.jpg "Sally F. St. John, MA, NBHWC, RTY 200 photo")
Vice President of Wellbeing Integration
YMCA of the North
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
After a decade of health coaching, Sally St. John began a career in health and wellness systems level change in 2016 through completing holistic health graduate studies at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. At St. Kate’s, she gained deep competencies in healing the whole-person—mind, body, and spirit. Her fringe thesis research project about the critical window of infant gut microbiome development grabbed faculty’s attention as the word “microbiome” just became part of the Webster's dictionary in 2017. In addition, she studied cultural, indigenous, and ancient healing practices, and investigated the historic constructs underpinning today's leading conventional medical systems including social drivers of health. Her work is now grounded by a strong philosophy of the power of lifestyle medicine rooted in social change and the intersection of self-care and community-care. Since 2018, Sally has been serving at the YMCA of the North, the second largest YMCA association in the country in Minneapolis, MN as the Vice President of Well-being Strategy Integration. Her work has included opening the first-of-its-kind George Wellbeing Center and Virtual Y (the first virtual YMCA experience using a whole-person approach to health) in partnership with Penny and Bill George and the George Family Foundation. The innovation is aiming to expand beyond the legacy “gym and swim” model by improving access to more whole-person wellbeing services and programs (virtual and in-person) such as acupuncture, teaching kitchens and greenhouses, massage therapy, mindfulness programs, and health and wellness coaching to individuals and communities through a community informed integrative care model.
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Monday, October 28, 2024
4:15 PM – 5:15 PM ET