Giving wellness a spiritual workout. Two model programs emphasize the development of self-reliance

Many hospitals, corporations, and communities have developed wellness programs to help people maintain a healthy life-style. Today's wellness doctrine reflects modern medical thinking that, to achieve optimal human potential, a person must enjoy physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Most wellness programs, however, concentrate on the physical; few take into account spiritual well-being. Wellness programs developed by the Boulder County YMCA, Longmont, CO, and the University of Maryland, College Park, were based on an interpretation of a model suggested by Carl Jung that defines spirituality as the development of self-reliance. According to Jung, the constituents of self-reliance include awareness, inner faith, self-worth, humility, patience, acceptance, and self-confidence. He suggested that the absence of any one of these could cause a breakdown in a person's belief system and lead to a spiritual crisis. These programs trained participants to recognize the importance of their spiritual well-being and to find practical ways to improve it. Key components were a stress management course; workshops in confidence building and values clarification; and classes, lectures, and workshops that emphasize the integration of spiritual and physical well-being.