Engaging Wellness Activities for Workshops, Trainings, and Group Programs
Structured Exercises in Wellness Promotion, Volume 2 offers 36 creative, field-tested activities that help participants explore wellness from a whole person perspective. These designs encourage active engagement, reflection, prioritizing, and goal setting. Participants examine health habits, emotional patterns, lifestyle choices, stress responses, and self-care practices in ways that support both insight and meaningful action. This volume equips facilitators to lead groups using wellness activities for groups that are flexible, energizing, and grounded in whole person well-being.
The Introduction emphasizes that wellness remains one of the most relevant teaching topics across settings, and Volume 2 provides practical structures for involving participants in reflection, discussion, assessment, and planning. Each exercise includes goals, group size guidelines, timing, materials needed, step-by-step instructions, and variations. Many activities are designed to work well in either large groups or smaller personal sharing groups, providing multiple options for tailoring sessions to each audience.
What This Volume Provides
This volume presents a blend of introductory activities, moderate-length assessments, and major theme-development experiences that help participants deepen their understanding of their health and lifestyle patterns. Worksheets such as the Health Habit Inventory, Lost and Found Worksheet, Present Health Status Chart, Sickness Benefits analysis, Wheel of Health diagram, Personal Fitness Checklist, Loneliness Locator, and Self-Care SOAP Worklist reinforce self-awareness and practical application.
Trainer guidance found in the resource section (page x) includes tips for leading small group reflections, adapting content to your facilitation style, and combining activities into short programs or extended workshops. The structured format allows for customizable wellness programming that supports physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, and lifestyle well-being.
Exercise Categories Included in This Volume
Icebreakers
These short activities help participants warm up to wellness concepts and one another. Exercises such as Roundup, Differences, Pocket or Purse, Quality Circles, Attention to Tension, Silent Auction, and Vitality Score encourage movement, creativity, and quick personal reflection. They set the tone for an interactive and supportive workshop environment.
Wellness Explorations
Five assessments and theme-development activities guide participants as they examine their well-being in depth. Examples include Investing in Health, My Present Health Status, Caring Appraisal, Sickness Benefits, and the extended three-part Wheel of Health process. These activities help individuals evaluate self-care habits, physical health, spiritual perspective, relational patterns, and life balance.
Self-Care Strategies
Eleven exercises strengthen participants' ability to take responsibility for their well-being. Activities cover physical health, nutrition, fitness, emotional awareness, relational wellness, spiritual exploration, and lifestyle development. Examples include Self-Care Learning Contract, Wish List, Annual Physical, Lunch Duets, Personal Fitness Check, Medicine Cabinet, Power of Positive Thinking, Loneliness Locator, Compass, Life and Death Questions, and the in-depth Self-Care SOAP process.
Planning and Closure Processes
Activities that help participants pull insights together and prepare to implement new wellness strategies. Exercises such as What Next, Roundup Revisited, Cleaning Up My Act, and One-A-Day Plan support intentional reflection, goal setting, and follow-through on wellness commitments.
Group Energizers
Lively short activities that refresh attention, stimulate creativity, and keep groups energized. Examples include Vital Signs, Body Scanning, Cheers, Exercises for the Sedentary, Fingertip Face Massage, Good Morning World Stretch Routine, I Am Depressed, Take a Deep Breath, Up Up and Away, Working Coffee Break, and You Asked for It. These quick processes help maintain momentum in longer workshops.
Resources
The resource section includes trainer tips, editors' choice four-star exercises, winning workshop combinations, and annotated indexes for locating demonstrations, chalktalks, mental energizers, physical energizers, and relaxation routines. These tools support effective workshop planning and confident facilitation.
Who Will Benefit from This Volume
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Wellness promotion educators and facilitators
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Counselors, therapists, and social workers
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Corporate wellness and organizational development trainers
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Healthcare educators and community health leaders
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Teachers, school counselors, and youth program coordinators
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Anyone leading groups focused on whole person well-being
Important Extras Included with Purchase
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PDF of all reproducible worksheets, including wellness assessments, diagrams, reflection tools, and self-care planning forms
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PowerPoint slides featuring mini-lectures for teaching core wellness concepts
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Clear, structured activity designs that save preparation time
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Flexible exercises suitable for a wide variety of groups and settings
