The Oaks Explained: Part 2

So, why a wellness program?

Because there have been several periods in my life where I felt completely out of balance. Anxiety was running rampant, overwhelmed was my middle name and shortness of breath felt like a normal way to breathe. Thankfully, I had some professional “head knowledge” of why I was experiencing the symptoms I was feeling. You see, I am a licensed professional counselor, an LPC- an extremely challenging credential to obtain and one that takes years of education and supervised practice to get. With close to 15 years of experience and loads of professional development later, I guess I could be considered an “expert” in the field of professional counseling. So, with all that genius information, I should be able to stop these anxiety symptoms dead in their tracks, right? Uh, nope.

“See it wasn’t until I learned about intentional wellness balance that I truly started to gain more control over my health- mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.”

Please don’t assume that I have this all figured out. I don’t! But slowly over time, I have developed a wellness model that helps me personally maintain good health and one that seems to work for others that I get to work with professionally. The Oaks wellness program will incorporate this model as we plan our activities.

Each Tuesday at The Garden, we will offer many different opportunities to boost your own personal wellness wheel. It is my hope and prayer that individuals who attend our garden can slowly, over time gain awareness about the choices they make and how they affect overall wellness. Health is never one dimensional. There are so many components that play into how we feel, and so our model must incorporate this multi-dimensional approach. It’s not a to-do list (who needs another one of those?!) We don’t necessarily have to hit each of these categories every day, but when we get to incorporate most of them frequently, our health will greatly reap the benefits. Sometimes we simply need the support of others to get started. I look forward to sharing more about our program in the weeks to come!