Philosophy
Philosophy Overview
The underpinning philosophy of the site is essentially holistic in nature. The wellbeing of the whole person involves inter-relationships and synergies within a person and with the elements of the external physical world which influences health and wellness. As such, this site strives in its language and its approach to resource development not to treat and deal with deficit states or their prevention, but to enhance positive states of well-being, build strengths and promote human flourishing. However, it will report and use works that show an enhancement in wellbeing from the deficit state that have been researched and are reported in the current literature.
Wellbeing is not static but a dynamic process that takes into account all the decisions people make daily. It is hoped that people using the site and its materials will operate not within the medical/illness model of health but within the wellness model (Figure 1). The wellness or holistic model defines health in terms of the whole person. It encompasses the physiological, mental, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental aspects of individuals and communities. Unlike the medical model, which assumes that a person who is not sick or not suffering from a disease is healthy, the holistic model proposes that health is a state of optimum or positive wellness. The wellness model promotes positive actions, not only to prevent acute and chronic illnesses, but to increase awareness of present states such as to help individuals pursue high levels of functioning. Practitioners who use the site should be dealing with clients not patients; the clients are well - not ill. They should be promoting self-responsibility/self-care/self-regulation. However, in order to ensure safety for clients, people using the site should always operate within their professional boundaries and make appropriate referrals to the medical profession when necessary.
On an illness/wellness continuum practitioners using this site will operate on the wellness end of ‘Travis’s Wellness Model’ between the ‘neutral point’ and ‘wellness’ using a positive strengths approach. The emphasis is on the wholeness of a person, the client-centeredness of practice and techniques that promote wellness are seen as part of life-long personal wellbeing programming.
Travis’s Wellness Model (1981)
Awareness
Education
Growth
Pursuit of high-level wellness
Illness_________________ Neutral Point __________________ Wellness
Signs
Symptoms
Disability
Premature death
Positive strengths approach to realising your potential
The health and wellbeing of a society is an expression of its socioeconomic and physical environments, of people’s capacity to make healthy choices, and of the settings where they live. It is very clear that health does not arise from actions pursued solely by the health sector; rather, it is a manifestation of all public policies and how they individually, or in interaction with each other, promote or damage health (Health 21: The health for all policy framework for the WHO European Region, 1999).
The fundamental message from the World Health Organization (WHO) is that there is a need to generate widespread action and accountability for health and awareness of mutual objectives in protecting health across all sectors of government. Health is not only the preserve of the health sector but needs to be considered by decision makers in all sectors and at the level of the individual. Policies and actions need to be orientated towards the promotion of health in all sectors (health proofing policy) p104.
Business and industry have become increasingly aware of the advantages of sound environmental and health practice. This has come about not just in response to the health sector but as a result of increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly and health-promoting production processes and products (p106).
The WHO also recognises that people’s role in caring for themselves and determining their own health is not sufficiently recognised and that local communities are not involved enough in dealing with problems of health and health care (p118). Much more health can be created if health care systems recognize and acknowledge the actual and potential contribution people can make to their own health (self-care) and take active steps to support them to do so. It is a public responsibility to ensure that citizens receive extensive, accurate and timely information on health and health care through various communication channels; information itself exerts a key influence on people’s health and on how they use health care services. In Many countries, there is a growing vogue for the use of ‘alternative’ treatments and service providers. The perception of human beings as holistic entities with the right to make free choices recognises and tolerates, even welcomes the existence of complementary or integrative health care alongside conventional medicine. However, in this area, too, high ethical standards need to be met, consumers must be protected against exploitation, and public funds should be used only for treatments with scientifically proved effect (p121/122).
Mission
In the book AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment by Martin E.P. Seligman, he states that people should not focus on relieving states that make life miserable but rather build states that make life worth living. Peoples’ mission in life must be to understand and foster the factors that allow individuals, communities and societies to flourish (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000). This type of expansive thinking that focuses on the positive aspects of future-mindedness will support people to build on their strengths and use those strengths to encourage positive emotions.
In the workplace
People can increase their happiness at work by viewing work as more than labour exchanged for wages. In order to gain happiness in the workplace it is necessary to focus on the idea that work is ‘not about finding the right job but rather finding a job you can make right for you’ (recrafting). If people exercise their signature strengths in the workplace it will increase their level of satisfaction. There is a clear relationship between positive emotion, high productivity, low turnover and high loyalty. Seligman believes that Authentic Happiness comes from identifying your most fundamental strengths and using them every day in work, play and parenting to buffer against misfortune and against psychological disorders. This in turn helps to build resilience in people - psychological capital. To identify your signature strengths visit http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx and complete the VIA SIGNATURE STRENGTHS QUESTIONNAIRE.
pdf