Brenda Astor is the founder of Healing Arts Associates, a counseling and consulting practice for self healing focusing on stress, pain and disease management. She is also co-founder of Integrative Nursing Institute, a 501-©3 organization specializing in consulting, educating and supporting nurses. Ms. Astor has over 25 years experience in the healing arts, as counselor/consultant/educator and as developer/director of innovative programs and projects. She has been a pioneer in integrating the healing arts into healthcare systems (pain centers, mental health centers, acute care hospitals and the private sector).
Highly creative and innovative, Brenda is particularly effective in program development, individual consultations and delivering informative presentations. She is a well-known speaker and educator to university and community groups on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), focusing on the healing arts and mind/body interventions. Ms. Astor provides individual self-healing consultations as well as corporate consultations for organizations wishing to explore the development and implementation of integrative healing arts programs.
For eight years, Brenda was the Director/Developer of the award-winning Center for the Healing Arts at Imperial Point Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The center was listed by the Health Care Advisory Board in Washington, D.C. as one of the top hospital based complementary and alternative health care centers in the country and won the 2002 “Excellence in Healthcare” award for the Best Hospital Based Program in South Florida. Besides increasing and expanding the visibility and reputation of hospital and district for excellence and innovation, one of Brenda’s many accomplishments was the creation and implementation of a healing environment within a hospital and the Healing Alcove which is a soothing space designed for relaxation and stress relief.
A graduate of Beth Israel Hospital School of Nursing, Harvard Medical Complex, Boston, Massachusetts; post graduate studies at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, Ohio and Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI). Brenda has been awarded a Diplomate in Nursing, (DCN) from the American Association of Integrative Medicine.
Ms. Astor is a long-time board member and chair of the Center for Jungian Studies of South Florida and a charter member of the American Holistic Nurses Association. She is on the Board of Directors of the Inter-National Foundation for the Living Arts (INFLA) as well as a founding member and fellow of the American College of Wellness (FACW) Executive Advisory Board.
