From Active Duty to Holistic Healing: Bre Butler's Journey at CIIS

Bre Butler didn't set out to reimagine healthcare for veterans. She started as a clinical dietitian, joined the Marines, and served five years on active duty. But somewhere between the rigid structure of military life and the limitations of conventional medicine, she realized something was missing — not just for herself, but for the entire active duty and veteran population she served alongside.

"There's a lot of healing and health that is needed within our active duty population as well as our veterans," Butler reflected. "Things that we don't necessarily get in terms of self-care or medical attention, holistic healing, or different modalities."

That realization set her on a search that would last a year and a half. Stationed overseas, Butler spent her free time searching for programs that could facilitate her own healing while equipping her to bring that healing back to her community. She explored holistic programs, wellness programs, and anything that might offer a different path than the one she'd known.

Finding Home in an Unexpected Place

When Butler discovered the Integrative Health Studies program at California Institute of Integral Studies, she knew immediately it was different. The program had no specific prerequisites, and gathered people from all backgrounds into a shared journey of discovery and healing.

There's such a unique opportunity here to collaborate, network, meet people that you may never have run into before, and to cherish those lifelong friendships.
Bre Butler, Class of 2025, Integrative Health Studies

"You get people from all walks of life here, and it's so cool to learn from all of them," Butler explained. "That's really what makes the program as whole and holistic as it is. Just you being on your own journey, but also everybody else on their journey coming together and experiencing it through each other's eyes."

For Butler and the three other veterans in her cohort, that sense of community became foundational. "We find comfort in one another and just know what experiences we've been through without even necessarily having to talk about them," she shared. But the program pushed them beyond familiar bonds, creating space to connect with classmates they might never have encountered otherwise—people with different backgrounds, different passions, different ways of seeing the world.

Awakening to Ancient Wisdom

One class in particular changed everything for Butler: Ancestral and Indigenous Medicine. The course ignited passions she didn't know she had and exposed her to healing traditions she'd never encountered. She learned about limpias (cleansing ceremonies), natural remedies using herbs and plants, and the vital role of community in wellness, concepts largely absent from her previous training.

"From that class, you gain a sense of community, gain a sense of what you really need in life," Butler explained, “and how to naturally treat those things naturally.”

The class led to an unexpected opportunity: a study abroad trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, where Butler studied Curanderismo, a traditional Mexican healing practice still benefitting communities today. What struck her most was seeing how these practitioners work hand-in-hand with the conventional medical system, something largely absent in the United States. She hopes to take this model forward into her own work and transform the systems currently in place to have a more integrative model. 

This program opens your mind and your heart to so many opportunities that are out there.
Bre Butler, Class of 2025, Integrative Health Studies

In fact, she’s already gotten started. As she approached graduation in May 2025, Butler worked in a hospital clinic setting on a Marine Corps base, bringing integrative health perspectives to the active duty population she once served alongside. 

A Message for Fellow Veterans

When asked what she'd tell other veterans considering CIIS, Bre's answer was immediate and unequivocal: "Just do it."

She emphasized how the program's structure — with intensive sessions at the beginning of each semester followed by online coursework — makes it possible to pursue a master's degree without uprooting your life. The intensives offer moments to pause, refocus, ground yourself, and reconnect with your cohort before returning to daily life with new perspectives and tools. "Pairing it with your VA benefits, your GI bill, your vocational rehab, this is the perfect program to do it."

For Bre, the journey through CIIS has been about more than earning a degree. It's been about reconnecting with herself, discovering healing modalities that honor both ancient wisdom and modern needs, and finding a way to bring that healing back to the military community she loves.