AN INTERGRATED APPROACH FOR SOCIAL WELFARE SECTOR AND HEALTH SECTOR

Abstract

Abstract
With the fast growing and appreciation of the need for the contribution of wellness to achieve wellbeing in the holism of human functioning, attention to the subject of wellbeing needs to be explored and given much space for wellness counselling, alternative medicine and holistic approach. This dissertation will indicate how the wellness approach can be integrated to the social welfare sector and the health care sector in South Africa. A deeper understanding of the legislation of the country will be discussed in order assist all stakeholders to better integrate, and also establish gaps in the legislations that are relevant to this approach and recommend amendments if it is needed.

Currently, wellness is gaining increased interest in the health sector, regrettably there is a lack of drive from the side of government to properly regulate this sector. This thesis will explore wellness in order to encourage wellness counselors and holistic practitioners to contemplate their own wellbeing and to promote wellness for their clients. The dissertation will also strike a balance on practical and theoretical gaps. Some of the theoretical issues will be discussed here include the need for holistic wellness; theories wellness; assisting people of different background in our healthcare system, and ordinary people’s perceptions of how a health practitioner should understand wellness issues.

This dissertation also offers key insights into the role that belief and consciousness play in facilitating holistic healthcare. It offers a unique integrated model drawn from these insights that repositions the client at the centre of diagnosis and treatment. It exemplifies how deeper reflections on theory drawn from multiple epistemologies can allow for novel theoretical and practical insights into the field of client treatment. This study recommends further and more expansive investigations into the possible uses of the preliminary philosophy drawn from the research undertaken.

This research is concerned with outlining a preliminary integrated philosophy for psychological wellbeing. Given the number of conflicting perspectives regarding the causes, treatments and beliefs of health, the author argues that South African mental healthcare is saturated with contradictory understandings of what underpins patient wellness. These incommensurable understandings conflict with new national health initiatives as well as possible difficulty in client treatment and referral. In an effort to reframe these understandings, the author posits that the use of the term ‘well-being’ allows for a renewed focus on the individual being at the Centre of mental healthcare.