Introducing the ELM Framework for Health
The pursuit of optimal health can be a winding road, full of conflicting data, restrictions, “shoulds,” and “should nots.” The amount of information (and misinformation) available to us these days is vast enough to drive anyone crazy. While sometimes helpful, this breadth of information can also feel discouraging and overwhelming, making it difficult to know just where to begin.
So, how do we confidently choose a path forward?
Over my years of clinical practice, I’ve given a lot of thought not only to how to help people achieve health, but what optimal health really is. We know it isn’t a one size fits all equation, nor is it simply the absence of disease. “Health” is how we feel in our bodies, mind, and life, all rolled into one deceivingly simple word. Yet, what this means for each of us individually is highly variable. I’ve come to believe that a healthy life has infinitely different versions because so many factors play into it.
While my goal as a health practitioner is to help people achieve health, I can’t tell any one person how to be optimally healthy in their individual life—so much of this folks need to discover for themselves. Yet I talk to so many people who feel helplessly overwhelmed in how to feel healthy that I knew there had to be some sort of framework that could be used to help folks navigate their individual paths to health.
I set out to design what that framework might look like—I wanted to create something that was simple, but also allowed for complexity and individuality. I asked: what is essential to a comprehensive description of health? How can I describe the process of how my clinical brain organizes a patient history into a simplified, cohesive assessment?
I landed on three core elements that I believe encompass most aspects of living a healthy life:
Environment.
Lifestyle.
Mind.
Out of this, emerged the ELM Framework for Health, a tool I designed to help folks learn about these core concepts of health, figure out which ones are most applicable to them, and help them take steps towards balancing their health in those areas--in a way that is sustainable, inspiring, and genuine.
Over the coming months, we are excited to be diving into the concepts of ELM in more detail through blogs, monthly challenges, reading recommendations, an ELM Magazine, and a comprehensive online program that will dive into each topic in much more detail. Our goal is to help folks de-mystify the world of wellness. We aim to provide you with clear concepts and tools to help guide you towards your individualized picture of optimal health. The ELM Framework is a roadmap to help you get there.
We warmly invite you to join along in this ELM journey by watching your email and/or following @nwlifemedicine on Instagram or Facebook.
Cheers,
