Nearly 100 attend Charity Reimagined training on tools for healthier life

COEUR d'ALENE — The eight domains of wellness encompass every aspect of life: physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, environmental and financial.

"When one of those is out of balance, it's like riding a bike with a flat tire," Rebecca Medicine Eagle said. "You're still moving, but you're not making progress as much as you could."

Medicine Eagle, a resource and service navigator with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, was one of nearly 100 who attended the Wellness Blueprint: Tools for a Healthier Life training event at North Idaho College.

She said she was looking forward to the discussion about spiritual wellness.

"That's what I notice about a lot of my clients; they have all these things lined up but that spiritual piece is missing because they're not making progress," she said. "It's like a puzzle piece that's missing. You have this picture and you kind of understand it, but without all those domains it's not the full picture."

Presented by Charity Reimagined, the training was led by social workers Keith Orchard and Raelynn Loken, who oversee mental wellness support work in the Coeur d'Alene School District as the district's mental health team. With extensive backgrounds in coaching, therapy, leadership, social-emotional learning, working with families and more, Orchard and Loken took turns discussing the different domains and inviting attendees to participate in exercises promoting understanding of others as well as reflecting on personal thoughts and behaviors.

Orchard asked participants to fill out an assessment in their workbooks that focused on developing awareness and learning to identify emotions in oneself and others. A green column represented low tension, a yellow column represented medium tension and a red column represented high tension. Attendees wrote what they experience in each column — body tension, emotions, thoughts, speaking style, facial expressions and other behaviors.

"Our emotional wellness, of course that matters," Orchard said.

He said this assessment has been used on children as well as adults, including Marines he did therapy work with in Hawaii.

"Turns out, being a Marine is stressful," he said.

Loken emphasized the importance of maintaining self-worth. This can be in the form of positive self-talk, rather than allowing the inner monologue to say, "You're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you have to be perfect."

"Be your own best friend," she said.

All of these exercises translated to tools attendees can use while working with the communities they serve. Attendees came from nonprofits, ministries and government agencies.

This was about the fourth Wellness Blueprint training since it was introduced by Charity Reimagined in 2019. Charity Reimagined is a nonprofit that works with other nonprofits to reverse the trajectory of one-way giving, helping to address poverty by implementing new and effective ways to help those who need it most.

The training qualified for 5.5 continuing education units. 

"I thought it would be a good resource for me because my office is in the senior side of things. I also hand out commodities to people, so I take applications and give resources to seniors," 3rd Avenue Marketplace operations manager Marcee Cavallaro said. "I figured it would be another good outlet for me to check out."

Charity Reimagined Executive Director Maggie Lyons said what transpired during this year's event was remarkable.

"People are very engaged at their tables, and a couple of the nonprofits brought all their volunteers," she said. "It's just vibrant."

A goal of Wellness Blueprint is the affirmation that "all of us are in this together," Lyons said, "that we are all working toward the same long-term goal, and that is to change the trajectory."

"We call these people 'frontline warriors' all the time, because they are," she said.

The event offers support, affirmation, camaraderie and education, Lyons said.

Charity Reimagined conducts quarterly trainings with materials provided by True Charity, a movement to help guide people toward self-sufficiency and lasting change by helping organizations move beyond handouts that trap people in cycles of dependency.

An upcoming book study on "Toxic Charity" by Robert Lupton is full, but another will be held in February. A training in March will provide guidance on creating Christmas markets in lieu of "adopting" families during the holidays.

Info: charityreimagined.org

Marcee Cavallaro, operations manager for 3rd Avenue Marketplace in Post Falls, discusses social wellness during an exercise Tuesday morning at the Wellness Blueprint training.

    Rebecca Medicine Eagle answers a question during an exercise Tuesday at the Wellness Blueprint training.