Wellness Tribe: Gamification of the IS-WEL Adlerian-Based Model of Wellness

Myers (1991) posited that optimum health and wellness, based in Adler’s theory of Individual Psychology and the goal of social interest, make up the cornerstone of the counseling profession. Using an Adlerian framework, Myers et al. (2005) developed an evidence-based model of wellness, the Indivisible Self model (IS-WEL) to understand and improve individual wellness. Since the introduction of the IS-WEL, researchers have conducted a variety of studies to understand the role of wellness for diverse populations, but few have developed specific wellness interventions based on this model, and no one has used gamification techniques specifically designed to reduce the expenditure of willpower often associated with habit change. This article describes Wellness Tribe, an intervention based on the Indivisible Self model of wellness and intended to fill the need for interventions that make wellness accessible to the general public. The specific nature of this intervention incorporates social support, deliberate practice, and intrinsic (and extrinsic) reward systems to facilitate these changes, philosophically in keeping with the Adlerian model of wellness (Myers & Sweeney, 2005). In this article, we describe the Indivisible Self model, explain Wellness Tribe, and integrate the concepts into a comprehensive case example.