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Wellness


Health has traditionally been understood as the absence of pathology. According to this line of thought, one is physically healthy if one does not have a physical ailment and one is psychologically healthy if one does not have a psychological ailment. Such black and white thinking is useful, but limited. The term "wellness" offers a broader perspective of health in at least two major ways:

  1. It shifts from a dichotomous (i.e., black and white) perspective on health to a spectrum perspective that includes excellence and thriving.
  2. It acknowledges several areas of health.

image of a wellness wheel, divided into segments representing major areas of one's life such as Environmental, Psychological, Social, Occupational, Spiritual, and Physical

From Surviving to Thriving

CAPS does not only seek to help those with pathologies approach "normalcy", it also seeks to helps people enhance even mediocre areas of their lives and achieve excellence. So the idea is not only to help people get by - to survive; it is also to help people excel - to thrive. This might mean incorporating Positive Psychology into treatment, which acknowledges and utilizes virtues such as achievement, resilience, wisdom, happiness, and love. Rather than the dichotomous abnormal/normal approach, health is looked at as a spectrum from pathology to excellence and people can be anywhere on that spectrum in various aspects of their lives.

The Whole Person

CAPS seeks to help people enhance much more than their emotional well-being. Counselors at CAPS keep in mind that people are not just emotional beings; they are also physical beings, mental beings, and spiritual beings. Likewise, people aren't just students, but are also employees, family members, and friends. When one is approaching health with wellness in mind, all these areas of one's life are important. Finding a balance so that these areas compliment one another allows the whole person to be healthy and happy.

The wellness wheel (illustrated at right) attempts to address the major areas of one's life. Similar illustrations often include physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social/cultural, and occupational/academic aspects of a person, but they may include others as well. This can help one consider major aspects of life, how important they are, and how one feels about the balance that they currently have. (from University of Central Florida)