CCNH History

Since its founding almost 30 years ago, Clayton College of Natural Health has been at the forefront of two of the most important revolutions of our time: the emergence of alternative, natural healthcare practices in the mainstream and the rise of distance education. The natural health revolution has changed the way people look at healthcare and has empowered individuals to take responsibility for their own health by learning more about caring for the body naturally. The distance learning revolution, which made education more accessible and more affordable, has enabled Clayton College to bring this powerful knowledge to a new generation of natural health enthusiasts, educators, and practitioners.

As the natural health revolution evolved, Clayton College has evolved with it. Today the faculty includes experts in many of the natural health modalities as well as healthcare professionals with a holistic orientation such as nurses, chiropractors, and nutrition professionals.

“I wanted something more than just an education. I wanted to believe in what I was to become.” —Melissa Baker Kelso

Setting the Standard

From humble beginnings as an outgrowth of an herb company in 1980 to preparing to celebrate our 30th anniversary of setting the standard as a world leader in natural health distance education, Clayton College keeps its commitment to continually review and enhance academic programs, expand course offerings, and improve services to meet student needs at all collegiate levels. The 1990s witnessed CCNH’s growth from a grassroots natural health school to a leader at the forefront of an emerging academic discipline. In the mid-1990s, the college began expanding its program offerings to meet the demands of a growing public interest in natural health lifestyles. The decade also marked the college’s first digital steps with the launch of www.ccnh.edu in December 1997.

Live chats, discussion forums, and other online opportunities for students and graduates to network with and befriend peers began to emerge in the new millennium. The groundwork had been laid for setting the standard in distance delivery of natural health education. In 1999 the college began offering an online testing option for several of the most popular electives and courses required in all programs. In 2005 we migrated to the Blackboard Learning System^™—CE Enterprise License (formerly WebCT Campus Edition), a full service learning management system that allowed us to increase the number of courses available for online testing today.

Another development in the college’s history of setting standards and contributing to the field of knowledge in natural health was the founding of the Natural Reader Press. The press has published both new and classic works in this field that promote the ideas and concepts of traditional naturopathy, natural health, and holistic nutrition, thus giving voice, form, and shape to the heart of CCNH’s philosophy.

In 2002 CCNH set another standard for the natural health distance education field when we hosted our first natural health conference that brought together students, graduates, and speakers from all across the country. The conferences have been a major success, with each consecutive event attracting more students and graduates and presenters, including Dr. Elson Haas, Sally Fallon, Dr. Julian Whitaker, and Annemarie Colbin. The five day, four night learning and networking experience became an international event attracting attendees from as far away as the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Pakistan.

CCNH keeps setting standards to be met in the field of natural health distance education. To support the research requirements of our students and graduates, in 2007 Clayton College began offering students and graduates access to the Natural Standard^© database, the natural health library resource used by leading universities including Harvard, Duke, Yale, and Stanford. The college’s milestone achievement that continues to set CCNH apart as leader in the natural health distance education field is its 2008 awarding of the Quality Standards Certification (QS) by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), the nation’s premier distance learning professional association.

In 2008 CCNH jumped into the social media stream with profiles on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Care2 that are open to both students and graduates and to anyone interested in learning more about the college or meeting some of our students and graduates. Additionally, the college built a social network for students and graduates only on the Ning platform. There, students and graduates can create a personalized page with text, photos, video, and music, and they can participate in or create their own discussions, groups, and even create their own network.

In keeping with our commitment to offering the best possible student services, CCNH added the Alt HealthWatch^™ and MEDLINE^® with Full Text databases to its library services for students and graduates in 2009. Together they offer close to 5000 searchable journals. Alt HealthWatch^™ focuses on complementary, holistic, and integrated approaches to health care and wellness, and MEDLINE^® with Full Text provides authoritative information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Together, these two databases combined with the Natural Standard^© database give students unparalleled research and extracurricular education opportunities.

Become a Part of Clayton College’s Legacy

For almost 30 years Clayton College has been committed to continual quality improvements, to providing current and socially relevant academic content, and to setting standards as leaders in the field of natural health distance education. Through all of the changes and growth since 1980, our guiding principles have remained the same. We are still motivated by the deep conviction that the individual can and must take responsibility for his or her own health — that the power to lead healthier lives resides deep within each of us. While we are educating an increasing number of healthcare professionals, we have never lost our focus on the individual whose desire for the college’s revolutionary programs has energized and inspired us from the beginning.

Whatever has brought you here, whether it is a personal experience or a professional challenge, you can be sure of finding at Clayton College a committed community of natural health practitioners and educators eager to teach you how to be healthy so that you may teach others. We invite you to become a part of the college’s traditions and to help write its future history. Be a part of the revolution!

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