Wellness

The World Health Organization (1967) stated that wellness encompasses more than just the absence of disease; it includes a holistic perspective of physical, mental, and social well-being. Within the counseling field, the initial focus was on the client’s wellness; however, the concept also includes counselor wellness (Witmer & Young, 1996). Wellness is (a) multidimensional, (b) best represented on a continuum, and (c) more than just the absence of illness (Roscoe, 2009). Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer’s (2000) defined wellness as: 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. Ideally, it is the optimum state of health and well-being that each individual is capable of achieving. (p. 252)