Wellness in Counseling: An Overview

Wellness is both a dynamic process of physical, mental, and spiritual optimization and integration and an outcome of that process. Bill Hettler (1984), considered the father of the modern wellness movement, defined wellness as "an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward a more successful existence" (p. 14). Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer (2000), after reviewing literature from multiple disciplines, concluded that wellness is: a way of life oriented toward optimal health and wellbeing, in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural community. Ideally, it is the optimum state of health and well-being that each individual is capable of achieving. (p. 252) Historically, the roots of wellness may be traced back over 2,000 years, to the early teachings of the two daughters of Aesculapias, the ancient Greek God of healing. The first, Panacea, believed that treating existing illness was the way to promote healing. Hygeia, on the other hand, believed that we should teach positive ways of living to help prevent illness. The predominance of the first approach is revealed in statistics suggesting that more than half and as many as two-thirds of all causes of death in the United States are due to lifestyle factors that can be modified through conscious choices. Virtually all approaches to counseling emphasize the importance of individual decision making, thus counseling is a natural partner in the wellness movement. The counseling profession is based in values which support prevention, optimum development, and positive functioning. As a consequence, in 1989 the Governing Council of the American Counseling Association adopted a position to support the counseling professions’ position as an advocate for optimum health and wellness for all individuals. In this Digest, models of wellness originating in counseling are described, assessments based on those models are introduced, and the results of a rapidly expanding body of wellness counseling research are provided. Finally, suggestions for using wellness information in counseling are described.