There are a wide range of factors that can impact how an individual perceives wellbeing, including their culture, and this perception can shift depending on their present circumstances and their life experiences. In other words, this also means that there are many different models and frameworks that attempt to explain the concept of wellbeing and its components. One of the models is SEWB model – Social and Emotional Wellbeing Model, which is commonly used to understand wellbeing and how to promote the different aspects of an individual’s wellbeing.
 
Social and emotional wellbeing is a term preferred by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to describe the wellbeing of an individual. They perceive that health, or wellbeing, does not concern only the physical wellbeing of an individual, but also comprises their emotional, social, and cultural wellbeing. Fundamentally, wellbeing is viewed through a holistic perspective and multiple dimensions of an individual’s wellbeing should be taken into consideration. The extract below outlines nine guiding principles that the SWEB framework is built on, and you could take these into consideration when working with clients to promote their wellbeing:
 

  • health as holistic
  • the right to self-determination
  • the need for cultural understanding
  • the impact of history in trauma and loss
  • recognition of human rights
  • The impact of racism and stigma
  • recognition of the centrality of kinship
  • recognition of cultural diversity
  • recognition of Aboriginal strengths.

(Gee et al., 2014, as cited in Australian Indigenous Health Info Net, n.d.)

It is important to acknowledge that the concept of social and emotional wellbeing originated from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. As holistic health is the focus of this article, we will be using social and emotional wellbeing when referring to the holistic wellbeing of an individual. Similarly, when you are working together with your client to assess and promote their wellbeing, you should keep in mind the different aspects of wellbeing instead of only addressing one aspect. Below are the four main aspects of wellbeing:

  • Physical wellbeing: individuals who are physically well can achieve and maintain a quality of life that provides them the opportunity to enjoy the most of their daily activities. They would also be able to do so without experiencing fatigue or stress.
  • Social wellbeing: A sense of belonging to a community and contributing to the society.
  • Emotional wellbeing: Essentially the individual is feeling good and happy about their daily lives. They are able to experience positive emotions such as joy and compassion, as well as generally satisfied with their lives.
  • Cultural and spiritual wellbeing: Individuals would feel connected to a higher power, a sense of meaning or purpose or feelings of peace or transcendence.

Impacts of Cognitive Health on Wellbeing

Cognition is an individual’s skill or capability to process information from their environment, including perceiving and responding to them. This process is usually expressed in the form of thinking, memory, motivation, language, and more, which are vital to our daily functioning. Other than that, these functions can influence an individual’s motivation and persistence to achieve their goals in life, including achieving and maintaining their wellbeing. In other words, cognitive health contributes to an individual’s quality of life and their overall wellbeing. While there are multiple aspects of cognitive health, below are a few aspects that are helpful when working with clients to promote their cognitive health.

Ability to Practise Coping Strategies

When you experience distress and/or face life challenges, you would apply coping strategies in hope of adjusting to these stressors and overcome them. However, not everyone has a similar level of ability to cope with these challenges, whereby some people are more resilient than others. For instance, individuals who use alcohol and other drugs may have their coping ability inhibited because of the effects of the substance they used. Another example: individuals who have depressive symptoms may be less motivated to practice coping strategies. When these individuals cannot cope with difficult situations, their mental health may deteriorate, which subsequently impacts their overall wellbeing.

Utilising the appropriate coping strategies allows individuals to be able to deal with these challenging situations and “bounce back” while maintaining their wellbeing, i.e., be resilient. However, the ability to cope does not come naturally and needs to be built overtime by learning the appropriate coping strategies. Some ways you could do so is to practice meditation, going into nature, listening to soft and calming music, as well as practising yoga. When working with your client, you could inform them of these coping strategies and even practise with them so they could develop their ability to cope with difficult situations and maintain their wellbeing.

Mindfulness

In recent years, mindfulness has garnered its popularity as a practice that many utilise to improve and maintain their mental health. Mindfulness is the skill or ability when an individual can be fully present and become aware of what is going on around them. In addition to that, they also pay more attention to their actions and not become overwhelmed by the happenings around them. In essence, mindfulness is when an individual brings awareness to whatever they are engaged in the moment, including their thoughts and feelings, without experiencing any distraction or judgement. Some of the benefits that mindfulness brings are lowering stress, improving memory, strengthening relationships, and more. According to Cherry (2021; see extract below), practising mindfulness could also bring cognitive improvements, which in the long run, could contribute to an individual’s overall wellbeing.

Mindfulness doesn’t just help you focus on your thoughts or remember things more readily—evidence suggests it can actually play a role in your ability to think flexibly and clearly. It makes sense that the practice of mindfulness can change your thinking. After all, the practice itself is all about learning to be more aware of your thoughts without imposing judgments on them. 

There are a number of important cognitive abilities involved in mindfulness, including being able to focus your attention for a period of time (sustained attention), being able to shift your thoughts and attention in spite of the distractions around you (cognitive flexibility), as well as suppressing other thoughts that interfere with your focus (cognitive inhibition).

These cognitive abilities are important for a wide variety of everyday tasks. They allow you to think quickly and adapt to changing information. Such skills also help you to switch from one task to another with ease and make it easier to concentrate on tasks and solve problems more efficiently.
(Cherry, 2021)

Below are some mindfulness techniques that you could inform your client so that they could practice and improve their cognitive health (Harvard Health Publishing, n.d., as cited in HelpGuide, n.d.):

  • Basic mindfulness meditation: Sit quietly and focus on your natural breathing or on a word or “mantra” that you repeat silently. Allow thoughts to come and go without judgment and return to your focus on breath or mantra.
  • Body sensations: Notice subtle body sensations such as an itch or tingling without judgment and let them pass. Notice each part of your body in succession from head to toe.
  • Sensory: Notice sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Name them “sight,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” or “touch” without judgment and let them go.
  • Emotions: Allow emotions to be present without judgment. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy,” “anger,” “frustration.” Accept the presence of the emotions without judgment and let them go.
  • Urge surfing: Cope with cravings (for addictive substances or behaviors) and allow them to pass. Notice how your body feels as the craving enters. Replace the wish for the craving to go away with the certain knowledge that it will subside.

 
Relaxation

When you are feeling calm and able to manage your day-to-day life, you can say that you are in a state of relaxation. Being relaxed can bring many benefits to your overall wellbeing, including your mental and physical health. For example, relaxation could reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as improving concentration and mood. Being in a relaxed state can also reduce muscle tension and chronic pain, as well as reducing fatigue. However, many individuals are living a busy life and may find it difficult to wind down and relax, which may lead to them feeling tense and stressed out (HealthDirect, 2019). Consequently, not being able to relax can contribute to a wide range of health issues such as headaches, anxiety, and the inability to focus, which ultimately impacts the individual’s overall wellbeing.
 
While there is no specific advice or rule about how much relaxation you should be having in your daily lives, it is important that you could incorporate some relaxation techniques into your lifestyle. It may take some time before you learn how to relax but the more you practice, the easier it can be for you to relax. You could inform your clients of some simple relaxation techniques so they could practice these techniques to manage their stress and help with relaxation. One of the most used relaxation techniques is progressive muscle relaxation whereby the individual first tenses then relaxes different muscle groups. Other techniques include visualisation to create a mental image of a calming place for themselves, deep breathing exercises to refocus their attention, and exercising. You could work together with your client to figure out which relaxation technique works best for them to practice relaxation and thus achieving wellbeing.

Lack of Social and Emotional Wellbeing

As previously mentioned, an individual’s wellbeing is one of the vital keys for them to function well and achieve their maximum potential in their daily lives. Similarly, enhancing and maintaining social and emotional wellbeing is very important for an individual’s overall health and wellbeing, especially the ability to carry out daily activities productively. When individuals lack social and emotional wellbeing, they could experience negative impacts on their overall wellbeing such as experiencing psychological distress, which in turn, could negatively affect their mental health. Consequently, they may be unable to lead a meaningful life and/or live their lives to the fullest.
 
For example, John does not have a stable social support network and has very minimal social interactions with those around him, which can be considered as experiencing social isolation. This means that John lacks social wellbeing, and puts him at risk of experiencing a negative impact on his mental health. Similarly, Jane dislikes participating in physical activity and does not pay much attention to her physical health. Since poor physical health is a risk factor for mental health issues, Jane’s lack of physical wellbeing puts her at risk for experiencing poor mental health. Therefore, your role as a mental health worker is to work collaboratively with your client to promote the multiple aspects of their wellbeing in order to reduce their risk of experiencing mental health issues so they could achieve a meaningful and productive life.
 
Before proceeding further, keep in mind that wellbeing can have a variety of expressions and can mean different things to different individuals. Further, wellbeing can carry different meaning to the same individual, depending on which life stage they are at and their present circumstances. For example, John perceives physical wellbeing to be the focus of his wellbeing when he was in his 20s; when John is in his 70s, social wellbeing becomes his priority as social connections is essential to his overall wellbeing. Therefore, when you are working with the client, you have to explain clearly to the client information about social and emotional wellbeing. If they require any clarification or express their confusion about certain the wellbeing model, you can clarify this with them and make sure that they have a clear and adequate understanding of wellbeing. Other than explaining to the clients directly, you could also provide them with resources such as brochures and flyers for them to read, or you could suggest that they attend workshops or seminars to have a deeper understanding of their wellbeing.

References

Australian Indigenous Health Info Net. (n.d.). Social and emotional wellbeing. https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/learn/health-topics/social-and-emotional-wellbeing/#aihref1

Cherry, K. (2021, October 5). Benefits of mindfulness. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-mindfulness-5205137#toc-cognitive-improvements

HealthDirect. (2019, October). Relaxation and mental health. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/relaxation#:~:text=How%20can%20relaxation%20improve%20your,blood%20pressure%20and%20breathing%20rate

HelpGuide. (n.d.). Benefits of mindfulness: Practices for improving emotional and physical well-being. https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm