Wellness in Real Life
This describes a time when someone feels supported, balanced, and connected, and not just physically healthy.
What is holistic health/well-being?
Follow-up: What does "being healthy" look like in your life outside of just your physical health?
This lens defines family based on emotional bonds and interactions.
What is the role lens?
Follow-up: Who in your life feels like "family" even if they are not actually biologically related to you?
These are topics families avoid due to discomfort or stigma.
What are taboo topics?
Follow-up: What is one topic you think families avoid the most? Why?
These shape how families understand and talk about mental health.
What are family narratives?
Follow-up: What messages about mental health did you grow up hearing?
This theory explains how early relationships shape development.
What is attachment theory?
Follow-up: How do you think early relationships influence adult communication?
This wellness dimension focuses on meaning, purpose, and beliefs.
What is spiritual wellness?
Follow-up: Where do you find meaning or purpose in your own life?
This lens defines family based on biological relationships.
What is the biogenetic lens?
Follow-up: Do you think biology alone defines family? Why or why not?
These barriers include fear, discomfort, and lack of knowledge.
What are informational, emotional, and cultural barriers?
Follow-up: Which barrier do you think is most common in families? Why?
This type of story portrays mental illness as dangerous or something to fear.
What is a cautionary narrative?
Follow-up: How could these types of stories impact someone’s willingness to seek help?
This is the primary way children communicate emotions.
What is play?
Follow-up: Why might play be more effective than words for children?
This concept explains how family communication can improve or harm emotional well-being.
What is the interdependence of communication and health?
Follow-up: How has communication in your family positively or negatively affected your mental health?
This lens defines family based on legal relationships.
What is the sociolegal lens?
Follow-up: How do legal ties (marriage, adoption) influence communication or responsibility?
This type of communication is one-sided and limits discussion.
What is lecture communication?
Follow-up: Have you ever experienced this? How did it affect the conversation?
This explains how people use visual representations to tell stories to understand experiences.
What is narrative mapping?
Follow-up: Why do you think people tell stories after difficult experiences?
This term describes the caregiver who experiences stress while helping others.
What is the hidden patient?
Follow-up: Why do you think caregivers are overlooked?
This explains how stress in one area (like work) affects emotions and relationships.
What is interconnected wellness dimensions?
Follow-up: Can you think of a time when stress in one part of your life affected your relationships?
This model recognizes that social environments impact health.
What is the biopsychosocial model?
Follow-up: How do relationships in your life impact your physical or mental health?
This focuses on fear and consequences instead of open dialogue.
What is a warning-based conversation?
Follow-up: How might fear-based conversations impact trust or honesty?
This occurs when negative stories reinforce fear or misunderstanding.
What is stigma?
Follow-up: Where do you think stigma around mental health comes from?
This involves adjusting communication for someone with cognitive decline.
What is accommodation?
Follow-up: What might happen if we don’t adjust how we communicate with others?
This approach emphasizes supporting all areas of well-being, not just physical health.
What is a holistic wellness approach?
Follow-up: What is one thing families could do better to support overall well-being?
This idea explains how communication can shape health outcomes.
What is communication shaping health?
Follow-up: Can communication ever harm someone’s health? What would that look like?
This approach includes validation, openness, and reducing stigma.
What is supportive/open communication?
Follow-up: What does a “safe conversation” feel like to you?
This story narrative focuses on rebuilding meaning and using illness as a journey.
What is a quest narrative?
Follow-up: How can viewing a health challenge as a "journey" or "quest" change a person's sense of control or hope?
This means adapting to someone’s reality instead of correcting them.
What is person-centered communication?
Follow-up: Why is it important to “meet someone where they are,” especially in illness?