By Mary Coleman
For a BYU professor, a simple desire for change led to years of devoted education to make that desire a reality.
After years of spending time in hospitals, as a patient and a phlebotomist, Glenda Christiaens, an associate professor in BYU''s College of Nursing, wanted a change.
'I just wasn''t satisfied with what I was seeing,' Christiaens said.
She decided to have her last two children at home, preparing by reading material on natural childbirth. Her interest piqued, Christiaens began reading books and attending community classes on other natural healing methods.
'I''m really self-educated in a lot of ways,' Christiaens said.
Christiaens received her bachelor''s in nursing from the University of Utah after her 15 years as a phlebotomist. It was then that she first heard about the American Holistic Nursing Association, of which she is now president-elect.
Holistic healing is any practice that looks to heal a person as a whole - spirit, body and mind.
Christiaens will become president-elect this June for the AHNA, an organization that focuses on holistic nursing education in and outside the professional field.
Becoming a member of the AHNA during her days as a nursing student, Christiaens began attending annual conferences.
'I loved the conferences,' Christiaens said. 'I loved the camaraderie and the connection I felt with other nurses.'
Christiaens began networking with other professionals and became more vocal at the AHNA conferences. She volunteered in whatever interested her, becoming chair for the national conference committee and national education coordinator. She''s also one of two board-certified advanced holistic nurses in Utah. In June 2008, her colleagues suggested she run for president-elect.
'It was always my intention to run for president,' Christiaens said. 'With encouragement and support, I thought I could do this.
Christiaens will become president-elect officially in June and will spend the next two years watching the current president and preparing for her own presidency, which will last for two years.
'I want to get the organization really out there in the public''s eye - not just nurses'' awareness,' Christiaens said. 'I want the public to be aware that we have an organization specifically geared in holistic healing.'
Christiaens said she also wants to increase the number of organization members to strengthen their political voice and make more of a difference.
Nurses are taught in school to be holistic healers but it doesn''t always happen, she said.
'That''s why we need a national organization to remind us who we really are,' Christiaens said. 'We are holistic healers.'
After receiving her master''s in community health nursing from the U of U, Christiaens taught at the U of U for a year before she took the teaching position at BYU in 2000. In addition to teaching community health, she teaches Integrated Healing Processes, a section of Nursing 400 titled Global Health and Diversity.
Students in her section take field trips around Utah to explore different methods of healing, including acupuncturists, chiropractors and the Young Living Essential Oils farm in Mona.
'That class was the most interesting and most fun class I''ve taken in the nursing program,' said Maizy Wilkinson, a senior nursing major from Hamilton, Va. 'It taught me to be non-judgmental towards people and their health practices.'
For the past two years, Christiaens has received a MEG grant to take her class to the AHNA conferences. She encourages all her students to become AHNA members and network with other nurses at the conference.
'She is one of the most amazing professors I''ve ever had and she''s really invested in her students and she''s really invested in her patients,' said Janae Olsen, a senior nursing major from Tacoma, Wash. 'She has a really good knowledge base, so I think she''s really one of the ideal professors in the nursing program.'