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"Now,
as we launch our newly
redesigned site, we find ourselves
moving into a stronger focus on
wellness and healthy living."
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We quickly learned the
challenges of pioneers and early adapters, as no one had any real idea of what
would work and what would not in this emerging medium. Some of our ideas worked
beautifully and succeeded. Other “great” ideas met with a surprising and
resounding thud once they went live. It was too early on the web for anyone to
be an expert, and there were really no consultants. We were on our own. We
needed to constantly be creative and adapt.
And now, as we launch our newly redesigned site,
we find ourselves moving into a stronger focus on wellness and healthy living.
With the growing acceptance of CAM practices and the movement towards
Integrative Health or Integrative Medicine, we feel that “alternative medicine”
has both evolved into a more coherent field and that is becoming more deeply
integrated into our overall culture, we feel that the new frontier is personal
wellness – what the individual is able and willing to do maintain their overall
health and wellbeing.
Integrator: You have shared that the culture
in which you were operating had begun to change by the mid-1990s. Could you
comment on that.
Strohecker:
As I mentioned previously, the environment in the early
1990s was very hostile, on all fronts, to what we then called alternative
medicine. Consumers were still suspicious and mistrustful, often ridiculing
family members, friends or associates who received alternative treatments, took
supplements or herbs, or meditated or practiced yoga. Then, the tide slowly
began to turn with the creation of the Office of Alternative Medicine in the
early 1990s, passage of DSHEA, the release of our book, Alternative Medicine:
The Definitive Guide, the launching of HealthWorld Online, the diligence of
tens of thousands of practitioners of “alternative” modalities, a host of other
related factors.
There was a stronger embrace by consumers, more
openness from conventional practitioners, the government and the media. But, at
the same time there seemed to be a stiffening of resistance and opposition in
some quarters. It was really a crack in the door. And over the last 15 years,
the crack has grown much larger.