How to Bring Wellness to Your Organization

The introduction of wellness to an organization may help bring about healthy changes. Whether your organization is a church, community group or workplace, healthy habits can be shared and encouraged among members or employees. Group involvement enhances participants' success by creating camaraderie for the pursuit of common goals. Incorporate wellness activities to stimulate a change in the organization's culture. Not all suggestions are feasible for every organization, but they are worth trying.

Instructions

• 1

  Form a walking group. Incorporate walk breaks into lunch hours. If the organization is not at a work site, create a sign-up list to match walking partners with similar schedules and availability.

• 2

  A weight-loss challenge promotes healthy competition.

  Initiate a weight-loss challenge. The challenge can create healthy competition for a healthy cause. If participants pay an entry fee, the money collected may be used as prize money for the top "losers," the people who lose the most weight.

• 3

  Coordinate a healthy recipe potluck. Many work sites have meetings that include food, and many churches hold covered-dish socials. Try adding a rule to encourage more nutritious food selections. Establish entry criteria such as the inclusion of two vegetables or fewer than 20g of fat to ensure entries meet healthful standards.

• 4

  Identify a wellness observance each month. Recognition of a National Wellness Observance increases awareness of a variety of health topics. The National Wellness Institute provides a 12-month calendar that highlights wellness observances for each month, and it is linked in the Resources section. Designate one day each month, or create a bulletin board display that highlights information on a selected topic. For example, October is national Breast Cancer Awareness month.

• 5

  Set up on-site fitness classes. A group fitness class can be as simple as providing digital versatile discs (DVDs) and a television set. If a community room is available, create a schedule of classes or a schedule of when the DVDs will be shown. If a live class is preferred, invite group fitness instructors to lead the classes for your organization.

• 6

  Promote camraderie by forming a team for a road race.

  Organize a team for a road race. Many road races offer categories for team competitions. Organize a group of runners, joggers and/or walkers. Team members can encourage one another through training and build team spirit.

• 7

  Promote total wellness in a relaxing environment.

  Establish a stress-free zone. Create space in a break room or other location, and provide relaxing music, calm lighting and comfortable seating. The stress-free zone can be a place where someone can take a timeout and relax.

• 8

  Lead by example. Mahatma Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." If you want to stimulate progress, begin with yourself. People often underestimate the impact they can have on others. See if you can become a catalyst for healthy changes.