Barbara Dossey, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, HWNC-BC
International Co-Director
International Co-Director

Barbara Dossey, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, HWNC-BC, is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the holistic nursing and nurse coaching movements. She is a Florence Nightingale scholar, nurse theorist, and national and international speaker and teacher on the role of integrative nurse coaching in the emerging integrative health care paradigm. She is Co-Director, International Nurse Coach Association (INCA), North Miami, Florida; International Co-Director and Board Member, Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH), Washington, DC, and Kelwood, Manitoba, Canada; and Director, Holistic Nursing Consultants, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Beginning in May 2015 Barbara has served on the American Nurses Association Health Nurse Health NationTM Grand Challenge Advisory Board.
Barbara is an author or co-author of 25 books, and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent include Holistic Nursing: A Handbook for Practice (7th ed., 2016), Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing (2015), The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching: The Provider’s Guide to Coaching Scope and Competencies (2013), and Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer (Centennial Commemorative Edition, 2010).
Barbara’s Theory of Integral Nursing (TIN) (2008) is a grand nursing theory that presents the science and art of nursing. It includes an integral process, integral worldview, and integral dialogues that is Praxis—theory in action. It also includes compassionate care of the dying, and nurses’ roles as 21st Century Nightingales. Her co-authored Theory of Integrative Nurse Coaching (TINC) (2015), a middle-range theory, is a framework to guide integrative nurse coaches in nurse coaching practice, education, research, and healthcare policy.
Her collaborative global nursing project, the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) and the Nightingale Declaration Campaign (NDC) have been developed to strengthen individual commitment toward achieving a healthy world as a priority objective for action by ordinary citizens, by civil society organizations and by all governments, local and national. Related NIGH projects have included developing the 2010 International Year of the Nurse (2010 IYNurse). Beginning in 2016 the NIGH focus has been to advocate, worldwide, for the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that all Member States of the United Nations (UN) unanimously approved as moving towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Barbara is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She is certified in Holistic Nursing (AHN-BC) and Health and Wellness Nurse Coaching (HWNC-BC). She is a 11-time recipient of the prestigious American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. Other awards include the following the 1985 Holistic Nurse of the Year by the American Holistic Nurses' Association; the 1998 Healer of the Year by the Nurse Healers Professional Associates International, Inc.; the 1999 Pioneering Spirit Award by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses; the 1999 Scientific and Medical Network Book of the Year by the Scientific and Medical Network, United Kingdom. In 2001 she was recognized as TWU 100 Great Nursing Alumni, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. In 2003 she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
With her husband, Larry, she received the 2003 Archon Award from Sigma Theta Tau, International, the international honor society of nursing, honoring the contributions that they have made to promote global health. In 2004, Barbara and Larry also received the Pioneer of Integrative Medicine Award from the Aspen Center for Integrative Medicine, Aspen, Colorado. In 2010 Barbara received the 2010 Leadership Award from the Integrative Healthcare Symposium, New York City. In 2012 she received the Nursing Leader Award of New Mexico from the New Mexico Nurses Association. She received the 2014 AHNA Life Time Achievement Award from the American Holistic Nurses Association. In 2015 she was awarded the Baylor University School of Nursing Outstand Alumni Award on the 50th year celebration from her college graduation. In 2016 Barbara and Larry received the prestigious 2016 Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine Visionary Award.
For the 72nd General Episcopal Church Convention in Philadelphia July 1997, Barbara wrote three of five documents to accompany the Resolution Proposal to request the reconsideration of Nightingale’s commemoration and for her name to be placed on the church calendar list of Lesser Feast and Fasts in the Book of Common Prayer. The official vote to accept Nightingale to the church calendar occurred in July 2000. The inaugural Florence Nightingale Commemorative Service was held on August 12, 2001, at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. The Florence Nightingale Centennial Service was held April 25, 2010 at the Washington National Cathedral. The 2012 Florence Nightingale Global Nursing Service was held at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City, on October 21, at 4 PM. The 2020 Florence Nightingale Bi-Centennial Celebration of Nightingale’s birth—with a focus on nurses and midwives and their roles in achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—is now underway—local to global.
See: www.iNurseCoach.com and www.dosseydossey.com
Photo from NIGH's archives.
Barbara is an author or co-author of 25 books, and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent include Holistic Nursing: A Handbook for Practice (7th ed., 2016), Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing (2015), The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching: The Provider’s Guide to Coaching Scope and Competencies (2013), and Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer (Centennial Commemorative Edition, 2010).
Barbara’s Theory of Integral Nursing (TIN) (2008) is a grand nursing theory that presents the science and art of nursing. It includes an integral process, integral worldview, and integral dialogues that is Praxis—theory in action. It also includes compassionate care of the dying, and nurses’ roles as 21st Century Nightingales. Her co-authored Theory of Integrative Nurse Coaching (TINC) (2015), a middle-range theory, is a framework to guide integrative nurse coaches in nurse coaching practice, education, research, and healthcare policy.
Her collaborative global nursing project, the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) and the Nightingale Declaration Campaign (NDC) have been developed to strengthen individual commitment toward achieving a healthy world as a priority objective for action by ordinary citizens, by civil society organizations and by all governments, local and national. Related NIGH projects have included developing the 2010 International Year of the Nurse (2010 IYNurse). Beginning in 2016 the NIGH focus has been to advocate, worldwide, for the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that all Member States of the United Nations (UN) unanimously approved as moving towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Barbara is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She is certified in Holistic Nursing (AHN-BC) and Health and Wellness Nurse Coaching (HWNC-BC). She is a 11-time recipient of the prestigious American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. Other awards include the following the 1985 Holistic Nurse of the Year by the American Holistic Nurses' Association; the 1998 Healer of the Year by the Nurse Healers Professional Associates International, Inc.; the 1999 Pioneering Spirit Award by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses; the 1999 Scientific and Medical Network Book of the Year by the Scientific and Medical Network, United Kingdom. In 2001 she was recognized as TWU 100 Great Nursing Alumni, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. In 2003 she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
With her husband, Larry, she received the 2003 Archon Award from Sigma Theta Tau, International, the international honor society of nursing, honoring the contributions that they have made to promote global health. In 2004, Barbara and Larry also received the Pioneer of Integrative Medicine Award from the Aspen Center for Integrative Medicine, Aspen, Colorado. In 2010 Barbara received the 2010 Leadership Award from the Integrative Healthcare Symposium, New York City. In 2012 she received the Nursing Leader Award of New Mexico from the New Mexico Nurses Association. She received the 2014 AHNA Life Time Achievement Award from the American Holistic Nurses Association. In 2015 she was awarded the Baylor University School of Nursing Outstand Alumni Award on the 50th year celebration from her college graduation. In 2016 Barbara and Larry received the prestigious 2016 Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine Visionary Award.
For the 72nd General Episcopal Church Convention in Philadelphia July 1997, Barbara wrote three of five documents to accompany the Resolution Proposal to request the reconsideration of Nightingale’s commemoration and for her name to be placed on the church calendar list of Lesser Feast and Fasts in the Book of Common Prayer. The official vote to accept Nightingale to the church calendar occurred in July 2000. The inaugural Florence Nightingale Commemorative Service was held on August 12, 2001, at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. The Florence Nightingale Centennial Service was held April 25, 2010 at the Washington National Cathedral. The 2012 Florence Nightingale Global Nursing Service was held at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City, on October 21, at 4 PM. The 2020 Florence Nightingale Bi-Centennial Celebration of Nightingale’s birth—with a focus on nurses and midwives and their roles in achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—is now underway—local to global.
See: www.iNurseCoach.com and www.dosseydossey.com
Photo from NIGH's archives.