How to Create Your Personal Wellness Team: 12 Must-Haves

I’ve had a chronic health condition for over 20 years, and have always needed more support for my sensitivity than my peers. Along my path of mental and physical health management, I coined this idea of my own personal “HSP wellness team.” It’s not easy being sensitive and needing more emotional, physical, and spiritual support on a daily basis. While having the sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) trait (commonly known as the highly sensitive person trait) is a blessing not a curse, building your very own personal HSP wellness team to rally around you can provide the highest level of support for all your HSP needs.

#1 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Coach

I hired my first coach when I was in my early 30s juggling and home-based business and small children. As a woman gifted at multitasking, I was stretched beyond my limits and couldn’t see the forest through the trees. My inner critic had taken over and made my chronic condition worse. Lack of sleep and time for myself was killing me. I had no margin for HSP slowness, which is what I needed. This first coach provided me with immeasurable insights into myself, and I will forever be grateful.

Without a coach (or a close friend who can tell you the truth), it’s hard to see yourself objectively and know where and how to tweak, to adjust your goals, and to listen and provide insights and feedback. If you do have a friend with this kind of awareness and insight, consider yourself fortunate. Most of us have to pay for a personal coach to help us achieve our desired level of personal wellness, myself included.

As an HSP-trained coach, I still need my own coach. In fact, I’m able to have a wellness coach through my medical insurance, which is a huge blessing. If you’re a highly sensitive person, consider hiring an HSP-trained coach to maximize your time and energy as you won’t have to explain many aspects of your sensitive trait to them–they will already understand and perhaps be an HSP as well. This can shave years off your coaching relationship and take you to new heights in personal development.

Some HSP coaches offer group coaching programs and courses as well as one-on-one coaching sessions. This site is an affiliate for Julie Bjelland’s HSP course offerings, which have helped many HSPs.

#2 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Therapist

There is no match for having a good therapist on your personal wellness team (MFT, LPC, LCSW, psychotherapist, psychologist), especially if you’re and HSP. Better yet, finding a therapist who is trauma-informed can be the gateway to overcoming issues from your childhood. Utilizing a therapist who has a working knowledge of the HSP trait or is HSP-trained is also important (here’s a link to a directory of HSP-trained coaches and therapists). While therapy is typically more expensive, it can often be covered by your medical insurance. Check your policy to see if you’re eligible for benefits.

Looking for HSP Tools to Thrive in a Chaotic World?

The modern world is often overwhelming and stressful for those of us with sensitive nervous systems. Many of us have suffered from the challenges of high stress, anxiety, sensory overload, and mental health and physical health issues. Fortunately, after years of working with and researching Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), Julie Bjelland has developed many tools that have not only helped her but thousands of HSPs all over the world move out of survival mode living and into thriving. In this free webinar, she’ll share the tools that HSPs have found the most life-changing. Her goal is to help you live to your fullest potential because the world needs you.

Join this free webinar and get tools to help you thrive as an HSP!

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#3 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Pastor, Spiritual Director, or Prayer Partner

If faith is a part of your experience, consider including your pastor, minister, or priest on your team. If you have access to a spiritual director, this can also be a wonderful personal to have on your wellness team. And if you belong to a big church where it’s harder to connect with the pastor or leadership, consider joining a small group book club or Bible study group to connect and discuss spiritual issues with like-minded members of your religious organization.

I led women’s Bible studies for years at my church and loved that it drew women who were interested in deep discussions, thoughtful conversations, and personal growth. These groups often ended up acting like a small support group as we navigated the various seasons of life. Lastly, another possible idea is to ask a fellow believer to be your prayer partner. This is a more formal relationship than a friendship, and more like an accountability partner for spiritual matters. It can be a blessing to find someone to walk with you as you go through life as you listen and pray for one another.

#4 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Close Friends

Close, or best, friends can be one of the biggest blessings life has to offer. According to Dr. Elaine Aron’s research, 70% of highly sensitive people are introverts. While extroverts are known for having a much wider circle of friends, most of us HSPs have a small handful of very close friends. Some may even have just one close friend–and that’s okay.

According to Pew Research Center, 53% of adults have between one and four close friends. So, you’re not alone if you fall within this range. Cultivating these close friend relationships can mean the difference between feeling supported and loved and feeling depressed. Even if you have a demanding work life, making sure you carve out time for your close friends is vital to your mental wellbeing. Call or text and friend today and improve your personal wellness.

#5 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Partner

If you’re married or in a long-term relationship, this relationship has a major impact on your personal wellbeing, to say the least. When my husband and I were taking an online group class to learn some of the Gottman marriage essentials, our teacher asked us, “the first thing you need to decide is, if my partner doesn’t change at all, am I willing to stay with them?”

It was a rude awakening, but very poignant and purposeful. The bottom line is, can you live with your partner the way they are, or with only minor tweaks? Most of us survived the Covid-19 Pandemic with our current spouse. Some of us didn’t make it. Either way, we all learned valuable lessons about what we need from our spouse and how to live together around the clock with few breaks.

If navigated carefully with tender loving care, your life partner can be and should be your closest ally, you best friend, and your partner to depend on through all the twists and turns in life. Put them first and seek to grow with them first and foremost. If they don’t understand the HSP trait, send them to articles online that might help them better understand your needs.

#6 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Medical Doctor

Finding a good medical doctor (primary care physician) who is able to listen well to your (often many) HSP medical needs will be invaluable. As you age, you’ll need a great doctor to evaluate new symptoms and triage care as issues arise. Learn enough about your HSP trait that you can share with your doctor that you’re specially tuned in to your body and get feel things that may be of concern earlier than most. This past year, I located a lump in my breast in between mammograms, which turned out to be ductal carcinoma – breast cancer stage 0. It was pretty amazing that I found it just a few months following a mammogram that showed tiny microcalcifications. I chock this up to being a highly sensitive person and especially attuned to my body.

#7 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Chiropractic or Massage Therapist

Alternative medical care is often more affordable and easier to navigate than your medical insurance making it a wonderful way to take care of minor aches and pains. Back and neck pain are treated much more efficiently and successfully than traditional medicine, which usually wants to recommend surgery. Also, don’t be afraid to Google search your body’s aches and pains to find programs online that can help with hip pain, neck pain, and back pain. Many chiropractic offices offer massage therapy and other therapies such as cold laser, TENS, and more.

#8 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Career Support

Take advantage of benefits offered by your employer that may include educational benefits or training programs to enhance your career. Also, many public libraries offer LinkedIn Learning access for free, making it easy to take certification tests and courses to boost your job skills. Paid online courses abound, and I’ve taken many over the years to learn how to be an author, to be a successful blogger, to run Amazon Ads, to learn SEO skills, and more. Another way to continue your education is to join a mastermind in your field or drop into a networking group in your industry.

#9 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Financial Advisor

Financial wellness has the ability to provide us stability and peace. Our family works with a fee for service financial planner who manages our retirement investments and does our taxes. This personal also reviews my business income on a quarterly basis then generates my self-employed tax payment coupons so that I’m square with the IRS and my state. I love the peace of mind I have in knowing that I’m set for retirement. If you can’t afford this type of advisor, look first to your local bank or credit union. Utilize free information online from Dave Ramsey or other fiscally conservative financial experts to build your financial house and get it in order.

#10 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Volunteer Opportunities

Giving back to your community through volunteering is a great way to expand your view beyond your own landscape. If you have children, volunteering with them is a great way to give back and bless others while teaching valuable life skills. Get to know your neighbors. If there are elderly neighbors, consider taking them small homemade gifts such as baked goods to check in on them and show them you care.

When you help others, you get out of your pattern of overthinking and can find purpose or calling that is more connected to who you really are. Finding your purpose through giving back is incredibly stabilizing when work isn’t going as well as it could, or other factors in your life cause you to feel destabilized. If your faith community has ways to give back, or you have professional skills that can help, I highly recommend volunteering as a key component to your personal wellness plan.

#11 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Wellness Apps

There are so many wellness and mindfulness apps on the market these days, it’s nearly hard to choose which one is best for your needs. The Calm app is one of the highest rated and offered through some medical insurance plans. The top-rated spiritual app is the Bible App by YouVersion. There are many other apps that offer videos, meditations, reflections, conversations, readings, music, and more. Utilizing one or two of these (it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the great options) can be the connective tissue between all the other personal wellness team members here on this list.

#12 – Personal Wellness Team Member – Personal Journaling

Last but not least, your journal is the final member of your personal wellness team. Many HSPs are natural writers and communicators. While there are many journaling programs out there such as Silk and Sonder that offer great options for the app together with the planner-journal, you don’t need a fancy journal or subscription to make use of the power of journaling.

A simple notebook or journal from Target will work just fine. The idea is to write down your thoughts and feelings daily or whenever you feel like it. Mental offloading is a great technique to jot down everything that’s bothering you or running through your head. Using your journal as a trusted friend who is always with you is a great way to bridge the gap between what you have and what you need. If your best friend or partner isn’t available to talk, use your journal. It can also be utilize in your spiritual practices as a way to write out prayers or concerns as you bring them to your higher power.

So there you have it. The list is long, my friends, but I cannot stress it enough – you need your very own personal wellness team! Your team will grow, change, and adapt with you through the years. Start small and add a coach or therapist today.

Be sensitive, be free

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