Why I should be chosen for the WELCOA Health Promotion Professional of the year…

 I fell into a passion for health and wellness about 3 years ago right around the same time I started working for my current employer Penn Foster Inc. It changed my life it made me better at everything that I did getting healthy, strong, eating well and taking care of myself, made me a version of myself that I have never been prouder to be.  We are a correspondence school the oldest in the country as a matter of fact. We have an ageing population of employees that lead a primarily sedentary lifestyle, as we are primary a call center desk job spending at least 6 out of hours sitting at our desks.

Since starting at Penn Foster I have taken as Certified Personal Training program earned a diploma and took my National Certification exam scoring highest in physical activity, health promotion, and nutrition. I am insurable and qualified under my credential to provide this type of education and instruction.

To date there has been a limited wellness committee initiative here at the school and I am trying to breathe new life into the Program. It is lacking structure and leadership so I have started to build a comprehensive wellness program base off of the bench marks set forth by WELCOA. I have partnered with the senior executive head of HR. To make this a reality for the school. I have overcome 14 years drug addiction and a crippling metal illness Borderline personality disorder and I did that through the changes that taking care of my health and focusing on my being well in all areas … I want to share that with the world around me!

This year our health insurance premiums were raised by 15% and that hit us all through higher rates and bi-weekly salary deductions. I have laid the ground work and I am trying to work through the company’s fear of liability so that we can take an active aggressive stance on improving the health and wellness of my friends and colleagues.

The current rate of obese and overweight employees here is over half the working population, couple that with the smokers and the drinkers’, recreational drug use and poor morale I have my work cut out for me. I love to help people as I know the best way to be a productive happy member of society is to find what it is that you are passionate about and make it your job. I see my job, my responsibility to myself and to my peers is to be the change we need to lead by example and help guide and encourage them. Providing my education and my skill sets in a capacity that is most beneficial hand in hand with the company and HR.

It is sad to me to see such an invaluable program be dismissed to see the employees stuck in a pattern of discontent. I know this could be an amazing place to work if we aspired to be the change we want to see in the world. We preach and guide our prospective students every day to take a chance and leave their comfort zone to trust us to provide them with the best instruction possible to improve their current quality of life. Help them to get a new job, find a career, to be passionate and fearless into their futures.

I am being a champion of all those who are being a champion to someone else most times at the cost of their own welfare, health and happiness. I want to break the cycle of coming into work doing our job below our given ability and to be the best we can be.

Being able to do what I love at the Job where I found my passion would be the basis for my career so I am driving to that end full steam ahead. There has never been a chosen appointed leader to make this project an active functional part of the work place here at Penn Foster and reading through the 7 bench marks and the 10 secrets to a successful wellness program just blew me away. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t already made some attempt at setting our program up the way it was laid out seemed so simple like common sense. And that is what has been driving me to learn and to read and to research all of the Ideas and outcomes available to me. In some capacity I work with my colleagues already helping them as a friend out of genuine concern for the health and welfare with diet, exercise, nutrition education and guidelines, but I am very limited in my time and my attention as it is during work hours I try to inspire and share my experience, strength and my knowledge with everyone who asks for it. I would like to be able to make it a permanent spot where I can be of the most service.

I have structured a launch day to our new program within the first quarter we will be registering a speaker for a wellness seminar through our BCNEPA provider to go over what we can do passively to attack the growing problem her at Penn Foster. I take my time on my break and my lunches to give instruction in our fitness facility to anyone willing to learn.  I want to finish building the first real game changer in our professional lives at Penn Foster. I believe through WELCOA I can make that dream a reality!