What is Wellness?

This past week has really made me do quite a bit of reflecting and thinking about what is wellness, and what is mental health and what is mental illness, and where is the line between them?  What gives some people the training and skills to diagnose and discern the difference and determine a change from one state to another.  I am working daily with about 11 Psychiatrists (which includes the Junior Doctors at this teaching hospital) many Psychiatric Registered Nurses, many "Key Workers"-Clinicians in the Community and one Social Worker, besides myself.  Each person has been specifically trained to identify, assess, diagnose and be a part of the treatment of the individual who is presenting to them.

In the past five weeks, I have worked or met with over 100 different people who have passed through Ward 21, each have a very difficult experiences, and have ended up in the Acute Mental Health Inpatient Unit.  Many have stories that include difficult childhoods, or tragic experiences; others have significant losses or unbelievable histories or present situations.  I have seen doctors adjust and juggle the medications, nurses balance out the time for the individual in leave, seclusion, protection checks, and behavior modification.  I have seen (and been) the social worker negotiating benefits with Work and Income, trying to find accommodations for someone who is at risk for self harm, or needs supported services, but none are available in the community of choice.  Sometimes the best thing for the individual is just not attainable with the current resources, so we settle on second or third best.

Today, I completed a day training in Mental Status Examination, which reinforced the teachings at UAA and University of Wyoming, to take a snapshot of the person at that point in time, and cover the various items to include in this report.  It was interesting to see the video presentation of the interview, and also the amateur assessment that the three groups came up with, as well as the video critique from the Psychiatrist of the Junior Doctor who did the interview.  Many of these assessments were different and that is because each person comes into the interview with their own education and experiences, and prejudices, etc, and the professional really needs to know what is their stuff, and what is the person, who is being interviewed, stuff.

I still don't know what is wellness or what is un-wellness, but I do know that people are doing the best that they can to make an assessment with the information that they have, keeping the wellness and involvement of the individual as the priority.  I also know that many of us are only one incident or crisis away from being unwell for a period.  Life is precious and short, and I am committed to contribute what I can to this world, and to the health and "wellness" of all of us.  I guess that most professionals are just trying to do the best that they can to assist others to wellness and health.  It just makes me more mindful and thoughtful about the assessment and the discernment that is needed when working with others, and importance of assisting and empowering these individuals to find and hold onto the strengths that they hold inside call upon that resiliency to grow or even just survive.

Big week, and hoping everyone has a healthy and good week.