Optimal healers: Igniting the spark and fanning the flame. Training academic medical faculty in optimal healing

Optimal healing environments (OHEs) require optimal healers to keep them flourishing. Academic medical faculty are in a unique position, through their involvement in education, research, and leadership, to create and perpetuate OHEs. Means by which they might do so using a motivational interviewing model as a framework are discussed. A four-part process to facilitate faculty involvement is described: (1) means of assessing interest in creating OHEs; (2) methods for moving interested individuals beyond a merely intellectual interest to a deeper level of commitment; (3) ways of providing optimal healers with the tools they will need to successfully create OHEs; and (4) perpetuation of OHEs through support networks and educational methods. Resources and examples which can guide the creation of an optimal healing curriculum are provided.