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How to Improve Occupational Wellness?

This article explores what occupational wellness is and why it's so important. Learn tips for how to improve occupational wellness.

What Is Occupational Wellness?

Occupational wellness therapy is used in medical practice to effect optimum patient treatment results. 

Stress is a common denominator in most mental health conditions, and it has been known to also lead to various unpleasant effects on physical health. Chronic stress can lead to the development of conditions like obesity, heart disease, and even cancer, and this points out how important it is to control and eliminate stress levels.1

There are several sources of stress, for example, stress about money and health challenges, relationship challenges, and what is probably the most important source of stress; workplace challenges. This is where occupational health and wellness comes in.

Occupational Wellness

Occupational Wellness Meaning

Occupational health and wellness, also known as wellness in the workplace, refers to the capacity of an individual to strike a balance between work and relaxation that supports and even improves mental health, in addition to providing a feeling of personal fulfillment and financial gratification.2 

For example, people who are doing precisely what they want in their desired career paths and are satisfied with the financial reward and relaxation plans can be said to have attained a state of occupational health and wellness.

Why Does Occupational Wellness Matter?

If you work in a professional environment or have in the past, you may notice that companies often have some sort of mental health treatment specialist employed. This isn't just a "frivolous" role, as the occupational well-being of employees or workers plays a very important role in the overall productivity of the company as a whole.

Benefits of Occupational Wellness

If you're still unconvinced about the importance of occupational wellness, here are some other reasons why people need to maintain and improve occupational wellness:

  • Makes it easier to communicate values
  • Improves identification of workplace stress
  • Helps in conflict management
  • Makes you even better at utilizing your strengths
  • Makes setting healthy boundaries easier.
  • Lowers stress levels and burnout
  • Improves teamwork
  • Improves productivity and performance

It's highly unlikely that you won't have to deal with stress at some point in your life, so knowing how to handle it will go a long way toward maintaining and improving your mental health.

Occupational Wellness in Practice

The mindset and capacity of individuals to successfully manage and balance school, work, and personal goals significantly impacts their performance and overall well-being in the occupational dimension of wellness and beyond.2 The career wellness of an individual will significantly impact other areas of their lives, and it could even result in the development of mental disorders like addiction and depression.3 

Before getting into the benefits of improving occupational wellness and some occupational wellness tips, let's take a look at signs of poor occupational well-being.

Signs of Poor Occupational Wellness

It's important to pay attention to occupational wellness due to the heavy impact it can have on your health, attitude, and general well-being.

One of the most dangerous things about poor occupational well-being is that it is somewhat chronic in that it gradually develops over time, making it challenging for people to notice and take steps to improve occupational wellness. However, you should know that there are signs of poor professional wellness that you'll find you can easily detect if you know what they are. Some of these signs of poor professional wellness include:

  • Feeling unmotivated
  • Poor engagement with co-workers
  • A sense of dread when going to work
  • Being unhappy with the career choice
  • Feeling stressed out and overwhelmed with the workload

Impact of Occupational Wellness

Poor occupational wellness has been known to result in the development of several physical and mental health conditions such as diabetes, depression, and anxiety. These conditions can be preventable.

How to Improve Occupational Wellness?

If your occupational wellness needs improvement, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to switch jobs. There are plenty of ways to increase productivity while also reducing burnout, so you can achieve your goals with a clear mind.

Now that you know some examples of occupational wellness and the importance of carrying out occupational wellness activities, let's look at how to improve occupational wellness. 

Ways to Elevate Your Occupational Wellness

If you're looking to improve your occupational wellness, here are some improvement tips for you:

  • Don't settle
  • Avoid overworking yourself
  • Take a break
  • Enjoy what you do
  • Create connections with your co-workers
  • Create a plan to reach your occupational goals
  • Find the benefits and positives in your current job
  • Seek professional help if you feel stuck

Benefits of Occupational Wellness

Some benefits of occupational wellness include the following:

  • Improved productivity and performance
  • Lowered stress and burnout levels
  • Decreased “presenteeism”
  • Improved teamwork

Therapy for Occupational Wellness

While some tips for improving occupational wellness may work for some people, there is a high chance that not everyone will be able to enjoy and improve their occupational wellness from those tips alone. In this case, occupational therapy and wellness are often recommended.

Occupational therapy is often handled by a licensed and trained therapy specialist called an occupational therapist.

How can Therapy Help Improve Occupational Wellness?

Seeing an occupational therapist is one of the best ways to improve occupational health and wellness, especially if you discover that some past event such as an accident or disease has made relating with others and living a healthy life challenging for you.4

Despite the "occupational" in occupational therapy, this form of therapy is useful for people of all ages, including children, where it has been used to teach how to better interact with others and learn self-care.

What to Expect in an Occupational Therapy Session

When you visit a center for occupational health and wellness for an occupational therapy session, your occupational therapist will discuss and evaluate your goals and needs with you. They will then conduct several tests to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Information derived from these tests will guide them in developing strategies to help you achieve your goals and improve your occupational wellness. Your therapist may also recommend you use adaptive equipment to improve therapy outcomes.4

Occupational Wellness

Contact an Occupational Therapist at Anew Treatment Center

The importance or value of therapy in the treatment and management of mental and physical medical health conditions cannot be overstated. While medications and other forms of medical intervention are often aimed at providing relief from unpleasant symptoms and taking care of any physiological damages that may have occurred in patients, therapy identifies harmful triggers and develops effective coping strategies for dealing with them.

Do you have trouble relating with people, or are you finding it difficult to achieve the goals you set out for yourself? If so, occupational therapy could benefit you. Anew Treatment Center can equip you with the necessary tools and techniques to establish and maintain occupational wellness.

Why Anew Treatment Center?

Just as your occupation should reflect your goals and values, so should your treatment. Professional wellness therapy can help you identify "triggers" responsible for your challenges and develop coping mechanisms for you to recover and even improve your everyday life experience.

At Anew Treatment Center, we offer a fresh and unique approach to treating and improving mental health. Our teams of specialists are licensed and experienced in treating numerous mental health conditions, so you can rest assured you'll always be in safe hands.5

Learn More About Our Treatment Programs

Our team is ready to talk and determine how we can help. Rest assured your call is confidential. We're here for you.