Monday, March 09, 2009

HOW TO GET WELLNESS HELP FROM THE COMMUNITY

If we are worried about our wellness, our first instinct is to find help in the community. There are several problems with that. First, we need a clear picture of what makes us well. As we all know, wellness comes from a combination of diet, exercise, learning, praying, good relationships etc. Therefore we need some idea of what we need most.

So before we ask for help, we must decide what we need.

Next, we need a view of the community helpers. They are to be found in silos. For example, each church is a silo. Its walls are made up of beliefs, procedures and budgets. The silo is led by a particular profession. These silos are like the family - no time, too busy.

So when we knock on a silo door we find good folks who know quite a bit about one aspect of wellness. Churches aren’t experts in diet, exercise etc. They don’t have a full view of wellness and certainly not our wellness.

There are a number of big helping silos - health, education, social services and justice. Each with their walls and dominant professions - doctors in healthcare, lawyers in justice, etc.

The big community helping problem is that the big players have neither the time nor the ability to guide towards wellness - because wellness is the right combination of things for each individual. Only the family can do that.

So, a family looking for wellness help in the community must first be clear what wellness is needed. Then it can benefit from the right community agencies.

Part of the FAMILY CHALLENGE is finding what wellness your family needs. Do you know?