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The 5 PILLAR PHILOSOPHY
At Fostering Wellness, I believe true well-being is built upon Five Pillars of Health: Environmental, Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual. These pillars are deeply interconnected—when one is out of balance, it can affect the stability of the others and create space for dis-ease to develop.
The good news is that nurturing even one pillar can positively influence the rest. As we strengthen one area, we naturally support growth and harmony throughout the whole system.
Nurse Coaching at Fostering Wellness honors all Five Pillars equally. Together, we’ll identify which areas feel most important for you right now and set intentional, achievable goals using the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). From there, we’ll focus on small, sustainable behavior changes that help you restore balance, enhance well-being, and feel your best—inside and out. Below, you can explore each pillar.
Environmental Health:
In the context of health and wellness, environment includes everything that surrounds and influences an individual—physical, social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual characteristics; both internal and external; animate and inanimate. It encompasses the climate, the energy we move through, and even the unseen vibrations and frequencies that shape our daily lives. Our environment is the habitat within which all living systems participate and interact. By increasing our awareness of this connection, we begin to understand how deeply our surroundings affect our overall health and well-being.
My intention is to guide clients in exploring how their environment impacts their wellness—helping them recognize potential stressors or harmful exposures, and supporting them in making conscious, sustainable choices that nurture both personal health and the health of the planet.
Physical Health:
Physical health is the well-being of the body and the proper functioning of the organism of individual. It is the body’s ability to perform daily tasks and live comfortably. It considers the condition of your body, in the context of everything from the absence of disease to fitness level.
Physical health is critical for overall well-being, and is affected by lifestyle: diet, level of physical activity, behavior (for instance, smoking), human biology (a person’s genetics and physiology may make it easier or harder to achieve good physical health), and of course is affected by the other 4-pillars, mental, emotion, environmental, and spiritual health. Physical health is so much more than the absence of disease.
Mental Health:
Mental wellness is an essential part of overall health. It’s a state of well-being in which we recognize our own abilities, cope with life’s daily stresses, work productively, and contribute meaningfully to our communities.
Our mental health shapes how we think, feel, and interact with the world around us—it influences our capacity for joy, creativity, connection, and purpose.
Supporting mental wellness involves cultivating resilience, self-awareness, and emotional balance, while creating environments that encourage safety, respect, and belonging. Access to supportive relationships, community resources, and the protection of civil, social, and cultural rights all play vital roles in fostering strong mental health.
When we intentionally nurture our minds, we strengthen our ability to navigate challenges, build connection, and live with clarity and peace.
Emotional Health:
Emotions are natural responses to the experiences and relationships that shape our lives. As living, interconnected beings, we are continually influenced by our interactions with others and with our environment—and our emotions reflect this ever-changing flow.
Every emotion—love, joy, compassion, kindness, guilt, anger, forgiveness, fear, and beyond—offers valuable insight into our inner world. When we learn to recognize and honor this emotional feedback, it becomes a guide toward greater self-awareness and balance.
Embracing the full spectrum of emotions allows us to make more conscious, health-promoting choices. As we deepen our attention to the mind–body–spirit connection, we can begin to focus on emotions that move us forward—supporting healing, wholeness, and emotional intelligence.
Spiritual Health:
Spiritual wellness is not synonymous with religion. Instead, it reflects our innate desire to seek meaning, purpose, and connection within the human experience. It invites us to explore the deeper questions of life—our values, beliefs, and the ways we connect to ourselves, others, nature, and something greater than ourselves.
When we take time to assess and nurture our spiritual well-being, we often gain a clearer sense of direction, peace, and belonging. Like all the other pillars, spiritual health is interwoven with every aspect of our overall wellness, influencing how we see the world and how we show up within it.
Exploring this pillar can be a deeply personal and transformative journey—one that fosters resilience, clarity, and a greater sense of wholeness.
* As defined by Dossey, Luck, & Schaub, 2015: The international Nurse Coach Association