The years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have been challenging for holistic health practitioners who are deeply committed to public health—those who recognize COVID-19 as a serious threat and support a multifaceted, collective response to contain its spread.
Thank you, Dave. You are so eloquent in expressing your thoughts, critiques, and the subtleties that I am unable to distill myself. But I am 100% in agreement, even having struggled with the turn the Conspirituality podcast seemed to take, but not knowing how to evaluate it. Thank you so much, I look forward to the rest of your series. —Ginger Webb
Same for me, Ginger Webb! You took the words right out of this Ginger’s mouth. Lol. Thank you, Dave. I’m looking forward to part 2 and will be following your Substack with great interest.
In my (fifteen-and-counting years) work as an holistic mental health counselor (I say this with firm authority, since my graduate program was LITERALLY CALLED HOLISTIC MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING), I often get new clients who say, “I’m so glad you’re holistic because I don’t use medicine/take pills/trust doctors, etc.” And then I take a deep breath and explain what you just explained (but less thoroughly). Your piece makes me feel seen, heard, and much much much less alone. I have felt like distancing myself from “holistic” because it is so incorrectly referenced by so many people, and by way of that usage, has become tarnished and ubiquitous. I am also in the process of distancing myself from “mental health” and “therapy” because of …to be frank, how much ICK it gives me. I’m inspired: we CAN take back Holism. Let’s gooooo!
Oh wow, Dave - thank you for writing this. And articulating so wonderfully what so many of us have been feeling. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
Oh thank you! I have been thinking of a way to write about this very subject and you nailed it brilliantly. Having been in herbalism for 28 years and have had to have the MLM snake oil/cure-all fight for decades and try to separate those of us who are pragmatic, evidence based (while at the same time weaving together science and spirit as our ancients and ancestors did) and then still trying to elevate and gain respect on the other spectrum of allopathic medicine can be exhausting.
Thank you so much for this! Like the others who have commented, I have been grappling with how to talk about this phenomenon and you break it down so well.
reading this was medicine, thank you. i'm currently in herbalism school and facing heaps of covid denialism and healthism, from both faculty and students.
This is why I'm here. I'm one of those who distanced/dropped out because of the exploitative and corrosive ways herbalism and holistic care have been appropriated. Thank you Dave (and Sara) for laying this out. I agree, we can continue to bring integrity and discernment to the practice. Ready to roll.
So glad I found you today! I became part of the natural health community in the late '90s, and eventually worked at a food co-op and then became an organic farmer. But yeah during COVID I was really turned off by the right-ward lurch of so many people in that community. I realized that for many of them, their main driving force was just knee-jerk contrarianism.
I was gratified to read your critique of the Conspirituality podcast. I wanted to like them, and do appreciate some of their points, but one of them was interviewed on "A Bit Fruity" and he totally wrote off opposition to the herbicide Round-up, saying that "it does what it's supposed to do" in the field and that there's no evidence it's harmful to human health. He wrote off concerns about it as "chemophobia." First of all, it's use in the field is demonstrably harmful to plants, animals and insects in ecosystems, especially riparian ones. This is seriously not up for debate so the way he brushed it off was infuriating, honestly. As for bad effects on human health, the only reason that's disputed is because of all the money that Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) put into muddying the waters.
After that, I just didn't have any interest in listening to "Conspirituality" anymore.
Anyway, I definitely appreciate your takes in this article and I'm looking forward to more.
Are you a listener of The Death Panel podcast? I felt like they've done a great job of covering COVID, up through the present.
Hi! I'm glad you liked the piece, it's been brewing for a long time. Totally hear you about the contrarianism--that's a huge factor for a lot of folks.
I love the Death Panel! Their reporting is so valuable and I'm much better equipped to think about health and health discourse because of them. I don't think they take holistic health very seriously but that doesn't diminish my appreciation for them. My thoughts about blind spots in leftist approaches to health that I discuss in Part Two are, in small part, informed by their show.
I’ve watched people I once aligned with veer into conspiracism, and then watched others I respect swing hard in the opposite direction, dismissing everything holistic as snake oil. I’m really grateful you’re writing this series. It feels like a necessary reclaiming of nuance, integrity, and care in a space that’s been flattened by backlash.
Thank you, Dave. You are so eloquent in expressing your thoughts, critiques, and the subtleties that I am unable to distill myself. But I am 100% in agreement, even having struggled with the turn the Conspirituality podcast seemed to take, but not knowing how to evaluate it. Thank you so much, I look forward to the rest of your series. —Ginger Webb
Same for me, Ginger Webb! You took the words right out of this Ginger’s mouth. Lol. Thank you, Dave. I’m looking forward to part 2 and will be following your Substack with great interest.
In my (fifteen-and-counting years) work as an holistic mental health counselor (I say this with firm authority, since my graduate program was LITERALLY CALLED HOLISTIC MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING), I often get new clients who say, “I’m so glad you’re holistic because I don’t use medicine/take pills/trust doctors, etc.” And then I take a deep breath and explain what you just explained (but less thoroughly). Your piece makes me feel seen, heard, and much much much less alone. I have felt like distancing myself from “holistic” because it is so incorrectly referenced by so many people, and by way of that usage, has become tarnished and ubiquitous. I am also in the process of distancing myself from “mental health” and “therapy” because of …to be frank, how much ICK it gives me. I’m inspired: we CAN take back Holism. Let’s gooooo!
Let's go! I'm glad this resonated. Part two will go deeper into holism-what it is and what it isn't.
Oh wow, Dave - thank you for writing this. And articulating so wonderfully what so many of us have been feeling. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
Oh thank you! I have been thinking of a way to write about this very subject and you nailed it brilliantly. Having been in herbalism for 28 years and have had to have the MLM snake oil/cure-all fight for decades and try to separate those of us who are pragmatic, evidence based (while at the same time weaving together science and spirit as our ancients and ancestors did) and then still trying to elevate and gain respect on the other spectrum of allopathic medicine can be exhausting.
This is essential and so elegantly written. Thank you!
This was excellent and important, thank you!
Thank you so much for this! Like the others who have commented, I have been grappling with how to talk about this phenomenon and you break it down so well.
reading this was medicine, thank you. i'm currently in herbalism school and facing heaps of covid denialism and healthism, from both faculty and students.
I hope you have, or can find, a supportive herbal community that sees beyond healthism. 💚
Well thought out. I appreciate imagining a health system beyond capitalism!
Bravo!!! You have managed to articulate what many of us have seen evolving over the years. Thank you and I look forward to reading more.
Thank you for the beautifully expressed thoughts regarding what many of us have been feeling, but having a hard time articulating.
This is why I'm here. I'm one of those who distanced/dropped out because of the exploitative and corrosive ways herbalism and holistic care have been appropriated. Thank you Dave (and Sara) for laying this out. I agree, we can continue to bring integrity and discernment to the practice. Ready to roll.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So glad I found you today! I became part of the natural health community in the late '90s, and eventually worked at a food co-op and then became an organic farmer. But yeah during COVID I was really turned off by the right-ward lurch of so many people in that community. I realized that for many of them, their main driving force was just knee-jerk contrarianism.
I was gratified to read your critique of the Conspirituality podcast. I wanted to like them, and do appreciate some of their points, but one of them was interviewed on "A Bit Fruity" and he totally wrote off opposition to the herbicide Round-up, saying that "it does what it's supposed to do" in the field and that there's no evidence it's harmful to human health. He wrote off concerns about it as "chemophobia." First of all, it's use in the field is demonstrably harmful to plants, animals and insects in ecosystems, especially riparian ones. This is seriously not up for debate so the way he brushed it off was infuriating, honestly. As for bad effects on human health, the only reason that's disputed is because of all the money that Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) put into muddying the waters.
After that, I just didn't have any interest in listening to "Conspirituality" anymore.
Anyway, I definitely appreciate your takes in this article and I'm looking forward to more.
Are you a listener of The Death Panel podcast? I felt like they've done a great job of covering COVID, up through the present.
Hi! I'm glad you liked the piece, it's been brewing for a long time. Totally hear you about the contrarianism--that's a huge factor for a lot of folks.
I love the Death Panel! Their reporting is so valuable and I'm much better equipped to think about health and health discourse because of them. I don't think they take holistic health very seriously but that doesn't diminish my appreciation for them. My thoughts about blind spots in leftist approaches to health that I discuss in Part Two are, in small part, informed by their show.
https://radicalvitalism.substack.com/p/the-web-of-care-a-holistic-health?r=ew7mh
I’ve watched people I once aligned with veer into conspiracism, and then watched others I respect swing hard in the opposite direction, dismissing everything holistic as snake oil. I’m really grateful you’re writing this series. It feels like a necessary reclaiming of nuance, integrity, and care in a space that’s been flattened by backlash.