Culture influences our character as we grow, establishing our values, beliefs, and attitudes. It affects how we think, feel, act, perceive, and respond to situations. Our communities and life circumstances shape our cultural identities, which in turn influence our well-being. This webinar, presented by Lenora Reid-Rose and Jonique Freeman of Coordinated Care Services, Inc., discusses the cultural aspects of wellness and encourages webinar participants to explore their cultural identity. This is the first session of the cultural awareness series, and it is the first in the five-part Cultural Activation Training Series by the Program to Achieve Wellness. Though it is a recording of a live training, care providers, and people looking to enhance their wellness can still engage with the prompts themselves or among other individuals in their support system.
Many different aspects of life contribute to our cultural identities, including socioeconomic factors, racial factors, and ethnic factors. Our identities can be shaped by our income, level of education, spoken languages, values, country of origin, or gender, among myriad other traits. In certain circumstances or places, some of these identities may be more influential than others. Understanding what it means to belong to these identities is essential when exploring our well–being through the lens of the Eight Dimensions of Wellness model. The Eight Dimensions of Wellness are emotional wellness, environmental wellness, financial wellness, intellectual wellness, occupational wellness, physical wellness, social wellness, and spiritual wellness. The model is conceptualized around the understanding that all areas of wellness affect one another, and because our cultural identities impact each of these dimensions, they must be recognized in order to achieve an effective approach to addressing well-being.
View the other webinars in the Cultural Activation Training Series: Webinar 2 | Webinar 3 | Webinar 4 | Webinar 5.
This resource was first shared in 2016.
(Presentation, YouTube)