On episode 466 of The Nurse Keith Show nursing and healthcare career podcast, Keith interviews Linda Bark, PhD, RN, MCC, NC-BC, NBC-HWC, the founder of the Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy and a pioneer in the world of holistic nursing and nurse entrepreneurship. Linda also happens to be Keith's original coaching mentor on his path to become a Board Certified Nurse Coach.

In the course of their conversation, Keith and Linda discuss the meaning of the similarities and differences between the terms holistic and integral, and how Linda has brought an integral approach to teaching coaching to thousands of nurses. Along with her colleague Barbie Dossey (another Nurse Keith Show alumna) and other nurse luminaries, Linda was one of the groundbreaking nurses who shepherded the creation of the Board Certified Nurse Coach designation and its acceptance and validation as a true nursing specialty. Linda wants nurses to understand that it pays to be integral and holistic on both a personal and professional level.

Linda Bark has pioneered new professional health pathways by starting a nursing private practice in 1970 and by bringing holistic nursing to hospitals in the 80s. During the 90s she led medical tours to China, lived in China to discover how to help Westerners create a context for Eastern healing, and consulted to organizations nationwide to start healing centers.

Ms. Bark has two nursing degrees, a masters in life transition counseling, and a PhD in philosophy and religion. She combined her education and experience to create the Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy, a home for discovery and exploration of a new integral way of coaching that benefits the coach, the client, and the world. She has trained coaches internationally in such organizations as the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, as well as KPMG and Welji in India.

Linda has been involved in many professional areas. Dr. Bark received first place for professional development for her textbook The Wisdom of the Whole: Coaching for Joy, Health, and Success. She has been very instrumental in helping create national coach certification at AHNCC and NBHWC. Currently, she is an advisor to the Indian government to design a health coach certification there.

Peer-reviewed research shows the efficacy of Bark's coaching model. Her work is multifaceted and includes her coaching academy, her private individual clients, and her corporate clients. She hopes all arenas are helping to build a new world with more kindness and justice, increased healing for the planet, more wholeness, and a deeper knowledge that we are all connected.

Connect with Linda Bark and Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy:

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Nurse Keith is a holistic career coach for nurses, professional podcaster, published author, award-winning blogger, inspiring keynote speaker, and successful nurse entrepreneur. Connect with Nurse Keith at NurseKeith.com, and on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Nurse Keith lives in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico with his lovely fiancée, Shada McKenzie, a highly gifted traditional astrologer and reader of the tarot. You can find Shada at The Circle and the Dot.

The Nurse Keith Show is a proud member of The Health Podcast Network, one of the largest and fastest-growing collections of authoritative, high-quality podcasts taking on the tough topics in health and care with empathy, expertise, and a commitment to excellence. The podcast is adroitly produced by Rob Johnston of 520R Podcasting, and Mark Capispisan is our stalwart social media ringmaster and newsletter wrangler.