The Importance of Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Social and emotional wellbeing is a crucial part of human happiness and health (Rook, 2015). Promoting positive social and emotional development in young people and children impact their behavior health and learning outcomes. Mental health is a term that is often used when discussing wellbeing as it describes how people feel and think and also how they take part and cope with everyday life. This paper will provide a critical reflection of my experiences with mental health in my personal life supported by evidence and examples from key concepts of social and emotional wellbeing.

The Importance of Social and Emotional Wellbeing

I believe that mental health and illness emphasize more on problems and therefore do not describe all the factors that influence well-being. Reason being, most people prefer the term social and emotional wellbeing because it fits well with a holistic perspective of health (Rook, 2015). Also, it involves having the skills needed to build and maintain positive relationships with ourselves and others. These skills include developing a strong sense of self, regulating and recognizing emotions, showing care and concern for other people, making sound decisions, effectively negotiating situations that are challenging, and establishing effective and positive relationships (World Health Organization, 2014).

Strengthening Social and Emotional Wellbeing

From different things which I have come across in life, I have noticed that the importance of social and emotional wellbeing can be strengthened and fostered through positive relationships and personal coping skills. Also, I have realized that human beings experience a variety of emotions and thoughts that affect how they behave and feel, and they are always finding new ways of coping with them. Additionally, I have learned that I can develop my emotional, social and mental wellbeing in a learning community through fostering a safe, supportive, caring and purposeful environment, as well as other factors which can assist me to develop relationships based on mutual respect. My experiences also taught me that, reactions and feelings changes depending on the happenings, around and within me, and assists me to understand my behavior as well that of other people. Through the different things which I have encountered in life, I have realized that it is not challenging to overcome emotional and wellbeing problems because there are people that I can turn to, there are also various other ways which can give me emotional and practical support (Sancassiani & pintus, 2015).

Conceptualization of Emotional and Social Wellbeing

Conceptualization of emotional and social wellbeing starts with a philosophical approach which is difficult to apply in practice but can still be used to derive wellbeing ideas in the broadest sense and also the kind of society we wish for (Weare, 2015). This approach embeds emotional and social wellbeing inherently, and more broadly, as any wellbeing dimension cannot be viewed in isolation. It also highlights the inter-relatedness of different wellbeing dimensions thereby emphasizing well-being in a social context situation. Another concept is taking an empirical and narrower view on well-being which brings measurements of emotional and social wellbeing (Durlak, 2015). This concept, however, tends to focus on socially problematic behaviors negatively and have a positive psychology towards personal strengths. Conceptualizing emotional and social wellbeing encompasses a wide range of individual relational and internal characteristics as well as environmental influences.

Impact of Caregivers on Emotional Wellbeing

The environment provided by my caregivers has impacted my emotional wellbeing tremendously which, undoubtedly, indicates that a secure and stable environment plays a crucial role in enhancing one’s social and emotional wellbeing. Human beings develop and change in response to different mental health dimensions, thereby making the developmental process to play an essential role in determining and shaping their future health and wellbeing.

References

 Durlak, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice. New York: Guilford Publications.

Rook, K. S. (2015). Social networks in later life: Weighing positive and negative effects on health and well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(1), 45-51.

 Sancassiani, F.&, Pintus, (2015). Enhancing the emotional and social skills of the youth to promote their well-being and positive development: a systematic review of universal school-based randomized controlled trials. Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health: CP & EMH, 11(Suppl 1 M2), 21.

Weare, K. (2015). What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools. London: National Children’s Bureau.

 World Health Organization. (2014). Social determinants of mental health. World Health Organization.