The 4 Doctors

There are numerous factors which can influence any person's physical, mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing on any particular day. The healthy balance of these factors is the foundation upon which the individual is able to perform. Because all of these factors can create an effect on the ability to perform at work it is critical that any Holistic Wellbeing Strategy is structured to take care of the human being on physical, mental and emotional levels.

In looking at the Human 'System' it is therefore necessary to examine where appropriate interventions are possible, with greatest level of ease and maximum efficiency of impact for energy expended. In producing such a programme it is proposed that employee health may be improved across the many areas that can affect health. This process of investigation coupled with programme support would also provide the added value of allowing for identification of common problem areas of health and wellbeing within the company. This would then allow for interventions to be both specific, and meaningful to the business as a whole.

Each Doctor or Teacher (from its Latin derivation, Doctoris - to teach), is created to coach the qualities ascribed to its title. Originally structured as three Doctors by Hippocrates, the Father of Modern medicine, this system has been expanded and developed by Paul Chek at the CHEK Institute who has added Dr. Movement to the original Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Happiness.

The system is created to coach people how to recognise and manage their physical, mental, spiritual and emotional states in order to create an optimal level of well being. Deficiency or dysfunction in any one of these four areas can create stresses upon the system which have the ability to compromise the performance of any individual in the workplace. We often expect that employees do not bring their problems to work, but in truth, this is not physically possible. The human being, as a complex cybernetic system cannot simply ignore inputs or influences into the system. Where a stressful problem is experienced this creates a biochemical cascade throughout the body at a level to which we have no voluntary control. This response, primarily in the form of secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland, produces system wide changes to the physiology of the body, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, reduced digestion, increased anxiety and nervousness, reduced ability to sleep, heal and recover and the list goes on!

If our brains sense that there is a threat to the system of ANY KIND, the cascade that follows is not merely psychological but also in a very real sense PHYSICAL.

Given this knowledge it becomes evident that even those employees who arrive in the office pushing the stresses of their lives to the back of their minds are, unless coached correctly UNABLE to influence the negative PHYSICAL effects that this produces. The body is unable to physically ignore the reality of this in a biochemical and physiological respect. The production of cortisol and its release in situations of chronic stress is calamitous to the human system, and hence management of this becomes critical to the optimal function of the human being and their performance in the workplace.