Who we are
About ACHS ACHS has a heritage of excellence in education that spans over 40+ years of teaching complementary alternative medicine (CAM), Aromatherapy, and Integrative Holistic Healthcare. We offer uniquely tailored programs that focus on occupational health and wellness professional clinical protocols in an easily digestible online learning platform.
ACHS programs are designed for student success. The goal of our educational models has focused on learning outcomes offered in a low stress, easy to understand manageable modules with research, a science-based curriculum taught by industry-leading practitioners in a collaborative experiential learning environment.
Why Complementary Alternative Care for the Current COVID-19 Crisis? Awareness and competency of integrative and holistic health practices stimulate outside-the-box thinking and can arm providers and patients with tools that directly address stress and environmental wellness. Now more than ever, all members of health care teams and the public need access to evidence-based practices and inputs that support self-care and resiliency.
Fostering self-care and resiliency benefits all of us globally as we learn to live within a new normal that is filled with stress and uncertainty.
DORENE PETERSEN, BA, DIP.NT, DIP.ACU, RH (AHG)
ACHS President, Principal, and CEO Email: dorenepetersen@achs.edu
The American College of Healthcare Sciences was founded in 1978 by Dorene Petersen in New Zealand. She later opened additional branches in Australia and Hong Kong. Today, ACHS is housed entirely on the U.S. campus located in Portland, Oregon.
In May 2009, the College officially changed its name from the Australasian College of Health Sciences to the American College of Healthcare Sciences. The name change celebrated the College’s 20th anniversary of operations in the United States and better represented the College’s long-term goals as an Institute of Higher Learning in the U.S. In 2018, ACHS celebrated four decades of excellence in holistic health distance education. ACHS President Dorene Petersen holds a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology from Otago University, New Zealand, a Diploma in Natural Therapeutics from the South Pacific College of Natural Therapies in Auckland, New Zealand, and completed specialized training in Chinese herbal medicine and moxibustion. She has also completed part one of the Advanced International Training Program in essential oils at Purdue University.
AMANDA LATTIN, BA, MAT, DIP. AROMA., MH, RA Professor & Aromatherapy Program Chair Email: amandalattin@achs.edu
Amanda Lattin has had a passion for growing and using nutritional and medicinal plants since she planted her first garden at age six. She followed this passion and inquiry while finishing her B.A. in Chemistry at Huntingdon College. She performed research on Ionic Liquids, the Study of Chinese Culture through Chemical Analysis, and Transitional Metal Oxides in Tattoo Pigments. She also traveled to China with Huntingdon College to share water quality research after the opening of the Three Gorges Dam. Amanda continued her education by completing her Master’s of Teaching with a concentration in Chemistry at Lewis and Clark College. There her thesis designed curriculum about the Geochemistry of the Oregon John Day Region. After teaching chemistry at West Linn High School, Amanda returned to her interest in medicinal plants and began studying essential oils with Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt at the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy. She continued her studies by completing her diplomas in Aromatherapy and Herbal Studies at ACHS. Amanda also trained for a year in Applied Kinesiology with Dr. Robert Ciprian, DC, D.I.B.A.K.