Beata Hittrich started meditating about three decades ago. The Budapest, Hungary, native and former Surrey high-school art teacher turned to the ancient practice to deal with stress. Little did Hittrich know that meditation would prove to be so crucial to her well-being years later when she was faced with breast cancer.

The diagnosis came in 2005 after Hittrich found a lump in her armpit. At first she thought the bump was from her underwire bra. But it started getting bigger, and it felt tough. Soon after learning that the cancer was aggressive and she’d need a partial mastectomy as well as chemotherapy and radiation, she headed straight to InspireHealth to help her along the way.

Formerly called the Centre for Integrated Healing, the nonprofit clinic incorporates evidence-based complementary therapies into conventional cancer treatment. It operates on the premise that the mind, body, and soul are inseparable and that addressing a person’s mental, physical, and spiritual health is essential to optimal well-being.

“When I was sitting in the chemo chair for seven hours a day, I would picture beautiful, crystal-clear water running through my veins and bringing me health,” Hittrich says in a phone interview. “I knew about visualization, but what I loved about InspireHealth was the whole atmosphere of positive thinking. I’ve always been a very optimistic, positive person, even in very hard times, but it’s not always that easy. InspireHealth really reinforced that.”

The centre’s doctors are the only ones in Canada to be publicly funded to provide integrated cancer care. They encourage patients to adopt healthy lifestyle habits, such as eating a wholesome diet, getting regular exercise, managing stress, and maintaining a strong social network. Among the free classes the clinic offers to patients are those in meditation, yoga, and relaxation with music and imagery.

The clinic’s practitioners include a naturopathic doctor, a registered clinical counsellor, a registered massage therapist, a holistic nutritionist, a body worker, and an acupuncturist. (When used to complement chemotherapy or radiation, acupuncture is covered by the provincial medical-services plan. In other cases, it’s offered on a fee-for-service basis.) The centre’s health professionals work in cooperation with cancer patients’ own doctors and oncologists.

There’s more to the benefits of integrated care than anecdotal evidence. Hal Gunn, a medical doctor and InspireHealth cofounder and chief executive officer, points to scientific research that backs up patient testimonials.

“There’s growing evidence of the value of integrated care and that there are things people can do to support their own health that are as important as conventional treatments in terms of increasing survival, reducing recurrence, and improving quality of life,” Gunn says on the line from his West Side office. “A growing body of evidence shows that optimal cancer care includes things people can do to support their own health.”

Take exercise. Done regularly, it can reduce the risk of cancer recurrence by up to 50 percent, Gunn says. Eating a healthful diet can reduce the recurrence of colon cancer by up to 70 percent.

Adequate levels of vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing cancer by 60 percent and the risk of recurrence by 50 percent.

Gunn notes that more knowledge is emerging regarding the “tumour microenvironment”.

“The environment in which the cancer is growing is as important or more important than the cancer itself,” he says. “What the healthy cells are doing is extremely important in our understanding of cancer care”¦.And there are things we can do to protect our health and those healthy cells.”

There’s a financial argument to be made for holistic well-being and integrated care, Gunn adds. The current government-funded medical system isn’t sustainable. Proactive, preventive measures to improve health, meanwhile, save the public purse money.

“There’s really a growing recognition that our illness-treatment system isn’t sufficient,” he says.

The centre is receiving international interest. When Prince Charles visited Vancouver last year, he invited InspireHealth to collaborate with his organization, the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, to promote physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This summer, health professionals from Japan and the United States will visit the centre to learn more. And Gunn speaks all over the world about the future of integrated cancer care.

Central to integrated care is personal empowerment. Patients are encouraged to play an active role in their treatment plans and make informed decisions about their care.

“InspireHealth has always been very interested in being guided by evidence but also guided by wisdom,” Gunn explains. “We like to call it evidence-informed, wisdom-based medicine. Medicine has been so preoccupied with evidence that we’ve forgotten to check in with ourselves and our own intuitive wisdom.”

Hittrich still lives with cancer, but she says InspireHealth has only bolstered her optimism and hope.

“I’m surrounded by so much love,” she says. “I can see the sun shining on the grass, trees everywhere, and flowers. I have a wonderful life.”