For Chronic Illness, Cancer, or Wellness
Life Force Intensive Session
Upcoming Sessions:
Held at the Health Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, our two-week session is designed for patients with chronic illness and cancer. Daily therapies, group activities, and family style organic meals help you feel cared for and give you the energy to heal. Frequent doctors visits and evening educational programming bring focus to your medical plan. Learn more below!
Pricing & Registration Information
Sign up 30 days in advance and get $1000 early registration discount!
Shared Room
$6,300 ($5,300 in advance)
This is our most economical and most popular option. You’ll share a room with one other patient. If you register with a friend or spouse we’ll put you together.
Single Room
$7,200 ($6,200 in advance)
You’ll enjoy a room to yourself if you prefer a little more privacy. You will share a bathroom with another patient.
Single + Companion
$9,200 ($8,200 in advance)
This option allows you to bring a spouse or a friend. You and your companion will have room and board and group activities for the session but only you will get medical treatment and therapies.
All of your therapies, doctor’s appointments, educational evening lectures, and most importantly our home cooked meals are included. For cancer patients: mistletoe & Vitamin C treatments are billed separately.
As a nonprofit, our main mission is to provide integrative and alternative options to patients with chronic illnesses. We’re able to offer the retreats at about a half to a quarter the price of similar medical retreat programs.
Questions? Call 734-663-4365 or email [email protected]
Financial Aid
If you are concerned about your ability to afford a session please consider filling out our financial aid form here.
Refund Policy
The charge for your stay includes all meals, therapies*, nursing, and physician treatments, including medicines [12 days of therapy]. We require the full amount if you are registering within two weeks of the session. If you register further in advance, we require $1000 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot and the remaining balance 2 weeks before the session begins. IV therapy is an additional charge at the discounted rate of $75/treatment (usual IV treatments range from $90-$220/treatment).
Please check with your own insurance company to see what they will cover. We will furnish a paid receipt for submission to your carrier. Some of the treatments and doctor’s visits may be covered. If you are planning to fly here, check with your local Wings of Mercy chapter to see if you qualify for flight assistance.
Payment Policy
The Rudolf Steiner Health Center is a fee-for-service medical center. Payment is due in full 2 weeks prior to the session. Payments received less than 7 days before the session you are attending will incur an additional $250 late registration fee. We accept cash, checks, Visa and MasterCard.
*12 days of therapy. Each I.V. infusion for retreat patients will incur a $75 supply fee charge (usual I.V. charges range between $95-$200). Lab work is billed separately.
2020 Rates
| Single Room | $7200 |
| Shared Room | $6300 |
| Patient with Companion | $9200 |
Payment Details
We require the full amount if you are registering within two weeks of the session. If you register further in advance, we require $1000 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot and the remaining balance 2 weeks before the session begins. Please check with your own insurance company to see what they will cover. We will furnish a paid receipt for submission to your carrier. Some of the treatments and doctor’s visits may be covered.
The Rudolf Steiner Health Center is not responsible for any lost travel or program costs. Please make sure all travel purchases are refundable. Deposits and payments are nonrefundable, so please purchase travel insurance to cover any lost travel and program costs if you are unable to attend. Generally, travel insurance needs to be purchased before you register. Call Travelex at (800) 228-9792 or any travel agency for a quote specific to your needs.
If you are planning to fly here, check with your local Wings of Mercy chapter to see if you qualify for flight assistance.
Dates are subject to change.
Limited financial assistance is available for those in need (excludes partial stays). Application available online or by request.
Rooms assigned on a first-come, first-served basis; limited to 10 participants.
Companion rate is $1980 (includes meals, stay, and evening educational activities). Please note that the patient must be in a single room to have a companion.
Partial stays are charged by a daily rate, minimum stay is 3 days. Inquire about possibility and fees.
Please check with your own insurance company to see what they will cover. We will furnish a paid receipt for submission to your carrier. Some of the treatments and doctor’s visits may be covered. If you are planning to fly here, check with your local Wings of Mercy chapter to see if you qualify for flight assistance.
Insurance Information
About US
What We Treat
Over the last 20 years of running the intensive sessions our medical doctors have treated patients with an incredibly wide range of diagnoses. The format of the session (specifically the amount of time our patients spend with an MD) is especially beneficial for patients with cancer, or patients facing a very complex or undiagnosed condition. The session, however, is beneficial for anyone working towards health, regardless of condition or diagnosis.
The Program
The two-week intensive therapeutic session is designed for ambulatory individuals with a variety of ailments, chronic illnesses, or anyone seeking a restorative regimen. Our patients have suffered chronic fatigue, recovery from chemotherapy, arthritis, stroke, MS, digestive issues and many other problems. Many of our patients receive Mistletoe, an anthroposophical homeopathic cancer treatment. As a patient, you will receive individual medical care from founding physicians Quentin McMullen, MD and Molly McMullen-Laird, MD.
Both physicians were trained in Internal Medicine in the United States and in Anthroposophical Medicine in Europe.
A unique feature of our therapeutic sessions is the availability of anthroposophical therapies: therapeutic eurythmy, speech formation, art therapy, color-light, music, rhythmical massage, therapeutic baths, and nursing therapies. A talented, dedicated team of therapists, under the medical direction of Drs. Molly and Quentin McMullen, create an unparalleled healing environment.
Nursing Care
Anthroposophical nursing goes beyond traditional nursing by addressing the need of patients to be listened to and cared for in their surroundings. The quality of the air, light, heat, textures of bedclothes, fresh water and flowers, appropriate for the illness of the patient, are attended to. Footbaths, bodywork with oil rubbings, and encouragement in all the rhythms of the day are found in the relationship between nurse and patient.
Nutrition
Three meals per day are served in a beautiful community dining room in the historic Anna Botsford Bach Home. All food is organic or biodynamic, with preference given to local produce. The delicious, vegetarian meals are based on the therapeutic diet plan of the Lukas Klinik in Arlesheim, Switzerland.
Group Activities
Group Activities are an important aspect of the experience. Group singing starts the day (after breakfast), and evening educational programs are spread throughout the session. There are also weekend outing opportunities, as well as nearby parks available for walking, hiking and plant observation. Ambulatory patients are encouraged to participate in the varied aspects of maintaining gardens, and to walk in the open air. Evening and weekend social events such as musical performances further enhance the sense of community that many patients feel during the sessions.
Therapies
Your plan of care will be individually tailored to your needs. You may have some treatments or therapies daily, or every other day, but you may not need all therapies.
Massage
Rhythmical massage is a specific form of massage, individually prescribed and performed by specially trained massage therapists.
Singing
Compresses, foot-baths, applications of oils, and therapeutic baths (including oil dispersion and over-warming baths
IV Therapies
Depending on the diagnosis, a number of IV therapies may be given during your stay, including high dose Vitamin C, glutathione, Myer’s Cocktail and others
Art Therapy
Promotes healing through use of drawing, watercolor painting, and clay modeling
Movement
Spacial dynamics therapy is used to harmonize and strengthen body and soul
Color Light
A special color exposure and response therapy developed in Europe.
Ann Arbor News article: Throwing the self-healing switch
Our Facility
Participant Testimonials
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Rudolf Steiner Health Center and where is it located?
The Rudolf Steiner Health Center is a center established to provide Anthroposophic Medical care in combination with traditional Western medicine in one facility, which can house all the therapies that Anthroposophic medicine encompasses.
The RSHC is located at the historic Anna Botsford Bach House at 1422 W. Liberty Ann Arbor, MI. 48103.
What is Anthroposophic Medicine?
Anthroposophic Medicine (Anthropos = human being : Sophia = wisdom) is a form of complementary medicine developed by Rudolf Steiner that views the entire human being (physical and life bodies, soul and spirit) in its relationship to the universe in treating illness.
It includes the use of European homeopathic and plant medicines, assessment by specially trained physicians, and several unique therapies and nursing treatments.
Medicines used are taken from the realms of plants, animals, and minerals.
What kind of doctors work at the Center?
The center was established and is run by Drs. Molly and Quentin McMullen. Both physicians are traditionally trained Internal Medicine physicians with additional training in Anthroposophic Medicine. At times, other Anthroposophic physicians or medical students come in to work and learn.
What geographical area do you service?
People come from all over North America, and even as far as Japan and Israel to attend retreats.
Do you have to have prior experience or knowledge of Anthroposophy to come to the center?
No. Participants of all ages, interests and backgrounds can attend and experience the healing environment at the center.
Does the program have any religious affiliations?
The retreat sessions do not have any religious components. If you would like to attend religious services during your stay, please let us know so that we can plan accordingly. A comprehensive guide to Ann Arbor area churches, synagogues and religious fellowships is listed in the City Guide section of Arborweb.com.
I really like my current physician and I take some conventional medicine that I am comfortable with. Do I have to give these up?
No, not at all. Both physicians are very happy to work with the program you are following and are quite willing to communicate with your current physician. Anthroposophic medicine complements your current regimen and may replace or reduce the need for some conventional drugs. Our physicians work together with your conventional physician to make those determinations.
What is a session like? Do I have to stay at the center?
Participants stay at the center for ease of receiving treatments and for a sense of community. Usually, all participants arrive on the same day and settle into their rooms. The first evening will be an orientation time to get familiar with the center and each other.
Dinner will be served and orientation will follow. All meals are vegetarian, prepared with organically or biodynamically locally grown foods. All the food is prepared fresh and is served family style.
The next day participants are gently awakened, greeted by their nurses, given any prescribed medicines before going to breakfast. After breakfast, participants join together to sing, and then return to their room to see a physician, or begin their first therapy of the day. There may be another therapy before lunch. After lunch and a rest, therapies continue until just before dinner. After dinner, participants are on their own or may choose to attend interesting lectures/discussions with the staff, or a musical or other social event.