Smith Center’s unique Integrative Navigation Model reflects our philosophy that every individual has the ability and right to thrive, find meaning, and maintain hope even in the face of life’s most difficult challenges.
Elements of Smith Center’s Integrative Navigation Model
Provides empowerment through companionship, guidance, advocacy and support that motivates the individual out of a state of passive acceptance or active denial into engaged, life-affirming action- Maintains a consistent presence for each individual, coordinating care and providing seamless navigation support throughout the entire cancer experience
- Offers a refuge, where our navigators provide compassionate, culturally sensitive support to each patient and their loved ones
- Teaches integrative techniques and facilitates access to integrative therapies and resources that support emotional, spiritual and physical healing in tandem with medical care
- Offers opportunities for instruction, where individuals gain emotional support through shared experience with other survivors, learn about creative resources and acquire skills that can enhance their well-being and assist their healing.
We honor each individual wherever they are in their lives and on their cancer journey, encouraging each person to find their truth, to allow for their healing to take place in whatever way is meaningful to them.
Our model contains elements of psychosocial support, experiential instruction and holistic practices while including more traditional navigational strategies.
We use a patient-centered approach: we meet the individual wherever they are in life and work to adapt the system to meet the patient’s individual needs.
Our goal is to walk with the patient on this journey, for as long as it takes. Our navigators serve as compassionate guides, sheparding each individual from a negative space of helplessness to a more positive, empowering place, regardless of the outcome of their illness. This is done from a firm foundation of knowledge, skill building, facilitating access to creative resources, compassionate listening, and spiritual support.
We have translated our model for use in both community and hospital based settings and, along the way, we have cultivated a leadership role in navigation