The Wellness Model©
What is The Wellness model?
The Wellness Model© is a resource inspired by security and well-being professionals, designed to create a blueprint enabling individuals and organisations to build, reflect & maintain optimum performance and improve quality of life.
Build;
To be able to build, one needs to have the drawings and the ability to understand it’s relevance. The wellness model provides just this, allowing the user to create a performance maintenance plan that encompasses all aspects of wellness.
Reflect;
What’s particularly useful about the wellness model is that it allows one to make an inventory of how the various aspects of wellness impact one’s life, including where present deficiencies exist and why.
Maintain;
The Wellness Model allows the user to make actionable steps that enable one to implement changes as and when required to uphold and continue optimum performance and an improved quality of life.
The designer(s) of the wellness model
The formation of the wellness model began as an exercise by Alfie Ritz, to figure out how best to quantify wellness so as to improve one’s health and wellbeing.
Combining research with one’s own psychology, security and experiences became an investigative journey which revealed a revelation and a simple truth that wellness is interconnected in multiple aspects of our lives.
The wellness performance indicator essentially is an extension of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, only flatlined, categorised in specific groups, all holding significant relevance and merit. This has been defined as seen below in the wellness performance Indicator.
The wellness preservation framework (WPF) is inspired of the NIST Cyber Security Framework released in 2014, under the Obama administration in response to the growing threats of cyber warfare & terrorism. In this modern age of psychological warfare and mental health crisis, a model is needed to help individuals and organisations to protect and preserve one’s health and well-being. The wellness model aims to do just that.
How The Wellness Model has helped me?
As someone who lives with CPTSD and epilepsy, managing my health is essential. Sometimes it’s only when something tragic happens in our life do we realise the need to re-evaluate and reflect.
For me this came in 2023 when I experienced a grand mal seizure lasting 20 minutes. The impact of which took a devastating toll on my health. The reality though was that there had been a number of factors as categorised within the WPI which acted as significant contributors that triggered my seizure. Factors that were in my control.
Due to my complex health needs, and also becoming aware I am indictive of several ADHD Typologies, has reinforced why utilising the wellness model and monitoring my use of Performance maintenance plan (PMP) is crucial for my well-being.
The Wellness model has allowed me to better manage my health by providing quantitative feedback specifically pinpointing in what areas I am doing well and what am areas I am struggling, but most importantly, why?
This is important because it allows me to make actionable steps and make adjustments where necessary.
What I find particularly helpful using the wellness model is that it allows me to reflect on the various aspects of wellness and this correlates to my feelings and how I can change in real time.
The Wellness Model has been an instrumental tool in my road to wellness and my hope in sharing is that it can do the same for you too.
Thank you for reading
Alfie