The eight dimensions of well-being were developed by Dr. Environmental Good Health by occupying pleasant and stimulating environments that support well-being. Over time, Swarbrick would organize a peer counseling program based on the concept of well-being and the “8 dimensions” of the welfare model. This poster, part of the SAMHSA wellness initiative, emphasizes focusing on the physical and shows a variety of images of people who lead a healthy lifestyle, such as exercising, sleeping, getting routine checkups, etc.
While looking for alternative wellness models, I found two independent models not related to 7 Degrees. These differences reflect a deliberate change in design philosophy to better align this wellness model with its target audience. Interestingly, the long and successful 23-year lifespan of the 8 Dimensions of Wellness model has also resulted in several branched versions of the Swarbrick wellness formula. WHAM covers more than the 8 dimensions of well-being in 10 weekly sessions, addressing the areas of spirituality, cognitive reformulation and the power of human connections.
Peer providers worked as wellness advisors to help other peers create realistic and achievable goals for self-improvement. Attention must be paid to all dimensions, since neglecting one of them over time will negatively affect the others and, ultimately, the person's health, well-being and quality of life. For those who work in helping professions, such as us in the field of veterinary medicine, well-being is both a professional and a personal responsibility. Each workshop meets for two hours once a week for 6 weeks, and clients learn skills designed exclusively for each program, as well as skills that are common to all three.
People often identify the key activities they do every day, such as sleeping, it helps in multiple dimensions, including physical, emotional and social. I have yet to find a model that seeks to increase the number of dimensions to 9, but several models have taken steps in the opposite direction. Jerry Johnson's “Occupational and Wellness Therapy” (198) grew out of a greater desire to address the disparities faced by people with mental or substance-related disorders or who are at risk of developing them. One model, for example, focused more on a person's opinion of how past events continue to affect their current well-being, and appeared on a website advertising a nursing home.
Swarbrick's “8-dimensional” model has been used to create an effective framework for the pursuit of well-being.
