Whole-person and Systems Approaches to Cultivate Wellness

Applying an Ecological approach and what we know about the Social Determinants of Health and different systems can help cultivate positive change within individuals, organizations, and communities. During this interactive course, we examine key theoretical and foundational tools and strategies that will support your efforts to impact well-being individually, in human support networks, and systematically.

This course is one of nine eLearning courses intentionally designed to support competency-building in the five domains of the NWI Wellness Promotion Competency Model. Specifically, this is the first of two courses that support the model's “Whole-person and Systems Approaches" domain. The model serves as the standard for the Certified Wellness Practitioner (CWP) certification. This course supports the following wellness promotion competencies:

• Use an ecological approach (e.g., interactions among the individual, family, organization, community and social systems) to understand the ways dynamic systems impact an individual's experience of wellness.
• Assess individual and/or group characteristics, interests, and needs using a multi-dimensional and ecological approach.
• Identify health and wellness resources and materials that allow for an individual's self-discovery, self-knowledge, and self-direction.
• Apply relevant theories and models to explain the integrated role of physical, social, intellectual, emotional, occupational, and spiritual aspects in the human pursuit and experience of wellness throughout the lifespan.

See "Getting Started" below for the full list of learning objectives for this course.

This self-paced interactive eLearning course must be completed within four weeks of registering. Within the course, you’ll find knowledge checks or activities to enhance your learning as well as a variety of tools and resources you can apply in your work.

Time to complete the course varies by learner, but we suggest planning for a total of three to five hours to complete all the learning elements, including any application activities and self-reflections. You must complete the full online course and submit the course evaluation to earn your certificate indicating the number of continuing education credits earned.