Widespread Wellness Consulting

08/27/2025

I have loved working with ContinuEd for the past few years creating continuing education content outside the clinical box!

Check out their video/blog to learn more about what myself and others share in our webinars and why we do what we do!

Continued presenter explores connections between culture, community, and well-being

10/11/2024

Medical sociologists study the influence of society on our health. Economic systems have long been identified as a part of the structure of a society that has significant mental and physical health impacts on the people of that society.
Capitalism is an economic system where industries are privately owned for profit. Consequently, it emphasizes profits over wellbeing, and tends to breed competition, inequality, consumerism, materialism, social isolation, and increased social comparison. In a society that holds an individual-centered philosophy, it can obscure the societal problems that contribute to our mental health. This creates undue blame, shame, and pressure on individuals for their suffering.
Research shows that viewing the excessive consumption of material goods as the road to happiness—well beyond what is needed for our economic, social, and psychological needs—is related to higher life dissatisfaction. Lower levels of materialism are associated with increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms.
Before looking to individual faults in how we cope with life, consider that many mental health struggles are in part the result of adapting to a society that places value on things that create barriers to the basic building blocks of human health and wellbeing.

Learn more and get CEUs if you're in the mental health field!
https://www.continued.com/counseling/ceus/course/american-society-culture-and-mental-1801

08/17/2024

Addiction and pain, like any other health condition, are multifactorial. Not only do biological, genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors impact the manifestation of health and illness--these factors also affect each other. Even our genetics are influenced by our experiences.

From a sociological perspective, we see that social conditions are underlying, fundamental causes of health and illness in our communities.

Poverty, exposure to violence, abuse, social isolation, physical displacement, racism and discrimination, traumas, and other social stresses in our petri dish allow addiction and premature death to thrive. Our genetics and psychology influence our individual risk of the brain disease of addiction. Rather than a moral failure, drug use in society is both biological, and can serve as way to cope with a lack of basic needs such as food, shelter, water, and adequate sleep. It can address emotional and physical pain, even replace or facilitate human connection and a sense of belonging.

Our societal paradigm reflects a desire to numb and eradicate pain—and often the biomedical model obscures the psychosocial factors in pain, the complex nature of addiction, and the root causes of social and health problems. The lack of services for treatment and behavioral health threaten recovery, but drug crises are not caused by a lack of treatment.

One-on-one support is much needed, and expanding programs that can prevent and treat addiction and drug poisoning are vital. Bigger picture…the only way to make a true dent in the problem is to invest upstream, treating the social and economic conditions that continue to promote needless suffering.

Yes, we need to keep mopping up the floor—it’ s a matter of life and death—but once we clearly see the faucet, isn't it time to turn it off?

05/07/2024

Our culture, our society, and our social experience all impact our wellbeing. Disparities, or differences in health, exist when comparing different social groups. Your race, gender, sexuality, social or economic status can affect your experiences, access to resources, and social stress. Health disparities have been documented for decades but still are not fully addressed or significantly reduced.
The term cultural competency refers to the skill sets needed for health professionals and others who serve diverse populations. In other words, being competent in how best to communicate to individuals that are different than us in some way, being aware of those differences and how they can affect wellbeing.
Being “culturally competent” is not enough to create better relationships and therapeutic alliances with those we serve.
Cue structural competency. To be structurally competent, you have knowledge and awareness of the societal and historical factors that create serious barriers to health and wellbeing. You have understanding, or at least exposure to, the context and the backstory of the inequity we see in society. Whether it’s a history of trauma creating natural responses that are then pathologized, or policies and systems that create advantages for dominant groups—these facts on the ground can better prepare you to create better relationships with those you interact with.
Therapists, health professionals, educators, neighbors…seeing the context can create positive connections that work towards collective healing.

01/16/2024

Almost half (47%) of Americans live in states with a documented shortage of mental health professionals. Meanwhile, one in five of us are experiencing a mental illness (and this is just the number of documented cases-it’s likely more).

So--calling all mental health professionals. Counselors, therapists, psychologists and others looking for CEs. If these issues affect your clients and you’re intrigued, you can check out my course “Social Determinants of Mental Health”, as part of ContinuED’s new psych department. Or, if this resonates with your organization, send me a message to talk shop!

I am not a mental health professional. As a medical sociologist I study how our society, communities, and social experiences breed health issues. Despite effective individual interventions, our growing need for mental health support in all sorts of forms has become overwhelming for individuals and the collective.

It's hard to feel effective in making a dent in all of this. Busy mopping up the floor when we wish we could turn off the faucet. I started Widespread Wellness to spur conversations and insights among front line folks with an eye for root causes. Hopefully leading to inspiration, and getting closer to that faucet.

11/29/2023

In graduate school, the learning curve can be not only steep, but confusing and overwhelming. There’s the increased workload, a massive reading list, and a sharp transition into academic writing, which is full of jargon. There are other critical steps that may not be well-defined and somewhat taken for granted that graduate students would be familiar with. One of those, is producing a prospectus, or proposal, and then transforming that into a capstone- or thesis- or dissertation, after sometimes years of independent research.

A prospectus or research proposal is the first of three spokes of a project wheel. It is the beginning of the road. It includes as much background on your topic as you can find, seamlessly “synthesized”. And don’t forget to write it as academically as possible- yet understandable to those outside your field. Then comes the impetus for your project, which has to be both novel (not done before), and yet make perfect sense as a next step in the long line of research studies that you’ve cited. Even as I write this there is so much jargon that there could easily be a separate post for each of these parts!
Your prospectus then flows into your project concept, and the method you are using to collect and analyze information that answers your research question. A prospectus also may necessitate documentation that your study will be ethical, any data collection tools you’ll use (like survey questions), and a timeline.

This process is similar to a business or grant proposal, and is a very handy skill to have in any field.

For a short video de-mystifying this process, check out my quick tutorial "Research Proposals: A Mini-Guide for Graduate School & Beyond" on youtube! While it may not describe exactly what your task is, it’s designed to be a straightforward description that might help things click.

11/14/2023

Need to write a proposal for a grad school project, or a program, grant, or research project?
Overview of the first steps to take...and what it takes...

Not just for grad students--the steps in creating a strong research proposal are broken down, for anyone hoping to launch a research project or program. I am...

11/10/2023

Imagine an entire state or country with a stethoscope around it. Imagine it’s heart beating, feel it’s energy level. Is it in a positive state of mind? Is it conflicted or depressed? Lethargic? What’s the quality of environment in general? Can it breathe?
While that may be a little abstract to think about, population health is the health of an entire group of people collectively. Medical sociology is the study of how a society (its “social structure”) contributes to how it’s doing, health-wise. Medical sociologists study health systems, and how they impact people’s lives in various communities. They study differences in health- like the prevalence of certain illnesses, physical and mental- according to social categories. For example, people in a higher income bracket vs a lower are often found to be generally in better health. Communities that are economically deprived or have high unemployment are often found to be at higher risk for drug overdose issues. And life expectancy varies incredibly according to where you physically live.
It's not often you hear about the field of medical sociology, and the concept population health is not widely used in the general public- yet it’s something we may think about on a daily basis. As a public medical sociologist, I dig into the research on our collective wellbeing, and share these insights into the underlying social conditions that are affecting our quality of life as a group. If we dig deep enough, we can expose these roots and get to the healing.

11/02/2023

I'm a medical sociologist, but what is that?! How does it relate to population health--aka our collective wellbeing...

Medical sociology is the study of the health of a society and healthcare system of a society, in order to learn more about how the structure of a society imp...

10/20/2023

We’re well on our way into the new school year, which personally still makes me feel nervous excitement, relief, and joy.

This summer I was offline and hard at work, and Widespread Wellness was treated to some very special opportunities that I would like to share.

The first school on tap for me this fall was The Ohio State, to attend a summer retreat welcoming Fellows in this year’s cohort of the Innovation Fellowship for entrepreneurial nurses. Joining the Board this year, I get to apply my passion of mentoring inspired professionals working to develop their ideas into launchable programs. As one of this year’s speakers, I broke into some uncharted territory. Rather than give a talk on population health, research, or program design, I spoke about creativity, innovation, and wellbeing. Program Director Dr. Taura Barr is a true believer in how these concepts are connected! Inspired by those around me, I also shared parts of my personal story that I have never talked about in a professional setting. More on that later!

This summer I also was delighted to continue my work with ContinuED, an educational platform supporting health professionals’ continuing education needs. While I am a Medical Sociologist and do not work in the healthcare fields, I bring a big picture, systemic perspective to those who do.

New courses on topics on the sociology of burnout, addiction, culture, spirituality, and more are launching this fall! And as someone who can’t resist deep dives into psychology, I was truly delighted to be designing these courses for therapists, counselors, psychologists, and all behavioral health professionals. Further info on that coming soon.

The mission of Widespread Wellness is to provide education, project support, group and one-on-one mentorship, and overall moral support to professionals, students, and organizations of all kinds.

Thank you for reading! If any of this resonates with you, know that your wellbeing is just as much (if not more) important than what you do to empower and enhance the lives of others.

04/02/2023

https://appliedworldwide.com/sophie-nathenson-phd-widespread-wellness-through-sociology/

Shout out to an amazing duo Stephanie Wilson and Luke Hanna who created Applied Worldwide to advance the impact of applied sociology on creating positive change to communities across the globe! Thank you for bringing me into your international circle!

This profile of Sophie Nathenson, PhD is brought to you through a partnership between Applied Worldwide and Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS).

10/21/2022

Emotional exhaustion (nothing left to give). Depersonalization (cynical view of people). Lack of personal achievement (I’m not making a difference, or even doing anything). That is the textbook measure of burnout. It’s real. It’s more than being tired. And recovery is possible- and a (long) process. Who is responsible for the healing of burnout and how can we address our mental health in and out of the workplace?
Burnout and mental health are topics that affect all people and are prevalent in all professions, but particularly the helping professions.
I recently presented a training for ContinuED exploring these issues, and it’s now available if you’re seeking continuing education credits! For anyone interested in this or previous courses you can use the 1FREECOURSE to watch your first course for free (check my previous posts for other topics on wellbeing). Recovery from burnout is not as simple as removing yourself from your environment, even if you are able to. Plus, mental health conditions are often viewed very differently than physical health conditions, and this creates a lot of barriers and misnomers around recovery. Mental health conditions are not about your character or personality, they describe your current state of health on a mental and emotional level and there are many resources out there to treat these illnesses, just as there are with physical illness.

Feel free to reach out if you or your organization wants a specialized workshop on this topic, or if you are interested in one-on-one mentorship around burnout and mental wellness in a work/life context. As someone who is in recovery from workaholism and many other maladaptive patterns, sharing resources and insights with others make the struggles worth it!