do so, and will partner with a number of well-placed and highly regarded individuals and institutions along the way.  As one example, to better offer our members the opportunity to exercise both their hearts and their heads, we are teaming up with our friends at other holistic groups to offer retreats on top of already existing integrative-medical conferences.

AHMA staff and board leaders have worked with the assumption that competition is a waste of time, energy and friendship. Collaboration is beneficial to everyone involved. In that spirit, please feel free to share about this retreat opportunity with any health professional or colleague that you think might benefit. I’m sure we can all use some time out to focus on ourselves so we can better serve our patients/clients.

I hope to see you in October!

All the best,
Molly Roberts, M.D.