HEAD START®

Enhancing Health in the
Head Start Workplace

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 |
Module 4 | Module 5 |
Continuing Professional Development | Resources

module 2: activity 1 - the wellness continuum

Module 2 | Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Next Steps

Activity 1: The Wellness Continuum

Purpose: Participants will define “wellness” as the first step in making plans for healthy behavior change. Two concepts are important:

• Wellness is defined personally and differs for each person.
  
  
• Wellness is a condition of well-being beyond the absence of disease or pain.

For this activity you will need:

• Handout D: What Is Wellness?
  
  
• Writing materials

Step 1: Explain that we will be working on an overview of health, and that describing a picture of our own health is the first step. Ask the participants to get comfortable, close their eyes, and relax. Take a few deep breaths.

Read aloud, at a relaxed pace, the following:

“Commend yourself for being part of this workshop. We are trying to build a better health program for our Head Start Center, and we know that health begins with us. The healthier we are, the healthier our interactions with children and families can be.

“This is an imaginary journey through a day in your life. It can be a day which has actually happened, or you can make up this day as we go along. It is your day—no one will ask you to share more about it than you want to.

“I would like you to imagine yourself waking up in the morning. Where are you? Is anyone with you? What is it like in your room, your space? This is a ‘perfect day,’ remember, so think about how you wake up… Now imagine getting out of bed… shower, breakfast, coffee… What do you think of doing this morning?… Who is with you?… Where do you go? What is the weather like?… It’s around noon… Is it lunchtime?… Time to go shopping or take a walk?… Alone or with others?… What do you do?… How do you spend the afternoon?… What do you do in the evening?… Imagine yourself going to bed… How do you feel?… Are you very tired from lots of activity or are you full of energy and willing to stay up late?

“Now take a few deep breaths and bring yourself back to the room.”

Step 2: Ask the group to think about their “perfect day” and make notes on what made it “perfect.” Was it time alone? Time with friends? Lots of activity? A feeling of contentment because someone else was taking care of details?

Ask the group if there are any difficulties—for example, someone whose “perfect day” is unattainable, which makes the person unhappy. If that is the case, focus on the specific “goodness” that the person values—something achievable. For example, someone might visualize being the richest woman on Earth and waking up in a palace. Try to discover the feeling that she is seeking, and that it is probably, at least somewhat, achievable through resources near at hand. Generally, it is quite OK to dream!

Step 3: Distribute Handout D: What Is Wellness? Ask participants to look at the arrow, noting that the middle of the line is “not sick.” Consider that their “perfect day” is probably their definition of high-level wellness, indicated at the right hand side of the page. Reinforce the idea that wellness is a very personal goal. Each individual will be different.

Ask participants to think about how they feel day-to-day. Ask them to mark an “X” on the continuum to indicate where their day-to-day life falls. There are many reasons for the differences between our “perfect day” and our everyday life. Some of these are in our control, others are not.

Now in the first section underneath the arrow, ask them to:

• Make notes regarding the features of your day that contributed to wellness.

In the second section ask participants to:

• Make notes indicating the forces—positive and negative—that contribute to your current state of wellness.
  
  
• Consider things that you do yourself––such as eat well and read––and forces that affect you within your community and culture, including commitments that sap energy, a stream running nearby that gives a peaceful feeling, a neighbor who is difficult.

Step 4: Discuss the concepts of Illness, Midpoint, and Wellness and emphasize the personal nature of the definitions, yet the ways that people’s common experience shapes our common definitions.

Points to Consider:

• Look at the arrow. Notice that there is a middle point labeled “not sick.” Our medical care system can get us to this level. The screenings and well-care that our system offers are important to this level. We need services and self-care (breast self-exam, brushing and flossing teeth, food safety, clinical care for illnesses) to get us to that level. Anyone with a mark lower than this midpoint probably needs some medical care, self-care, or screening.
  
  
• Beyond the midpoint, we move toward wellness. Imagining our perfect day gives us a picture of our personal definition of wellness. We all probably share some desires for wellness, but each of us has individual needs and desires, too. In planning to improve our own health, we must look at what we want. Items listed under “what I could do to improve my wellness” are what each person is willing to address. Items not listed are things the person probably is not ready to change.
  
  
• Do this activity at the beginning of staff wellness activities––or as an initial activity for the group that is planning the activities. Staff should keep their own arrow throughout the activities. Consider how each mark moves over time. We hope that it will move toward wellness. Each person’s definition of wellness will get modified as he moves toward the goal.
  
  
• This is a touchstone for people, what is real for them. Only if wellness activities help people move toward their own concept of wellness will they be interested in the activities.