Health Promotion and Education

Well-being Wheel

At Western, we care about health and wellness and how it helps students thrive. ​We are here to support each student to find their unique pathway on their life-long well-being journey.​

Well-being is:

  • Developing my identity and living as my authentic self.​

  • Making lifelong healthy choices.​

  • Learning and applying skills to meet my own physical, social, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, financial, emotional, and environmental needs.​

  • Demonstrating resilient behavior, including the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful when faced with obstacles and challenging situations; including the ability to adapt and be flexible when responding to change.​

  • Addressing external factors within communities, systems, and organizations that impact health/wellness.

The WMU Well-being Wheel is one of the ways that we can assess our own overall well-being. There are many factors that can impact a person's well-being, and the wheel helps us examine each area. 

a colorful wheel with 'public/organizational policy, equity, community/cultural norms, living & working environment, sustainability, and socioeconomic conditions/access' on the rim, slices between the spokes labeled 'emotional, intellectual, occupational, spiritual, financial, environmental, physical, and social' and 'identity' in the center of the wheel.

Individual Level (Middle Sections surrounding Identity)

  • Enhance holistic student success
  • Support balance between multiple determinants of well-being
  • Encourage healthy behaviors and build skills for navigating life
  • Identify needs for support and intervene early to connect people to resources and services

 

University and Community Level (Outer Gold Ring)

  • Ensure policies and institutional practices support health for all
  • Change the environment and culture to be more conducive to comprehensive well-being

 

WMU Well-Being Wheel Definitions (PDF download)