Wellness centers are health facilities that offer an alternative approach to traditional medical treatments. In contrast to traditional medical centers that place their emphasis on the treatment of diseases, wellness centers focus on the maintenance of wellness. Instead of treating particular body parts as discrete units, doctors and other specialists at the wellness centers address the whole person. At wellness centers, such as the Coal Creek Wellness Center, teams of professionals and specialists teach patients techniques for maintaining good health and improving their understanding of their bodies (Beck, "Our Mission," p. 1). By treating both the mind and body as an integrated unit, the Mind Body Wellness Center seeks to utilize patients' inner resources to enable the patients to become active members of their healing process (Bittman, "Our Approach," p. 1).
Nonetheless, doctors at wellness centers also use traditional equipment to screen and diagnose their patients like conventional medical centers. In fact, many wellness centers consider their services to complement traditional medicine. Therefore, wellness centers help patients suffering from similar kinds of conditions such as allergy problems, chemical dependency and chronic medical conditions (Beck, "Services," pp. 3-4). However, it is the wellness centers' treatment approach that fundamentally distinguishes them from their conventional counterparts.
First, at wellness centers, holistic approaches that address the whole body in the treatment of conditions such as diabetes and heart conditions are employed (Bittman, "Programs," p. 2). Nutrition and natural healing techniques are also a significant part of this program (Beck, "Our Mission," p. 1). According to Dr. Bittman, the whole-person approach works for everyone because it addresses these critical factors: 1) Stress reduction, 2) Focus on life and nurturing, 3) Nutrition, 4) Sense of control, 5) Exercise and 6) Spiri...