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Wellness Assessment and Plan
Orientation to Counseling Professional Identity (Liberty
University)
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Running head: WELLNESS ASSESSMENT 1
Wellness Assessment and Plan
Roslyn Broadhurst
Liberty University
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Abstract
To maintain physical, emotional, and mental wellness, professional counselors must maintain
healthy relationships with their social support network. They must perform regular wellness
assessments and have a plan that will aid in their physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
This paper provided a working definition of wellness. This paper provided for a personal
assessment that included the results of the Stress Reactions Inventory, the Self-Care Assessment,
the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and the Self-Care Social Support Worksheet, as well as how
they mirrored my current life. This paper provided some wellness strategies for each assessment
that described the areas of my life that need attention, the changes I need to make in each area,
and the steps I must take to reach satisfactory wellness by implementing the needed changes.
This paper provided a description of my ideas of wellness based on the personal assessment and
wellness strategies formulated throughout this paper.
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Wellness Assessment and Plan
To maintain physical, emotional, and mental wellness, we as professional counselors
must maintain healthy relationships with our social support network. We must perform regular
wellness assessments and have a plan that will aid in our physical, emotional, and mental well-
being. Therefore, this paper provided a working definition of wellness (University of California
Davis (UCDavis), n.d., para. 5), which is that wellness is a sense of being free of illness;
however, it is more than just freedom from illness. UCDavis (n.d.) defines wellness as, “an
active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life.
Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth”
(para. 1). This definition of wellness leads to the conclusion that everything we as counselors do
and everything we are helps us to build and maintain our health and provide for our well-being.
Therefore, this paper provided for a personal assessment that included my results on the
Stress Reactions Inventory, the Self-Care Assessment, the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and the
Self-Care Social Support Worksheet, and how they reflect my current life. In addition, this paper
provided some wellness strategies for each assessment that described the areas of my life that
need attention, the changes I need to make in each area, and the steps I must take to reach
satisfactory wellness by implementing the needed changes. Finally, this paper provided a
description of my idea of wellness based on the personal assessment and wellness strategies
formulated throughout this paper.
Personal Assessment
Personal assessment, also called self-assessment, has to do with looking deep into
yourself to assess your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It motivates you to self-
evaluate your wellness, self-verify that you are physically, emotionally, and mentally well, and
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self-enhance those aspects that are not at their prime wellness. As part of the personal
assessment, I took the Stress reaction inventory, which assesses the impact of compassion
fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress in the following areas: cognitive, emotional,
behavioral, spiritual, interpersonal, and physical. To obtain maximum wellness, I must obtain
and maintain wellness in each area.
Stress Reaction Inventory Results
My cognitive health shows that I need to increase my wellness in the areas of diminished
concentration, spaciness, apathy, disorientation, self-doubt, perfectionism, and memory, or I will
not be cognitively well. I sometimes have difficulty concentrating on assignments, and I go
through periods when I feel spacy, disoriented, and forgetfulness. At times I feel apathetic about
certain things and I have self-doubt about whether I can accomplish my goals. But the major
area of concern is perfectionism. Everything must be perfect, the edges of my writing must be
perfectly aligned, and everything must be in its proper place.
My emotional health shows that I need to increase my wellness in the areas of anxiety,
fear, sadness, depression, and hypersensitivity, or I will not be emotionally well. I often feel like
I am on an emotional rollercoaster that leaves me feeling anxious and afraid, happy and sad,
depressed and manic, overwhelmed and panicky, emotional and apprehensive. But the major
area of concern is hypersensitivity. I am sensitive to everything around me to the point that it
hurts, and my emotions are heightened to the point that I burst into tears for no reason.
My behavioral health shows that I need to increase my wellness in the areas of
moodiness, sleep disturbances, appetite changes, and nightmares, or I will not be behaviorally
well. I frequently feel moody, have difficulty sleeping, have periodic appetite changes, and
experience nightmares. I tend to be accident prone, often breaking toes or injuring my ribs. I
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tend to lose things and later find they were in plain sight. But the major area of concern is that I
have a hard time achieving a restful state, so I suffer from exhaustion frequently.
My spiritual health shows that I attained and continue to maintain spiritual wellness. I do
not question the meaning of life, my life has purpose, and I am satisfied with who I am. I am not
hopeless, do not suffer from boredom, and I am not angry with God. I do not question prior
beliefs, do not suffer from despair, have not lost my faith in God, and I am not skeptical about
religion. I have a healthy attitude about my faith in God and my love for Christ.
My interpersonal health shows that I need to increase my wellness in the areas of
intimacy or sex, trust issues, isolation from friends, and loneliness, or I will not be
interpersonally well. The major area of concern is that I suffer from a decreased interest in
intimacy or sex because of my lack of trust in my husband that stems from the illicit affair he had
a few years ago. This lack of trust resulted in isolating myself from my friends, which caused
me to suffer from loneliness.
My physical health shows that I need to increase my wellness in the areas of my
breathing, aches and pains, dizziness, increased medical ailments, fatigue, muscle tremors and
twitches, headaches, difficulties with vision, and grinding my teeth, or I will not be physically
well. I often have trouble breathing related to asthma. I have continuous aches and pains. I
suffer with periodic dizziness, increased medical ailments, and fatigue from lack of sleep that
causes headaches. But the major area of concern is that I have constant muscle tremors and
twitches, and I grind my teeth frequently.
How Stress Reaction Inventory Results Reflect my Life
Based on the results of the Stress Reaction Inventory, I would say that I should be
suffering from compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, or any combination
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thereof. If this were the case, I would be concerned that I may be heading toward counselor
impairment. However, that is far from being true. After assessing the results of the Stress
Reaction Inventory, I would say that my cognitive health may be slightly diminished because of
some of my symptoms; however, this does not reflect my current life. My mental processes are
very stable despite being diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD), obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD), clinical depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, borderline personality
disorder (BPD), and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). I take no medication for any of my
disorders. Instead, I use behavior therapy techniques to help control the symptoms, which works
for me.
I have no emotional issues that prevent me from functioning normally, despite some of
the symptoms I exhibit. As for my behavior, I am no moodier than anyone else I know. I
maintain healthy relationships with family and friends, and I make friends easily. I do have some
physical ailments that prohibit movement. As for the muscle tremors and twitches, I do have
myoclonus, so I suffer from nearly constant myoclonic seizures. The stress I undergo because of
school does affect me, but my doctor said it is a normal amount of stress. My spirituality is
completely healthy and keeps me functioning normally. If it were not for my relationship with
Christ, I would have major problems.
Self-Care Assessment, Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and Self-Care Social Support
Worksheet Results
Based on the results of the Self-Care Assessment, the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and
the Self-Care Social Support Worksheet, I am a happy, healthy, well-adjusted individual. The
Self-Care Assessment results indicate that I am physically, psychologically, emotionally,
spiritually, and professionally well-adjusted, and that my life has a good balance between my
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school life and my home life. As I answered the questions on the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, I
realized that I do spend more time on school when I have classes to attend than I spend with my
family or taking time for myself. But, I still listen to music or watch movies or television shows
with my family or friends while doing my schoolwork. As I did the exercises on the Self-Care
Social Support Worksheet, I realized how lucky I am to have the social support network I do.
My social support network consists of my family and friends, those who are closest to me and
who know me best. Each of these assessments gave me what I already knew, that I do not suffer
from compassion fatigue, burnout, or secondary traumatic stress; therefore, I am in no danger of
suffering from counselor impairment.
How Self-Care, Life Pie, and Social Support Assessments Results Reflect my Life
The Self-Care Assessment, Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and Self-Care Social Support
Worksheet reflect my life nearly perfectly. According to the Self-Care Assessment, I do strive
for balance within school and the school day. Also, I do strive for balance among school, family,
my relationships, play, and rest. According to the Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, I may spend
more time on schoolwork when classes are in session; but, I make up for it when I am not in
class. Between terms I spend plenty of time with family and friends, or doing something for
myself, like working on my hobbies. I also spend more time in prayer or reading my Bible.
According to the Self-Care Social Support Worksheet, my social support network keeps me
striving to move forward until I reach my goal. They support me in everything I do. They are
always there for me when I need someone the most. Most of all, they allow me to be myself.
Wellness Strategies
A wellness strategy is a plan to treat the entire person. What this means is that we must
draw up a plan that will include treating each part of the whole person. Therefore, we as
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counselors, must devise a plan to treat our physical, mental, and emotional beings. In doing so, I
took the Stress Reaction Inventory, Self-Care Assessment, Self-Care Life Pie Worksheet, and
Self-Care Support Worksheet. The results of these assessments were eye-opening, to say the
least. Some were right on point and some were not. Nevertheless, they did give me something
to ponder.
Areas of my Life that need Attention
As I looked through the results of my assessments, I saw some areas of concern, and
remembered something I read previously that makes more sense now. Lawson (2007) stated,
“Some of the personal variables that are related to counselor wellness and effectiveness include
the counselors’ subjective perception of their own wellness and manifestations of impairment,
such as burnout, compassion fatigue, or vicarious traumatization” (p. 20). As a potential
counselor, I need to start assessing my wellness now, before I start manifesting symptoms of
possible impairment.
According to the assessments, I need to pay more attention to the cognitive, emotional,
behavioral, interpersonal, physical, and psychological parts of my being. There are no areas in
which I need to pay less attention. I need to continue to spend the same amount of attention as
previously on the spiritual and scholastic part of my being. I strive for and maintain balance
among school, family, relationships, play, and rest. Additionally, I do not need to change
anything about my social support network, as it is perfect just as it is.
Changes I need to Make
Some of the activities I can do to improve myself are: exercise to get the blood flowing;
watch television, mainly movies; read more actively; start a hobby; solve different types of
puzzles; play board and card games; reduce stress; and listen to music. Additional changes I can
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make are visit museums, zoos, and historical sites; attend workshops; address any mental issues;
play video games; play with dolls or action figures; write; and travel. There are many other
activities I can do that will help to reduce stress and increase my physical, mental, and emotional
wellness. The biggest change I can make, however, is with my physical appearance, to include
using better personal hygiene. Not that mine is not good enough; however, it could be far better
than it is currently.
Steps I need to Take to Reach my Goal
I am willing to take every step possible to reach my goal of implementing needed
changes. However, there are few changes I need to make currently in my life. The first step I
am willing to take is to sell my house so that my husband and I can take the next step. We
cannot take that next step until we do. The second step I am willing to take is to move to Florida.
The third step I am willing to take is to get a very much needed surgery done on my back. The
fourth step I am willing to take is to do some swimming so that I can start losing the weight I
need to lose before I can begin a more rigorous weight loss program. The last step I am willing
to take is to finish my degree so that I can begin the next stage of my life.
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References
Lawson, G. (2007). Counselor wellness and impairment: A national survey. Journal of
Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 46(1), 20-34. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ps/i.do?
p=AONE&sw=w&u=vic_liberty&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE
%7CA163940203&sid=summon&asid=cd114f8bdd8449c25342803b7d6058e7
University of California Davis (UCDavis). (n.d.). What is wellness? Retrieved from
https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/wellness/what-is-wellness
