don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Having just returned from a week-long secular pilgrimage to the Mecca of wellness, there are highlights I thought you'd be interested in knowing. For starters, the annual National Wellness Conference (NWC) at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point was an epic and triumphant experience, as usual.

I could write a book about it but there are other things to do and, besides, unlike Aging Beyond Belief: 69 Tips for REAL Wellness, such a work (My Time At Wellness Week?) would probably not rise to the best-seller ranks or lead to interviews on Oprah and The Daily Show, so I won't. But, I'll summarize my impressions. Warning: Nothing in this account should be taken as factual, reliable, objective, unbiased or divinely inspired. (Oh, you already knew that?)

This was the 32nd annual NWC. About 1100 devotees from the ranks of the wellness cognoscenti attended. Well, in a way -- fully half the participants were there to get credentialed. That's right -- one of two major developments at the wellness conference is that 50 percent of the attendees are there to gain some form of official status as competent to teach one wellness-related program or another. The certificate courses are conducted by experienced health promotion professionals who have created course work that the National Wellness Institute (NWI) approves as certificate worthy. Therefore, as part of this parallel conference, a variety of "best practice intensive achievement training programs" are conducted separate from the main conference. Certificate offerings included wellness coach, behavior change counselor (in other words, "motivational interviewer"), program manager, program coordinator, program director, program consultant and certified holistic stress management trainer, Tai Chi Easy facilitator, Circle of Life coach and advanced Conscious Body coach. As you can imagine, the certificate trend has grown with the explosion of interest in health promotion/wellness at the workplace. Companies are looking for evidence of competence from job seekers and the latter seek ways to provide same -- and being able to show that you have a "certificate" or credential in this or that can't hurt job prospects. Is this a good thing? Can the NWI perform the due diligence to ensure that all certifications that it distributes are genuine evidence of actual competence in something truly useful? Can the NWI avoid putting itself in the role once played by the Roman Catholic Church of selling indulgences and in the process, its "soul" or, to put it more realistically, its reputation and future? (This was a rhetorical question. I dunno. We'll see, I suppose.) In any event, the certification trend is a profitable development for the NWI, it supports the overall conference that we have come to know and love (more or less) and it meets a need, so let's hope that everyone gains from it.

Counting both the certification programs and the four-day general conference, there were about 150 programs offered, which offered something for every taste.

The second major trend noted was the growth of wellness internationally. Twelve countries were represented. The European, Latin American, Asian and other wellness leaders described what they are doing, how they are doing it and countless other matters of common interest. A keynote by Wolf Kirsten (from Germany) generated a high level of participation in the several sessions devoted exclusively to international wellness facts and trends. Most non-US organizational leaders are planning national wellness conferences of their own. Interestingly, all want to cooperate to support a single international wellness conference, within the next two years. Future international wellness conferences would be hosted by a different country each year. A summary paper about international wellness organizations is available at no cost on request from the NWI.

Personal highlights of this year's NWC, at least those suitable for a family wellness report, include the following:

• The keynotes by Judd Allen, Wolf Kirsten, Fern Carness and Mike Huckabee. (I did not attend keynotes by a pharmacologist and a former US Surgeon General, respectively.) All these sessions were received with great enthusiasm (standing ovations) by attendees. Of course, it would have been helpful in every case if a panel of informed, provocative experts had been given the opportunity to play advocates for Satan, as every speaker said things that ought to have been challenged. Unfortunately, the emphasis at NWCs continues upon feeling good and being happy (not that there's anything wrong with feeling good and being happy), rather than fostering alternative perspectives to ponder and otherwise encouraging critical thinking.
  
  
• Running in a 5K race held early in the week just before being served a picnic-type of dinner outdoors with music, hula hoops, drumming and varied fun and games. I won my division (the master male category for wellites who are over six feet tall from Florida and right-handed with blue eyes who write host a wellness website and possess a curious sense of humor), showing once again how important it is to position yourself in the right division. Do that and YOU can win, too. (A wellness lifestyle is a sure-fire winning division.)
  
  
• A gathering of "ancients" (wellness leaders from the 70's) to share experiences with newcomers to wellness, or anyone who cared to chat about the old days. Besides yours truly, attendees included Bill Hettler, Dennis Elsenrath, Judd Allen (son of pioneer Bob Allen), Craig Washington, Meg Jordan, Mike Arloski and Jack Travis, among others. All reminisced about how things used to be, to the amusement and occasional surprise of contemporary (youthful) participants, a few of whom were EMT-types prepared to attend to ancients, if necessary, the better to preserve them a bit longer. The session was audio-taped and will be posted at the NWI website for those curious about how wellness was promoted and even individually discovered, little by little and bit by bit, long ago.

The staff, as usual, produced splendid materials and made everything run smoothly. The week was a time for networking and dabbling -- serious study for those who are resolute about the topics can be pursued via the CD given to all. The CD contains handouts for every session. For those not attending, it is available from the NWI at a modest price, as are the books and audio-tapes that were sold in abundance during the week.

I had a chat with Bill Hettler, MD, a certified ancient who has been the top gun at NWI since the genesis of the movement 30-plus years ago.

I asked Bill if he could have imagined that he would someday be President for Life of NWI when things got started, way back in the Iron Age of Wellness. He replied that he did not, and emphasized that he has no intention of serving as President for Life: I am always looking around for someone to take the torch. I asked other impertinent, invasive questions as well, but none made Bill uncomfortable or seemed to invade his personal space, as intended. these questions follow. (Warning: I did not record the interview or attempt to employ dictation skills I don't have. No notes were taken at the time. Therefore, these stories are no more reliable than holy books written decades if not centuries after events described.)

Did you expect your efforts at sponsoring a simple wellness gathering would grow into what the NWC has become? No. All I wanted to do was provide a part-time summer job for one of our key staffers.

What would you do different if starting all over, with hindsight gained? Be better organized, particularly in bringing in more international leadership.

Are you surprised at how much has happened, that is, how much the NWC has grown and evolved -- and how many people it has involved and affected? Yes, astonished sometimes at the stories I hear about the impact of the NWC.

What are the best satisfactions derived from all that has happened? Learning about people who have benefited from one aspect of wellness or another. This kind of information reaches me on an almost daily basis.

What are the top challenges remaining? Reaching more consumers and having a significant impact on health status through widespread lifestyle changes that are sustained over time. Lasting behavior change is still overwhelmingly difficult though more important than when we began three decades ago. Also, getting a clearer message out about what wellness really is and means if citizens adopt such remarkably beneficial lifestyles.

As noted before, this report could itself go on and on and take a week to read, but I'm ending it now. My forecast for the future of wellness? Bright and sunny with an 80 percent chance I'm wrong.

The conference was fun, worthwhile and refreshing. I recommend it. For information about attending next year's festivities, call the NWI at 800.243.8694.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MEANING DOMAIN under the skill area of play. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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