Dr. Craig Oster
In 1994, at the age of 30, Craig Oster was given the “death sentence” diagnosis of ALS, better known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.” Even though Craig’s physical functioning was slipping away, he successfully fought to fulfill his dream of earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Michigan State University in 1996. What you can type in five minutes, currently takes Dr Craig Oster about a half-hour to accomplish. Dr Craig (the name by which many refer to him) entered hospice in late 2008, after he had lost over 45 pounds of muscle and was requiring breathing machines to make it through the night. Digging deeply and praying earnestly, with an undeterred spirit he gave everything to continuing his holistic healing quest. Dr Craig was discharged from hospice on May 30th, 2009.
Dr Craig is on a mission to demonstrate as much wellness as possible and to inspire people to approach whatever “hand that they have been dealt in life” in the most constructive manner possible. His professional training as a behavioral research scientist and clinical psychotherapist was followed by postdoctoral training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, including years of personal psychoanalytic treatment. Dr Craig has treated himself as a case study during his 23 years of experience of living with ALS, including recording and working with over 1,100 nighttime dreams.
THE HEALERS Campaign was born on New Year’s Day 2012. THE HEALERS Campaign mission is to conduct innovative ALS scientific peer-reviewed research that has the potential to enhance the wellness and quality of lives of people with ALS and their caregivers. The first peer-reviewed ALS scientific research study of the campaign, Resentment, hate, and hope in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was published in November of 2012. The campaign also has a broader holistic health educational purpose to provide information and perspective to people facing other challenges in wellness. Over 50 renowned integrative medicine doctors, other health professionals and scientists have joined Dr Craig’s ALS scientific research and holistic health educational campaign advisory team.