HEALTH & WELLNESS
Starting a wellness movement at work not only supports the mental and physical health of staff, but also creates an opportunity to work together as a community.
Reshape Your Workplace: Starting a Wellness Movement Through Affirmation, Voice and Choice By Daniel W. Hatcher, MPH
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arks and recreation are essential partners in advancing health equity through policy, systems and environmental change. The welcoming spaces that recreation centers and staff provide are critical community assets. Cultivating a recreation center that champions the holistic health of young people is directly connected to workplace wellness. Healthy employees are more productive, better able to manage stress, and more likely to model healthy behaviors. This cultural change begins with individual action steps we all can take together, and our own workplaces are a great place to start this incremental change. Following are three resources to start a wellness movement grounded in affirmation, voice and choice: Identity Mapping – One of the guiding principles outlined in Elevating Health Equity Through Parks and Recreation: A Framework for Action (nrpa.org/ElevatingHealth Equity) is “Focus on Learning.” This principle emphasizes a constant examination of self, systems
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and those around you. A simple activity to bring this principle to life is the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s (Healthier Generation) new “Identity Mapping” worksheet from our Kohl’s Healthy at Home resource collection (tinyurl. com/36r7mfts).
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As you use the worksheet to reflect on personal experiences, consider what parts of your identity (like talents or hobbies) could encourage workplace wellness. For example, my Healthier Generation teammate, Katie, recently started a monthly meet-up group where teammates do a virtual low-impact bodyweight (no equipment necessary) workout. She turned her passion for physical activity into a company-wide teambuilding activity. Consider how you might use identity mapping during a staff meeting to uncover similar staff wellness opportunities. Affirming Spaces – Creating a welcoming worksite is essential, especially for staff who identify as
