When One Door Closes ...

The Sydney Banks Institute for Innate Health
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
West Virginia University

During its three years of operation, The Sydney Banks Institute for Innate Health (SBIIH) focused its endeavors on its founding mission:

The Sydney Banks Institute is dedicated to deepening individual understanding of the principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought. The work of the Institute shall engage the intrinsic human capacity to seek wisdom and insight through research, education, and practice grounded in the principles. All work of the Institute shall be dedicated to learning and reflection in an environment of collegiality.

EDUCATION

• Nearly 3,000 people from West Virginia and elsewhere have attended special programs, seminars, workshops, and classes offered by SBIIH, at least 1/3 of those programs offering continuing education credits.
• Nearly 100 graduate students in public health have taken courses offered through the Department of Community Medicine based on the principles as the fundamental construct underlying instruction and practice.
• Two classes of medical school students and psychiatry residents have been exposed to the principles during their rotations through the Behavioral Medicine Department during the two years that Dr. William Pettit has been a part of the Institute.
• Hundreds of WV high school students in a special program to locate and nurture the potential of underserved and minority students have attended consistently popular Innate Health classes through the WVU Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) summer academy.
• The leadership module of the WVU Health Sciences Center Teaching Scholars Program, which was created to develop the capacity of junior faculty in leadership, scholarship and teaching, is based on the principles and on working with the Innate Health in all people.
• The Leadership section of the Health Sciences Center Faculty Development program, which is a continuing education program offered to all faculty through weekly lunch-time classes during the school year, includes programs based on the principles.
• The program in Educational Psychology, another important school on the WVU campus, has agreed to cross-list courses based on the principles taught at the Health Sciences Center.
• The WVU Extension Service is offering a principle-based program on eliminating stress to its 4,000 community members across West Virginia over the next four years.

CLINICAL

• Dr. Pettit has developed strong relationships across many medical disciplines through his 30% time commitment to consulting liaison services for the Department of Behavioral Medicine at Ruby Memorial Hospital, the teaching hospital for the Health Sciences Center.
• Dr. Pettit facilitates first-year medical students in a Problem-Based Learning class; mentors medical students on their psychiatric rotation, and has considerable and diverse contact with psychiatric residents.
• Up to now, Dr. Pettit’s individual clinical work has been offered primarily to faculty, residents, medical students and their families.
• Dr. Pettit monitors the progress of a different first-year medical student every 8 weeks and provides weekly mentoring of a Psychiatric Resident for one-year rotations.
• Dr. Pettit’s work is being developed as the centerpiece of an elective track for psychiatric residents to be trained in Mind, Thought, Consciousness/Innate Health Therapy.

RESEARCH

• The SBIIH has developed a research instrument to use in conjunction with other established instruments to evaluate the results of principle-based programs and that instrument is in its final phase of validation.
• The SBIIH has piloted the instrument in development with nearly 700 subjects, and that pilot data will be useful in seeking grants for further research over time.
• A retrospective Chart Study of a random sample of Dr. Pettit’s patients from Aberdeen, SD, is nearing completion.
• The SBIIH offered a research symposium in 2002 for colleagues from around the country in which WVU faculty volunteered their time to offer lectures and one-on-one help to people pursuing research in Mind-Thought-Consciousness/Innate Health.
• The SBIIH has developed research collaborations with doctors and bench researchers at the Health Sciences Center, which are being developed into long-term research projects.

SERVICE

• The SBIIH has offered a strong program of services based on Mind-Thought-Consciousness/Innate Health to non-profits and to local, state, regional and national organizations offering human services.
• The SBIIH takes every opportunity to serve West Virginia University faculty, staff and students to expose people to the promise of Mind-Thought-Consciousness/Innate Health and its value across many populations.

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… Another Door Opens.

The West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
West Virginia University

Vision:

To awaken mental health across the health disciplines and elevate global thinking about the possibilities for human well-being.

Mission:

To serve people through the missions of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, the West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health will create educational and clinical partnerships to increase understanding and experience of the principles of Mind, Thought and Consciousness and the innate capacity for mental well-being in every person, and to measure results of its work through evidence-based research. In dedication to service and outreach, it will touch as many lives as possible with the hope for wisdom, insight, creativity and peace of mind inherent in an awareness of Mind-Thought-Consciousness/Innate Health.

EDUCATION

• Courses based on Mind-Thought-Consciousness/Innate Health already offered in the Master’s in Public Health program will be further developed for distance learning and cross-listing in all health disciplines and in other service fields.
• Emphasis will be placed on creating Continuing Education programs for professionals in the health and service fields.
• Clinical courses for medical students and residents will be developed in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, supported by groups and clinics offered by Dr. Pettit which will provide for “bedside teaching.”
• The annual Sydney Banks Symposium will draw an increasingly broad representation of presenters and participants from the nation and the world with an interest in sharing research and exploring the potential in MTC/IH work.
• Partnerships in education will be sought with other institutions of higher learning interested in including MTC/IH courses and materials in their programs.

CLINICAL

• Dr. Pettit will increase his outpatient clinic work to include a broader population individually and to include weekly therapy groups. This will provide more opportunities for clinical research and education.
• WVIIH will continue to offer a weekly group on the Dual-Diagnosed Substance Abuse unit of Chestnut Ridge, the WVU Psychiatric Hospital.
• Dr. Pettit will continue to provide part-time clinical consulting liaison services at Ruby Memorial Hospital.

RESEARCH

• WVIIH will continue to collaborate with cardiologists to complete a pilot study of the effects of the MTC/IH intervention on heart patients who develop depression in conjunction with coronary artery disease.
• A portion of the liquidated funds from the endowment will be used to pay for a percentage of the time of an established WVU researcher. This will provide for clinical research to evaluate the MTC/IH Therapy provided by Dr. Pettit and others, both at WVU and elsewhere and in collaborations with other WV health initiatives.
• WVIIH will continue to participate in cross-disciplinary research supported by the Health Sciences Center research plan, including the MTC/IH Therapy and Approach in projects with a behavioral component whenever possible.
• WVIIH will involve students and residents in research as often and as much as possible and seek to create research opportunities for students and residents to further their interest/careers in the MTC/IH approach.

SERVICE

• WVIIH will continue to work with mental health organizations in West Virginia and beyond to develop training and educational opportunities.
• WVIIH partners will continue to serve on committees and in activities at WVU, in West Virginia and beyond, that cross all the health disciplines.
• WVIIH will take every opportunity possible to engage in activities that offer an occasion to share an awareness of the principles of Mind, Thought and Consciousness with a broader audience and to elicit deeper realization of Innate Health and the possibilities for well-being described by the principles.

STEWARDSHIP

• Liquidated funds will be placed in a non-endowed fund at the WVU Foundation, and used to support the work of the Initiative. Budgets and expenditures will be approved by WVU Foundation officers and Dr. Robert M. D’Alessandri or his designees.

PARTNERS

William F. Pettit, M.D., has nearly 20 years experience in psychiatric practice grounded in the principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought. A graduate of Creighton University, Omaha, NE, and the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL, he completed his psychiatric residency at the Philadelphia Naval Regional Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA, and at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center at Portsmouth, VA. He is board-certified in Psychiatry and Neurology and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is also certified in Addiction Medicine, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Psychosomatic Medicine. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry at WVU School of Medicine.

Judith A. Sedgeman, EdD, is the Education Director of the West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University. An Assistant Professor, she teaches in the Public Health program of the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University Medical School. She is on the Advisory Board of the Faculty Development Committee at WVU Health Sciences Center, and is also a mentor in the Teaching Scholars Program, for which she has developed an on-line leadership seminar. She serves as an executive coach, seminar leader and program facilitator for professionals and organizations outside of the University and is an internationally recognized speaker, seminar leader and teacher of the Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought that represent a new paradigm in mental well-being. Her program, Creating Leadership from Within, has been offered at numerous health organizations in the U.S. and abroad. A graduate of Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, she received her M.A. degree from Trinity College, Hartford, CT and her EdD from West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV. She has been a college instructor, an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor, an entrepreneur and a business consultant. For more than 20 years, her work has been entirely based on the Principles of Mind, Thought and Consciousness that awaken the health and resiliency in people.

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