As many of you know, Dr. Linda Bark likes to celebrate Interdependence Day on July 5th each year (one day after Independence Day in the United States). Interdependence Day is a day to celebrate connection, collaboration, and working together to form the whole.

The American Holistic Nurses Association's Lifetime Achievement Award is to given to celebrate the outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of holistic nursing. It is a way of saying Thank you for all the holistic nursing work accomplished through sustained participation in AHNA and in advancement of the specialty practice of holistic nursing.  The 2023 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award is Linda Bark of Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Ruby Whalen has been a nurse for over 30 years, and throughout this time she has been a bedside nurse in pediatric cardiac intensive care, a Cath lab nurse manager, clinical research nurse and a nurse clinical in congenital heart disease. Throughout her career, Ruby has maintained a passion for nursing education and research and promoting health and wellbeing.

My career in nursing spans 20-plus years and includes roles in clinical practice, teaching, research, and nurse coaching. My bedside nursing practice has a strong foundation in the Emergency and Trauma setting. I credit this experience and a
significant amount of reflection on what changed my professional and personal trajectory, gravitating toward holistic nursing and the coaching profession.

Brooke currently works as a health coach on a University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing study (funded by the National Institutes of Health), to test a virtual health coaching intervention. The study is designed to support heart failure caregivers and was recently expanded to include frontotemporal dementia caregivers to help improve their self-care.

Kelley Giaramita, RN, BVEd is a Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach and Certified Cancer Journey Coach. As an Associate Nursing Program Director, Kelley offers coaching to both nursing students and faculty. In the position as a Nurse Peer Coach with Vital WorkLife Inc. national behavioral health consulting firm, Kelley empowers front-line nurses with a new vantage point to view the challenges of second victim phenomenon, burnout, and compassion fatigue