Managing wellbeing through the Healthy Mind Platter

During the past year, I have found that many of my coaching clients have been struggling to maintain balance in their lives which has affected their ability to remain resilient.

As a result, managing wellbeing has been the forefront of many of our coaching sessions.

A practical model for managing wellbeing

A model I have found extremely useful to share with coachees is the Healthy Mind Platter by Dan Siegel and David Rock.

One of the reasons I like the model is that unlike some other wellbeing or resilience models, it is based on research in the area of neuroscience. Siegel and Rock suggest that there are seven vital activities that each have different and beneficial effects on the mind. These are: getting enough sleep, physical activity, focus or productive time, active playtime, inactive downtime, social connection and time reflecting internally.

Striking a healthy balance

A balance in these activities is needed for an individual to achieve optimal neurocognitive functioning and well-being or what they call a “healthy mind.” Interestingly, they also state that a lack of any of the behaviours associated with the activities will results in “sub-optimal levels of functioning or ill health”.

Encouraging individuals to reflect on each of the activities in the model during a coaching session has proven to be a powerful technique. It empowers them to manage their wellbeing and build a more resilient approach to their everyday life.

Some of my coachees have reported using the model outside our coaching sessions, to help maintain balance and wellbeing on a daily basis, with some even pinning the model to their notice board as a daily reminder.

Adapting during the pandemic

It is worthwhile noting that during lockdown, those activities that needed the most attention were, physical time, connecting time and play time. It was not easy to find opportunities for these to happen naturally.

Returning to a “normal” existence, it is likely that those areas that we will need to focus on will shift.

As we seek to engage in the activities denied us for so long, our lives may become particularly busy. The activities we will need pay attention to for managing wellbeing will likely change to time in, down time and perhaps sleep time.

For further information about the Healthy Mind Platter model and how it works, See Dr Dan Siegal’s YouTube clip.