an interview with Don Ardell

by Minnesota State University Mankato health education students

What is your educational background? Please include any credentials, such as licensure or CHES.
- Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, The George Washington University, DC 1963.
- Master of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1965.
- Stanford Executive Program Graduate, Stanford Grad School of Business, Stanford, CA 1973.
- Ph.D., Health and Public Policy, The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH 1977.
How or why did you choose health education as your profession? Please briefly describe your career path to your current position.
I was in the right place at a good time. It chose me. My dissertation, High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs, and Disease, was picked by Rodale Press for publication (after I removed the boring research data). The Rodale Press edition came out in 1977 followed by a mass-market paperback by Bantam Books in 1979. It was later reproduced in a Ten Year Anniversary Issue by Ten Speed Press, of Berkeley, CA., in 1986.
Once this book was published, the invitations to speak came rolling in and I never had to work another day in my life - at least not at a real job. For an essay related to this, see a daily report first published on March 20, 2001 here on SeekWellness.
Please briefly describe your personal philosophy of health education. Please give an example (or two) of how you practice your philosophy.
For part one of this question, have a look at the essays November 11, 2000 -- Homo Australopithecus and Wellness, December 29, 2000 -- A (Very) Brief History of the Wellness Concept and the soon to be released report for April 2, 2001.
For part two, I practice my philosophy in the following aspects of my life:
- By working at home when and how I choose - I work as the director of the Wellness Center at SeekWellness.com and I write essays daily! Almost 200 of them are available at the website with a single click.
- I continue to write books. Since High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs, and Disease, I have written a dozen more, including Die Healthy, 14 Days To Wellness and (from Prometheus) The Book of Wellness: A Secular Approach to Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose.
- I travel about the US and elsewhere to lecture and consult. I’ve been on eight Australian tours, and worked in at least ten other countries.
- I publish the quarterly, highly provocative ARDELL WELLNESS REPORT (AWR). It offers skeptical views on seeking lifestyle artistry in an irrational world. There are 58 editions out now; the first was produced in 1984. I also produce a weekly electronic version of the AWR. I'll send a copy along. Hope you all enjoy it. In part, it is devoted to an idea I got from Calvin (of Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" fame), namely, a conviction that "everyone is richly entitled to my opinions."
- I cultivate my athletic talents. I have won several national and two world championships in the sports of triathlon and duathlon. I also compete in road races. So far this year, I have won my division at the Naples half marathon (1:23), the Ft. Myers Festival of Light 5K (18:30), the Gasparilla 15K (58:49), the Dannon Duathlon at Grenelefe and the Unicorn 5K in Largo (18:30). I have another race tomorrow and next week (Powerman in Alabama) and most weekends for the next six months. See my "ScoreCard" here on SeekWellness for further times.
What do you consider current trends in the health education profession generally and in your specialty specifically?
A growing realization that prevention and health education are ineffective (see my essay on this--An Unkind Word or Two About Prevention), a better appreciation of what wellness is (What Is Wellness—A Recap) and a realization that lifestyle is the key (please see the essay on Ten Tips for Wellness) to a good life in a health and satisfaction sense. You might also want to read the three-part model for self-management (my take on health education) on SeekWellness, along with the 14 or so skill areas these entail.
What do you consider the biggest challenges in health education?
Finding ways for health educators to make a good living at the profession, the better to continue to attract excellent people to the field.
What do you view as your greatest change professionally during your practice as a health educator?
Resignation to the idea that most people have little chance of living a wellness lifestyle, given current conditions, and learning not get stressed about the resistance to change that I observe nation-wide and in other western countries, as well.
Where would you like to see your career heading or where would you like to be 10 years from now?
Exactly or at least more or less where I am today, doing what I do. In ten years, I'll be 72, if still around. I'd like to be doing triathlons and running sub-40 minute 10Ks, too. And living with the sexy lady with whom I am sharing my life, as well as interacting lovingly and often with my two children, former spouse and many friends.
What do you enjoy the most and the least in your profession?
MOST: Presentations, writing and interacting with colleagues and with students--and attending conferences, especially the NWC in Stevens Point, WI each summer.
LEAST: Not having a retinue of secret service agents to look after me, an Air Force One in which to move around when saving souls for wellness (in my secular fashion, I wish to add) or a nifty tune along the lines of “Hail to the Chief Wellite" played for me when I'm introduced. Basically, there's nothing about the profession or my job(s) I don't like, which should not be surprising since I created the job(s) I have and, when you work for yourself, you have nobody to blame for job dissatisfaction but yourself.

Best wishes, all.

March 2001