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About Us

Mission Statement

WellCats is a nationally recognized, evidenced-based, comprehensive employee wellness program designed to inspire Texas State employees and the community to enhance wellness – faculty and students in teaching and learning, research, and service. WellCats is Texas State University’s comprehensive employee wellness program dedicated to building a worksite culture that makes ‘the healthy choice the easy choice’." 

What is Wellness?

Wellness is living fully in each of the dimensions of wellness and achieving balance among those dimensions - in other words, not just focusing on physical or emotional wellness. All of the dimensions are connected to one another, so efforts you make to improve one dimension will positively impact each of the others. Over the course of your life, attaining a high level wellness is achieved by addressing all of the dimensions at one time or another. 

Remember that wellness is not the absence of illness, disease or stress. You can achieve wellness even when you are experiencing these challenges in your life.

More on the 8 Dimensions of Wellness

Health vs. Wellness – Are They the Same?

Simply put – NO! Whereas being healthy refers to your overall physical and mental condition, wellness refers to living with a positive approach to enhance your quality of life. In the simplest of terms being healthy is being free from mental and physical disease; but to have wellness, you have to live each area of your life in a way that will help you reach your full potential – that is where the ‘8 Dimensions of Wellness’ comes in…

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Environmental Wellness

Is learning to live in harmony with the planet and our natural world by being more aware of and actively reducing our footprint through actions such as recycling, reusing, and the repurposing of harmful and wasteful products.

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Financial Wellness

Is the ability to learn how to manage financially related stress by creating a clear plan with goals that addresses the five key themes of money.

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Intellectual Wellness

Is maintaining an open perspective and active curiosity of the world around us through academic pursuits, the engagement of hobbies, and appreciation of the arts, and through meaningful and stimulating conversations with others.

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Nutritional Wellness

Is the active incorporation of a healthy eating pattern that prioritizes whole, minimally processed foods, coupled with regular exercise, to promote health and prevent disease.

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Occupational Wellness

Is achieved when one is able to find value and meaning in the workplace, to cope and manage stressful situations, to build and maintain relationships with co-workers, and to feel energized by the contributions that they make.

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Physical Wellness

Is the adoption of healthy habits like exercise and plentiful sleep, and the avoidance of unhealthy activities like smoking and a nutritionally deficient diet, that promote physical well-being.

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Social & Emotional Wellness

Is achieved by having rich and meaningful connections with people in our lives, creating a support system, and being self-aware enough to comfortably accept life’s challenges while maintaining a positive perspective.

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Spiritual Wellness

Is having a sense of meaning and purpose in your life created by exploring and finding balance of the five spiritual layers of self-discovery: the physical body, the energy body, the emotional body, the wisdom body, and the bliss body.

History

In March 2014, the Director of Human Resources with the support of the Vice President for Finance and Support Services received approval from the President’s Cabinet for the planning and development of an additional component to the Texas State Employee Wellness Program to be offered at no cost to employees. This addition would be supported by a one-time savings.

A human resources representative was assigned the task of devising a plan. She began by reviewing both the scientific literature and existing university employee wellness programs to identify optimal program components. She then conducted an environmental scan on campus and identified existing facilities and services, expertise, and policies that had potential to be foundational for this new addition to the Employee Wellness Program.