Carolyn Kinney dedicated her career to the development and advancement of knowledge related to holistic nursing through venues in education, research, consultancy, and practice. She earned her degrees at the University of Iowa, and served on the faculties of The University of Iowa, The University of Michigan, The University of Texas at Austin, and The University of Texas at Galveston. Her academic journey includes participation in numerous research projects and chairing or serving on over 35 Masters and Doctoral thesis committees, many of which are grounded in the Modeling and Role-Modeling Nursing Theory and Paradigm (MRM).

In addition to her academic roles, she maintained a private practice focused on providing holistic nursing care tailored to each client’s unique needs. Her approach, based on MRM theory and paradigm, begins with understanding the client’s worldview and expressed needs. She states that nursing’s role is to assist clients in making desired changes by tapping into their inherent natural healing processes. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the evolution of their growth and development to a higher, more fully functioning level. Her work is documented in various published articles and book chapters, and three videotape programs featuring nurse-client interviews that highlight the progressive points of our work together.