1.1 What does wellbeing mean?
Care and attention to everyone’s wellbeing is essential for the development of the first layer of peace – ‘peace with myself’ – outlined in Peace at the Heart. This section continues to follow the work of Cremin and Bevington (2017) to explore what wellbeing means in the context of peace building.
Activity 1 What does wellbeing mean?
Read Cremin and Bevington’s descriptions of different aspects of wellbeing in the box below (Cremin and Bevington, 2017, pp. 111–12). Click on one of the options below to match the aspect of wellbeing they are describing.
Once you have reviewed the definitions, reflect on what you might need to support each of these aspects of your own wellbeing. Record your ideas in the table below. You may wish to come back to these in Session 6.
Emotional wellbeing | |
Psychological wellbeing | |
Social wellbeing | |
Spiritual wellbeing |
Comment
As you can see, wellbeing is a relatively complex term, relating to the personal, interpersonal and spiritual. This session focuses on emotional, psychological and social wellbeing.
As well as helping children and young people develop peace with myself, attention to and care of wellbeing is a key asset in the culture and environment of an educational community. Peace at the Heart explains the benefits of developing an educational environment where ‘…students believe that adults in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals.’ It draws on research to describe how such schools ‘… have seen benefits to student satisfaction and personal development, reduced violence and exclusions, and higher grades’ (Peace at the Heart, p. 15). Attentive care to wellbeing might be developed in any and all aspects of the educational community. Embedding such care has benefits for everyone.
This course focuses on wellbeing in the context of building positive relationships and managing conflict. However, there are many different services and approaches to supporting the mental health of all members of school communities. For example, at the time of writing (2024) UK governments have been investing resources in exploring and developing trauma-informed practice. This approach is informed by key principles of: safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural consideration (Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, 2022). Schools might also wish to explore educational and healthcare resources related to working with children with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).