Shining A Light on Holistic Health Care

On her deeply personal path to medical school, Zafina Ahsan discovered a gap in the way mental and physical health disciplines work together. Following her graduation from the University of Texas at Arlington, Ahsan searched for medical schools with a holistic approach to mental and physical health.

“From my experience, I knew you couldn’t have one without the other,” she says. “I didn’t know that what I was looking for had a name—integrated health care. I immediately applied to KCU after discovering their approach. KCU’s program represents the future of health care.”

Third-year KCU clinical psychology student Zafina Ahsan knew as a child that a component of care was absent from her treatment for maturity-onset diabetes (MODY), a rare type of diabetes. It wasn’t until years later, when she became part of KCU’s Clinical Psychology (PsyD) program, that Ahsan fully realized the missing piece of the puzzle: integrated health care.

Diagnosed with MODY at age 13 following a routine physical, Ahsan, faced the disease head-on and dealt with its many challenges. Ahsan learned to manage the disease by developing healthy eating habits, planning ahead for sleep-overs with friends, learning her medication routine, visiting the school nurse to check blood sugar levels—a list of issues that would be formidable for any teenager.

But there was one issue Ahsan felt wasn’t addressed in her treatment plan: her emotional health.

“As a kid, when you’re diagnosed with something like diabetes, you’re overwhelmed,” Ahsan says. “You feel like you’re not normal, like you don’t fit in and can’t do things as spontaneously as your friends. Combine that with the social stigma and discrimination of mental health, and it’s a lot for a young person to handle.”

Ahsan wanted to go to medical school but had to consider her health when making a career decision. She knew the pressure and stress of studies and late nights could adversely affect her overall well-being. It was during high school that Ahsan decided to pursue an advanced education in the mental health field. Following graduation from the University of Texas at Arlington, Ahsan took a break to focus on her health and began searching for schools with a combined focus on mental and physical health.

“From my experience, I knew you couldn’t have one without the other,” she says. “I didn’t know that what I was looking for had a name—integrated health care. I immediately applied to KCU after discovering their approach. KCU’s program represents the future of health care.”

As president of the Primary Care Progress student club at KCU, Ahsan plans programs featuring presenters who speak to the importance of transforming the primary care system through physical and mental health. Currently, through her practicum training at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Counseling Services, Ahsan has the opportunity to gain professional development—learning about topics like mindfulness and trauma-informed care—and participate in group and individual therapy. Ahsan’s first practicum was in 2018 at Compass Health Network, where she was inspired by seeing firsthand how different health disciplines worked together.

KCU's regionally accredited PsyD program was launched during the University's 100th anniversary in 2016, and has become a powerful catalyst for driving interprofessional education and integrated health care, according to Sarah Getch, PhD, program director, Health Services Psychology. Getch credits KCU’s visionary doctoral degree program—the only of its kind in Kansas and Missouri—for not only offering broad experience in all areas of psychology, but also concentrating on specific training to answer the emotional health needs of patients.

In addition to the UMKC practicum, KCU PsyD students have training and rotation opportunities at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, Health Partnership Clinic in Johnson County, Kansas, Compass Health Network and KCU’s Score 1 for Health initiative. Notes Getch, “When students like Zafina are out in the field, working with our partners in practicum sites, we’re aligned in patient goals and understand how PsyD contributes. We all speak the same language.”

For Ashan, it’s the language she was seeking to learn early in her academic career. Through KCU’s PsyD program, she is becoming increasingly fluent — for her own health and well-being, and that of the patients she serves.

“KCU’s PsyD program is helping make a difference in many individuals’ lives to ensure the whole person is addressed,” she says. “For me, the experience of combining primary care with behavioral health has been nothing short of life-changing. Not only am I learning to advocate for behavioral health in a supportive and dynamic environment, I’m learning how to advocate for that in my community and the scientific field.”