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The term “wellness” encompasses many meanings and concepts. What is wellness and what does it mean within the context of counseling?

While counseling often aims to assist clients with their mental or emotional wellness, neither of those aspects are relevant without other elements such as physical or financial wellness (Newman & Newman, 2018). It is like a domino effect - if one element of overall wellness is lacking, others will topple as well.

An effective illustration of this idea is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, shown above.

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Mental health is not the only factor to consider when discussing wellness.

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How does wellness impact resilience?

Resilience is the ability of a person to cope with life's struggles - expected struggles as well as extenuating circumstances (Newman & Newman, 2018).

When a person's needs are not being met - when their level of wellness is at a low point - they gain resilience. Having increased resilience from these times of hardship allows for a person to feel confident in their ability to deal with other hardships that may follow. With increased resilience and a better ability to cope, a person has a better chance of maintaining and sustaining their basic needs during times when other needs - psychological, etc. - are not being met.

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What are ACEs? (California Surgeon General, 2023)

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What are ACEs? (California Surgeon General, 2023)

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Office of the California Surgeon General

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Understanding ACEs: What are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)?

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How are ACEs manifest across the lifespan?

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How are ACEs manifest across the lifespan?

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While a person progresses from childhood to adulthood, they pass through psychosocial stages relevant to each phase of life - all the way from infancy to older adulthood (Newman & Newman, 2018). Adverse childhood experiences manifest it several ways across each stage of psychosocial development. While each specific child may have experiences unique from one another's, the ways in which those experiences manifest themselves may be strikingly similar to one another, as seen above.

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Is self-care addressed in the ACA Code of Ethics? 

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Is self-care addressed in the ACA Code of Ethics? 

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The ACA addresses self-care as part of a counselor's professional responsibility: "counselors engage  in self-care activities to maintain and  promote their own emotional, physical,  mental, and spiritual well-being to best  meet their professional responsibilities (ACA, 2014)."

By maintaining their own physical and mental health, a counselor upholds their duties to their clients and to the profession of counseling. As the parable states, "one cannot pour from an empty cup". If a counselor finds themselves depleted in any way, they must address this before being able to provide ethical counseling to their clients (ACA, 2014).

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Counselors may help facilitate wellness across a person's lifespan by assessing a person's other, non-mental health related needs.

Counselors recognize the importance of basic needs and how they affect psychological needs. For example, a person experiencing being unhoused will likely not feel confident or a sense of belonging. How can a counselor help?

While the United States is not necessarily brimming with sufficient resources for the unhoused, a counselor may direct an unhoused client to whichever resources are available. Shelters, housing assistance, or other case workers are examples of possible resources.

Additionally, a counselor with a client who is experiencing a major financial setback may offer ways of continuing treatment so that the client won't have to feel as though their financial challenges have prevented them from continuing counseling. Offering sessions at a lower rate than normal for a temporary amount of time or offering rates on a sliding scale according to a client's ability to pay are ways to help a client that are not ethical violations (ACA, 2014).

A counselor can also walk a client through the options that are available to them - "do you have a friend you could stay with?" "how about I give you a list of local food banks?" "let's put in a couple job applications together while you're here."

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How might ACEs impact development/wellness?

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How might ACEs impact development/wellness?

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Wellness and adverse childhood experiences are closely connected. If a child is in an environment in which any of their basic or psychological needs are not met - or are actively impeded upon - they experience lower levels of wellness. While adults gain resilience through times of extreme stress, children may be faced with long lasting negative effects of trauma.

A child cannot care for themselves. Until later adolescence, a child is almost entirely dependent on a caregiver to meet their needs. They have to believe the person caring for them will do their best to provide shelter, sustenance, and warmth. When this doesn't happen, the child experiences various detriments relating to their psychosocial & cognitive development.

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American Counseling Association. Code of Ethics. American Counseling Association. 2014.

Clark, Jenna. The Effects of and Interventions for Trauma on Child and Adolescent Development. Liberty University. 2021.

Newman, B. & Newman, P.. Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach. Cengage Learning. 2018.