Most people are familiar with the term wellness. It is likely that most people you ask would say that wellness is important to them. Unfortunately, individuals who conduct an Internet search in hopes of finding ways of improving their personal wellness will often find a plethora of gimmicks and strategies that are not effective, unsupported by research, potentially harmful, and sometimes expensive. Most helping professionals also acknowledge that wellness is important for their clients. However, various disciplines promote different definitions of wellness. Within the counseling profession, we tend to agree that wellness consists of “a way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being, in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural community” (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 2000, p. 252). In our work with clients, we have continuously recognized the importance of viewing their concerns from a holistic perspective. Each area of an individual’s life inevitably affects other areas. We also believe that now, maybe more than ever, it is important to work from a prevention approach. As mental health concerns appear to be on the rise, we can help people work toward optimal wellness in an effort to avert such concerns. At the very least, prevention and wellness promotion efforts can help build coping strategies that can help alleviate or reduce the severity of unavoidable mental health concerns.

In our experience teaching wellness courses and speaking with experienced practitioners, we have received feedback that counselors believe in promoting wellness for their clients; however, they are not quite sure what wellness “looks like,” or they are not interested in learning more concrete strategies to promote client wellness. This book is designed for beginning and experienced counselors who are interested in conceptualizing clients from a holistic wellness perspective and in promoting wellness through prevention and intervention efforts. Each chapter contains up-to-date research and best practices within the wellness domains. We also provide concrete strategies for implementing wellness interventions throughout the book. In addition, we include “Practitioner Spotlights,” where experienced practitioners share their personal experiences implementing wellness interventions. Some additional features of the book include reflection prompts to help the reader process the information, learning activities to help the reader participate in wellness strategies before implementing them with clients, and additional resources for the reader to explore related to the content in each chapter.

This book is divided into four parts. Part I consists of a chapter describing the theoretical foundations, empirical support, and domains of wellness. Part I also contains a chapter discussing the current trends and public policy implications related to wellness. Part II of the book includes wellness domains. We divided this part into five chapters: Mind (e.g., cognitions, intellectual stimulation), Body (e.g., physical wellness, nutrition), Spirit (e.g., religion, spirituality, meaning and purpose), Emotion (e.g., emotion regulation), and Connection (e.g., social support). Part III pertains to wellness counseling in action and contains chapters on assessment and conceptualization, treatment planning, and wellness interventions. Part IV is composed of chapters on wellness with specific populations and settings. Our goal for this section is to provide more depth and specific strategies for implementation. The section includes chapters on wellness across the life span, wellness counseling modalities, wellness counseling in educational settings, and wellness for counselors (i.e., self-care).

Reference

1. Myers, J. E., Sweeney, T. J., & Witmer, J. M. (2000). The Wheel of Wellness counseling for wellness: A holistic model for treatment planning. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78, 251–266.

Jonathan H. Ohrt is currently an associate professor and counselor education program coordinator at the University of South Carolina. He earned his PhD in counselor education at the University of Central Florida in 2010 and his MA in counselor education at the University of South Florida in 2006. He is a certified K–12 school counselor and has worked for several years providing psychoeducation as well as individual and small group counseling services to high school students in Florida. He has also provided services in a university-based counseling clinic. His current research projects are related to prevention and wellness promotion for children, adolescents, and transitional-age youths; counselor wellness; and group work.

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Philip B. Clarke earned his MS/EdS in counseling in 2004 and his PhD in counselor education in 2012. He has been a licensed professional counselor (North Carolina) since 2006 and a faculty member in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University since 2011. He has worked and interned in multiple counseling settings, including a group private practice, a hospital-based intensive outpatient substance abuse program, a treatment research clinic, and a hospital-based counseling program. He has experience counseling clients with substance use and co-occurring disorders. His clinical experience has also centered on providing counseling for people diagnosed with dementia and their family caregivers. He had the privilege of taking a course in wellness counseling from Dr. Jane Myers, which sparked his interest in the subject. He has presented and written about wellness counseling for people with substance use concerns, cancer survivors, and family caregivers of people with dementia. His scholarship also includes developing integrative counseling and experiential teaching approaches. In his classes, he strives to engage students through the use of actors to portray clients.

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Abigail H. Conley is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Education and is an affiliate faculty member in the Institute for Women’s Health, at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned her PhD in counselor education from North Carolina State University in 2012 and her MA in counseling psychology at Lewis and Clark College in 2006. Her clinical experience is in higher education in both community college and university settings, focusing on providing counseling and advocacy services to survivors of sexual assault. Her research interests include interpersonal violence survivorship and healing, violence prevention, and wellness and resiliency. She serves as an associate editor of quantitative research for Counseling and Values, the official journal of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, a division of the American Counseling Association.

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The contributors listed below are mental health professionals, educators, and human services center directors who authored the Practitioner Spotlights found throughout the book. In the Practitioner Spotlights, the contributors impart their knowledge and experience on wellness and wellness counseling with the purpose of illustrating and elaborating on key terms and concepts.

Jamie D. Aten, PhD, is founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Hannah Bayne, PhD, is an assistant professor of counselor education at Florida State University in Gainsville, Florida.

Michael D. Brubaker, PhD, LICDC-CS, NCC, is an associate professor of counseling at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Craig Cashwell, PhD, LPC, NCC, ACS, is professor of counseling at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Don Davis, PhD, is an associate professor of counseling at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Allison M. Forti, PhD, LPC, NCC, is an assistant teaching professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Matthew Fullen, PhD, MDiv, LPCC, is an assistant professor of counselor education at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Jessie Guest, MA, RPT, LPC, is a doctoral student and counselor in private practice in Shelby, North Carolina.

Linda Hancock, FNP, PhD, is director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Wellness Resource Center, in Richmond, Virginia.

J. Robert Nations, DMin, is an assistant teaching professor and associate director of counseling department online programs at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Therese L. Newton, PhD, LPCA, NCC, is an assistant professor at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia.

Jacy Rader, LPC, is in private practice in Dallas, Texas.

Laura Shannonhouse, PhD, LPC, NCC, is an assistant professor of counseling and psychological services at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Matt Shenker, MEd, is a school counselor in Hanover, Virginia.

Julia V. Taylor, PhD, is an assistant professor of counselor education at at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Cirecie A. West-Olatunji, PhD, is an associate professor of counseling at Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Brooke Wymer, LISW, is a doctoral student and counselor in private practice in West Columbia, South Carolina.

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First and foremost, we thank our students who have inspired this book and taught us so much about wellness. We are grateful for the practitioners who volunteered their time and were willing to share their experiences to greatly enhance this book through our Practitioner Spotlight sections. We appreciate Carolyn Baker, Nancy Driver, the American Counseling Association staff, and the reviewers for their work on this text. We are also grateful for the foundational work in our field by Jane Myers, Tom Sweeney, Melvin Witmer, and Mark Young. We are so honored to know and learn from you all.

Jonathan: I thank my advisor Dr. Mike Robinson for his mentorship and guidance. I am also grateful for Dr. Mark Young, who was the first person to introduce me to wellness from a professional perspective. I am grateful for my coauthors, Philip and Abigail. It is amazing that this book, that we first imagined at an American Counseling Association conference 6 years ago, will now be published. Thank you both for your hard work, flexibility, and persistence. Finally, I am grateful for my wife, Dodie, and my sons, Hayden and Maren, who all bring me great happiness and contribute to my own personal wellness.

Philip: I am appreciative of the opportunity to work with my coauthors Jonathan and Abigail. This was truly a thoughtful writing process and involved many long discussions because we care deeply about the topic of wellness counseling. I want to thank my parents (Ray and Lynn) and sister (Jessica) who were my first wellness role models. I thank my wife, Rebecca, for all her love and support and my son, Andrew, for teaching me so much. I am grateful to Dr. Donna Henderson for her support in my growth as a counselor educator and Dr. Sam Gladding for his advice and listening ear in regard to the writing of this book. A debt of gratitude is owed to Sara Oberle for developing the image for the five-domain wellness model. I thank Taylor Pisel and Rachel Powell for their work on developing images for the book. I thank all of my students and clients. My writing in this book has been largely inspired by you. Special thanks to the great mental health professionals and counselor educators who wrote or were interviewed for Practitioner Spotlights in the book. My biggest inspiration in writing this book was Dr. Jane Myers—thanks for the mentorship that you provided to me and many others and for pioneering counselors’ understanding of wellness.

Abigail: I want to thank my amazing students and colleagues at VCU who make space for me to grow, and provide feedback on many of the ideas in this book. And, I have so much gratitude for my partner and husband, Joe; my parents, Gayle and Norm; my children, Miles and Polly; and my amazing coauthors, Jonathan and Philip, for their support and encouragement while writing this book. It was truly a labor of love. At times, late nights spent writing did not seem like the best example of wellness. However, having support to cultivate the inevitable ebb and flow of writing has given me a new appreciation for what work–life balance can look like. The word “balance” in this sense is a misnomer, really, because a fulfilling work–life ratio is anything but balanced—it’s finding a way to make time for the things that need attention (sometimes that is writing, sometimes that is rocking a teething baby all night), leaning on others to help pick up the slack during the transition, being okay with asking for help, and finding ways to create space for joy and replenishment in between it all.