This column offers a guide for nurses to follow a different path. The human becoming theory offers nurses and persons living with violence an alternative to the traditional fix-it approach to health situations. The human becoming theory challenges nurses to break down their own barriers, face their own biases, and open themselves to be with others in true presence. The human becoming theory has enhanced practice for one nurse working with women living in a shelter for domestic violence. The nurse not only learned about the meaning of health and change with women, she was also challenged to live up to the expectations of the human becoming theory and that challenge helped clarify value priorities in her own life.
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