Wellness and liberation in the lives of culturally diverse communities: phase-one of the community wellness project

The promotion of wellness and liberation in culturally diverse communities requires input from a wide range of community stakeholders including community members and community service providers/professionals. Collaboration with community members enables a grounded understanding of diverse community needs and facilitates the translation of values into action. In this paper we discuss two qualitative research projects, which employed a holistic model of wellness/well-being to explore perceptions of well-being among diverse community members and service providers/professionals from the St Albans region. The general aim of the studies was to gain a theoretical and practical understanding of well-being for this community. Findings from both projects support the utility of the model in generating a rich dialogue on factors that may lead us closer to community wellness and liberation