Wellness Planning
Understanding the Role of Wellness
in the Helping Professions
Wellness…
Is a paradigm in healthcare
Is a strengths-based approach to mental health treatment
Promotes the values of the helping professions: Prevention, optimum development, and healthy
functioning
Promotes cross-disciplinary values of quality of life, health, and longevity
Primary Objectives
As you complete the following exercises, consider the following questions:
o What am I willing to add to my daily and/or weekly activities that is health-promoting?
o How can I utilize an accountability partner to assist me in my wellness journey?
o What aspects of wellness (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) am I not adequately
attending to at this time?
Once you have completed the attached activities, list 5 potential self-care strategies that you are
interested is implementing this semester.
1._________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________
4._________________________________________________
5._________________________________________________
Select a fellow student (or willing volunteer!) to act as an “accountability partner”. Please provide their
name in the provided space.
Wellness Accountability Partner:_________________________________
1
Self-Care Assessment Worksheet
This assessment tool provides an overview of effective strategies to maintain self-care. After
completing the full assessment, choose one item from each area that you will actively work to improve.
Instructions: Below is a list of activities related to self-care. Please read each one carefully, then
place an “X” in the box that most describes the frequency of which you participate in each
activity.
No.
1.
Physical Self Care
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Psychological Self Care
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Response:
It never
occurred
to me
(1)
Never
Rarely
Occasionally
Frequently
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Eat regularly (e.g. breakfast,
lunch and dinner)
Eat healthy
Exercise regularly
Get regular medical care for
prevention
Get medical care when needed
Take time off when sick
Get massages, or acupuncture
Dance, swim, walk, run, play
sports, sing, or do some other
physical activity that is fun
Take time to be sexual—with
yourself, with a partner
Get enough sleep
Wear clothes you like
Take vacations
Take day trips or minivacations
Make time away from
telephones and computers
Make time for self-reflection
Receive personal
psychotherapy or counseling,
attend a support group
Write in a journal
Read literature that is enriches
your understanding of yourself
Do something at which you
are not an expert or in charge
Decrease stress in your life
Notice your inner
experience—listen to your
thoughts, judgments, beliefs,
attitudes, and feelings
2
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
Personal Self Care
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Spiritual Self Care
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
Let others know different
aspects of yourself
Engage your intelligence in a
new area, e.g., go to an art
museum, history exhibit,
sports event, or theater
performances
Practice receiving from others
Be curious
Say no to extra responsibilities
Spend time with others whose
company you enjoy
Stay in contact with important
people in your life
Give yourself affirmations,
praise yourself
Love yourself
Reread favorite books, re-view
favorite movies
Identify comforting activities,
objects, people, relationships,
places and seek them out
Allow yourself to cry
Find things that make you
laugh
Express your outrage in social
action, letters, donations,
marches, protests
Play with children
Make time for reflection
Spend time with nature
Find a spiritual connection or
community
Be open to inspiration
Cherish your optimism and
hope
Be aware of nonmaterial
aspects of life
Try at times not to be in
charge or the expert
Be open to not knowing
Identify what is meaningful to
you and notice its place in
your life
Meditate
Pray
3
48.
49.
50.
51.
Sing
Have experiences of awe
Contribute to causes in which
you believe
Read inspirational literature
(talks, music, etc.)
Source: Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff of TSI/CAAP (Norton, 1996)
4
REPLENISH THE WELL: AN EXPERIENCE IN SELF-CARE
DIRECTIONS FOR “PIE OF LIFE” EXERCISE
The purpose of this exercise is to help you take a look at how you are currently allocating the time of
your life. A meaningful life is one in balance, with adequate time allocated to the activities that
express your values and priorities. Unfortunately, many people do not live their life in balance, or in a
way that supports and expresses their values.
This exercise will help you assess whether or not you are currently living a whole and balanced life.
Follow the steps below:
1.
On a blank piece of paper, draw a large circle to represent your life.
2.
Place a smaller circle in the center to represent you, and label it with your name.
3.
Thinking of your life as a pie, divide the slices and label them to show the various activities that
you are engaged in on a regular basis. Some of the “pie slices” many people include are: work,
learning, family and other relationships, contributions to others, fun and leisure, physical and
emotional self-care, and spiritual well-being.
4.
Reflect on your current life by considering the following questions, and share your responses with
a partner:
•
Am I living a balanced life?
•
Are my priorities and values reflected in this allocation of time?
•
If I had one month left to live, is this the way I would allocate my time?
•
Am I involved in too many activities?
•
How much of my time is spent caring for others? For myself?
•
Are there areas of my life that need my attention?
•
Is there a dream or desire that keeps getting put on the back burner that I’d like to focus
on now?
•
What needs less attention? More attention?
•
What changes do I want to make?
•
What is one commitment I can now make to change the balance toward what I want for
my life?
Exercise developed by Catherine D. Nugent, for Replenish the Well: An Experience in Self-Care, workshop
presented at Peer Services: A Life in the Community for Everyone, Fifth Annual Conference of the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment’s Recovery
5
Community Services Program, Washington, DC, July 13, 2004. Adapted from Richardson, C. (1999). Take time
for your life. New York: Broadway Books.
REPLENISH THE WELL:
AN EXPERIENCE IN SELF-CARE
SELF-CARE WORKSHEET
Neglecting self-care can have negative effects on body, mind, and spirit, leaving us depleted and out of
balance. For this reason, it is important to have self-care strategies that address each of these parts of
ourselves. Organizations also need to support self-care for staff and volunteers. On the chart below, list
as many self-care strategies as you can. (An example is given in each area to get you started).
After you have listed strategies, place a check-mark to any that you do regularly, and put a star next to
any you might like to consider adding to add to your life.
PHYSICAL
Aerobic exercise
MENTAL (INCLUDES
EMOTIONAL)
SPIRITUAL
Sharing upset
feelings with a friend Meditation
ORGANIZATIONAL
Regularly scheduled
peer supervision
group
Exercise developed by Catherine D. Nugent, for Replenish the Well: An Experience in Self-Care, workshop presented at
Peer Services: A Life in the Community for Everyone, Fifth Annual Conference of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment’s Recovery Community Services Program, Washington,
DC, July 13, 2004.
6
REPLENISH THE WELL: AN EXPERIENCE IN SELF-CARE
SOCIAL SUPPORT WORKSHEET
Introduction: People working in the helping field are subject to conditions that can lead to depletion or
even impairment, such as the emotionally intense nature of the helping relationship and increasingly
heavy case loads. Receiving support from others can replenish us and reduce our vulnerability to
professional stress (White, 1986). In addition, social support has been positively correlated with
improved health and mental health outcomes (Cobb, 1976), and shown to be a positive factor in making
healthy lifestyle changes (Hanna, 2002; Prochaska et al, 1994).
Four types of social support have been identified (Salser, 2003; Cobb, 1976):
Emotional support - refers to demonstrations of empathy, love, caring, concern. Emotional
support bolsters one’s self-esteem and confidence. An emotional supporter serves as a
confidante, offering acceptance, care, and understanding.
Informational support - refers to assistance with knowledge, information, and skills. Can
include providing information on where to go for resources or teaching a skill.
Instrumental support - refers to concrete assistance in helping others to do things or get things
done, especially stressful or unpleasant tasks.
Companion support - refers to companionship, feeling connected, people in whose company
you enjoy being, especially for recreational activities.
The exercise on the following page will help you assess your current level of social support and think
about areas in which you may need to extend your network. As you consider those who offer social
support to you, it is also useful to think about the people for whom you play support roles, and to assess
your level of comfort in those roles.
References:
Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38(5), 300-314.
Hanna, F. (2001). Therapy with difficult clients: Using the precursors model to awaken change.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Prochaska, J., Norcross, J., DiClemente, C., and Crawley, B. (1995). Changing for good: A
revolutionary, six-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward.
New York: William Morrow.
Salzer, M. (2002). Consumer-delivered services as a best practice in mental health care delivery and
the development of practice guidelines. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills 6(3), 355-382.
White, W. (1986). Incest in the organizational family: The ecology of burnout in closed systems.
Bloomington, IL: Lighthouse Training Institute Publications.
7
ASSESSING YOUR CURRENT SOCIAL SUPPORT
List at least three people who provide each of the types of social support described on the
previous page. (It is OK to put the same person in more than one area.)
Emotional
Informational
Instrumental
Companion
Now reflect on the following questions. (You could write out your answers and/or share your responses
with a friend or colleague. If you discuss your answers with a friend, you will be putting social support
into action.)
•
In general, how do you feel about your social support network?
•
Does your current support network meet your needs for social support?
Are all of different types of social support (emotional, informational, instrumental,
companion) covered adequately?
Do you have enough people in your social support network? Do you think anyone in your
support network might be feeling overextended?
Do the people in your network provide the quality of support you would like? If not, what
could you do to make the situation better?
Have their been any recent changes in your support network? If yes, what has been the
impact? In what area(s) are you most feeling the change?
•
Do you have “job openings” in your support network? If yes, how will go you about filling
these? Try to come up with at least three ideas for ways to expand your social support
network in the areas where you perceive a lack.
Exercise developed by Catherine D. Nugent, for Replenish the Well: An Experience in Self-Care, workshop presented at Peer
Services: A Life in the Community for Everyone, Fifth Annual Conference of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment’s Recovery Community Services Program, Washington, DC, July 13,
2004.
8