Wellness Counseling
What is wellness?
The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” This means you actively pursue wellness and take responsibility for your actions that lead to holistic health.
Holistic health goes beyond physical health to include all the dimensions of human functioning. Many wellness models include these 8 dimensions: physical, social, occupational, financial, environmental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. A change in one dimension can affect the others. A promotion at work or the loss of employment can both affect your emotional state, how you think about yourself, your relationships, and more.
Where are you on the Illness/Wellness Continuum?
Most medical and mental health providers use a treatment paradigm to help you move from symptoms of physical illnesses or mental-emotional disorders to a neutral place where symptoms are absent. The wellness paradigm helps you move beyond the treatment paradigm to High-Level Wellness, a state of growth and thriving in each dimension of life.
Since you are a whole self, experiencing life through multiple dimensions, you may be well in some areas and not so well in others. One person may have severe physical disease symptoms but still have high levels of social, financial and spiritual wellness. Another may be physically well but display serious emotional and social distress due to trauma. If you would like to assess your wellness, click here to download the free assessment.
All living creatures have an innate drive to reach their potential. When an acorn falls to the ground, it contains the genetic instructions it needs to become an oak tree. If the acorn sprouts and the tree gets the water, nourishment, and sunlight it requires, it grows into a mighty oak. Similarly, you were born with the genetic instructions to grow from infancy to adulthood, but you also needed a healthy, nurturing environment. Without it, you may not have received the tools, knowledge or role models to make appropriate choices and live fully. Perhaps, you experienced constant criticism, neglect, trauma and/or bullying from people in your life, including parents, teachers, coaches, peers or others. These events left you feeling unsafe and vulnerable, putting you in survival mode and inhibiting you from taking risks and growing. This where wellness counseling can help.
What is wellness counseling?
Wellness counseling helps you move out of your comfort zone into the growth zone. I will help you transform your fixed mindset, the belief that you’re hopelessly stuck where you, into a growth mindset, the belief that you have what it takes to move toward higher levels of wellness through learning, effort and persistence. I will help you connect to your values, set intentions and goals, create pathways, and provide support, encouragement and accountability as you take your wellness journey. Our work will stress consistency over intensity, moving at the pace you need.
All change starts with addressing what has kept you stuck. We may have to address past trauma. We will certainly have to address your self-limiting beliefs, low self-esteem or lack of confidence. Change isn’t easy. As you begin your wellness journey, family and friends may see you differently or judge you. We’ll work together to help you overcome psychological and social resistance and implement proven change strategies for your wellness journey. To create an empowering lifestyle, you will need to create an empowering narrative about yourself and your capabilities.
Our work will not be in isolation. I am not a medical doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer, financial coach, or any number of other specialists. However, all change starts internally, and you must examine the psychological and emotional limitations that prevent you from creating healthy behaviors, habits and routines. Then you’ll need help with goals and a plan to move forward. As a mental health professional who specializes in mindset transformation, change strategies, and motivation, the work we do will benefit the work you’re doing with other professionals.
I offer a supportive presence. I know how important this is because I remember when I started my own wellness journey. Click here if you would like to read my story.
Here are some ways I can help.
Social Wellness: Overcome social anxiety, shyness, imposture syndrome and loneliness. Enhance friendships and romantic relationships through better communication and conflict management skills.
Physical Wellness: Create a lifestyle that values and enjoys healthy exercise and eating routines so that you can feel better and lose weight. Address factors that get in the way of a healthy lifestyle. Overcome emotional and binge eating. Adjust to your new life after bariatric surgery.
Spiritual Wellness: Connect with your deepest values. Live with greater meaning and purpose. Cope with the uncertainty of life. Incorporate your religious beliefs into your daily life. Recover from religious trauma.
Occupational Wellness: Gain greater job satisfaction. Avoid burnout. Decide on a new career field. Work cooperatively and effectively with managers and colleagues.
Intellectual Wellness: Evaluate your life narrative. Effectively cope with anxious thoughts and worry. Change irrational, limiting beliefs. Be open to new ideas and experiences. Make better decisions.
Emotional Wellness: Be more aware of the feelings you’re having and how they affect you. Be more empathetic and compassionate with yourself and others. Deal with stress more effectively.
Financial Wellness: Replace a scarcity mindset with an abundance mindset. Change your self-limiting narratives and beliefs about money. Make better financial decisions. Commit to goals and systems giving you greater control over your money.
Today is your start day.
You have an innate desire to grow and live your best life. You’re frustrated because you feel stuck. You look back over the years and wonder where you’d be if you had started your wellness journey sooner. You don’t have to wait any longer.