Promoting healthy lifestyles for people with disabilities

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Fayette County Board of DD is pleased to offer the workshop, Healthy Lifestyles for People with Disabilities. This class is a holistic wellness workshop designed for people with disabilities.

The workshop embodies the self-determination model, and its ultimate goal is to give participants the tools they need to evaluate their current life situations, identify areas in their lives they would like to improve, and to make positive changes in those areas.

The steps to achieving these goals are separated into four sessions. In sessions one and two, participants define a “healthy lifestyle” and identify values that are important to them. In session three, they learn about the components of a healthy lifestyle and identify the areas that they would like to change to move towards a healthier lifestyle. Finally, in session four, participants learn how to make positive changes in these areas by using a goal-planning process.

In the Healthy Lifestyles workshop, the five areas of a healthy lifestyle are defined as:

– Emotional Health

– Social Health

– Physical Health

– Spiritual Health/Living One’s Values

– Health through Meaningful Activities

These areas of a healthy lifestyle are embodied in a Healthy Lifestyles Wheel, a learning tool used throughout the workshop. The wheel is based on current social and psychological research as well as participant input.

The workshop is currently meeting in the conference room at the Fayette County Medical Arts Building on Tuesday evenings from 4-6 p.m. for 10 weeks. This group will complete their 10-week session the last Tuesday of March and will continue to meet once a month for six months to support and encourage one another along their journey.

Guest speaker Jeannie Bihl, RN educator from the health department, has visited the group to cover topics such as “portion control” and how to make sense of food labels. Shannon Jacobs from Practical Wellness came to visit one week and taught the class a “Chair Yoga” routine as well as a “mindfulness” deep breathing technique. On the last week of March, participants will get to try a little “massage” therapy to celebrate completing their 10 weeks!

We are so excited to partner with our health comrades at the Fayette County Hospital to encourage anyone with any type of disability to remember we all have the right to be healthy! We have a great time sharing and working together to design a healthy lifestyle “game plan” that is unique to each person. Participants identify community resources and supports that will help them achieve their goals. Everyone has a chance to decide how to stay motivated in the quest for a healthy lifestyle.

The next session with new group members will start in September once the six-month follow-up support group meetings with current participants has ended. If you are interested or would like more information about this program provided by Fayette County Board of DD, you may call Jan Cobb, RN BSN, nurse consultant for FCBDD at 740-335-1391, ext. 248.

This article was submitted by Jan Cobb, nurse consultant for Fayette County Board of DD.

Fayette County Board of DD is offering the workshop, “Healthy Lifestyles for People with Disabilities.”
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/03/web1_bc2.jpgFayette County Board of DD is offering the workshop, “Healthy Lifestyles for People with Disabilities.”

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