Wellness
- Overview
- Newsletter Articles
Wellness is a conscious, deliberate process that requires a person to become aware of and make choices for a more satisfying lifestyle (National Wellness Institute). Wellness is holistic and multi-dimensional, and includes physical, emotional, intellectual, occupational, financial, social, environmental, and spiritual dimensions.
Wellness is an active process of creating and adapting patterns of behavior that lead to improved health in the wellness dimensions.
A wellness lifestyle includes a self-defined balance of health habits such as adequate sleep and rest, productivity, exercise, participation in meaningful activity, nutrition, productivity, social contact, and supportive relationships.
We believe people can achieve recovery and wellness when they have opportunities to choose and commit to a daily routine of physical activity and exercise, adequate nutrition, consistent sleep and wake cycles, rest, and participation in meaningful activity.
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Available For DownloadThis is a booklet designed to assist people in thinking about each of the 8 dimensions of wellness. Individuals can answer questions about their strengths in the dimension, take a self-assessment of their strengths and needs in that dimension, and use available space to record areas to improve/enhance.
This document may be printed in black and white or in color. |
by Peggy Swarbrick, Jay Yudof, & John Garafano
Our society is full of people dealing with distress at all levels. People are dissatisfied with their bodies, and seek to lose weight through both conventional and unconventional means.
People are distressed by the effects of a challenging economy, and find themselves not able to spend or save the way they used to. Some of us deal with significant medical issues, and physical pain. Some of us deal with significant mental/emotional issues.
Some of us find solace from use of various substances (food, cigarettes, alcohol, chemicals), or engage in various behaviors to excess (work or exercise). Some of us are overburdened with duties of work, life, and family care. Some of us are dealing with “many of the above.”
The unifying factor is “wellness,” or how these challenges impact our sense of balance.
by Peggy Swarbrick, PHD, OTR, CPRP
The term wellness is not new in society, although it is considered a relatively new framework as it relates to mental health recovery. Wellness is now being viewed as an important construct as it relates to personal recovery and mental health systems transformation. We use the term wellness quite broadly and often tend to focus on the physical dimension. Programs and state authorities are viewing wellness narrowly on the physical health. While physical health is important, it is critical to understand the wellness framework as a bigger concept, so that services and programs can be organized, and outcomes measured, more effectively.
The following will provide a brief history of the term wellness followed by a wellness framework. We hope you will consider this framework as a guideline, whether you are managing your life, seeking and using services, delivering services, or helping to manage and oversee a wellness-oriented service system.
