In this episode of Redesigning Wellness, I talk to Deb Smolensky, VP and Global Practice Leader, Wellbeing and Engagement for NFP. Deb, an industry leader with over 20 years of wellness experience, is also the Co-Founder and Executive Financial Director of the non-profit organization Global Women 4 Wellbeing (GW4W).

Together, we take an in-depth look at what it means to approach wellbeing initiatives as a private investigator, to really put yourself in the shoes of the client.

We discuss the challenges that come with the current and futures trends of our industry, as well as explain why the think, look, and listen approach is key in our roles as wellbeing professionals. Deb also dives into an unique new approach—customized wellbeing programs based on lifecycle events.

The full transcript can be found at https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

Next week I'll be back with new episodes!

Meet Amy Grazen, Corporate Resilience Trainer and Intrinsic Health Coach. Amy and I met a couple years ago when I brought her training to my last employer. From the first time I was exposed to resilience training, I was hooked because it made such an impact in my life both personally and professionally.

In this episode we discuss:

• Amy’s definition of resilience and how it relates to stress management
• Her reflections from trainings thousands of employees in corporate America
• The different dimensions of resilience (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) and examples of each
• Why multi-tasking is the enemy of resilience
• The importance of planning recovery throughout the day

Amy also shares a hard time in her life when all of her resilience practices went away. She tells us how she got back on track with practicing resilience.

As with every episode, Amy will give us a tangible tip for both employees and employer’s health and wellness practices.

If you want more information on resilience training, check out this page.

For this week’s rebroadcast, I’m featuring Rebecca Johnson’s interview on Mindful Eating in the Workplace. If you haven’t heard me mention this, I took over her role as Director of Workplace Wellness for Am I Hungry? and she now has a full time gig at Corporate Fitness Works. Rebecca is the one who introduced me to AIH, Mindful Eating and a whole new paradigm around weight. Nothing but mad respect for her!

Workplace wellness programs tend to focus on obesity and ways to get employees to lose weight. Unfortunately, many organizations rely on weight loss methods that don’t work and may reinforce restrictive eating, yo-yo dieting and ultimately, more weight gain.

In this conversation, Rebecca and I talk about how she got her start into the health and wellness industry, how we can help push the wellness profession forward and the tenets of the Am I Hungry training.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can email me at [email protected] or visit www.amihungry.com and fill out a contact form.

For full show notes visit https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

For the first time in over a year of producing this podcast, I’m  taking a much needed break (albeit a short one).

I’m spending this break to regroup, schedule and record some awesome interviews and promote the ones I’ve already completed.

Next week, I’m heading to the WELCOA Summit next week for the very first time. I figured it was time to get out of my house, get out of my work out clothes and talk to people face to face. So, if you are going to be there, let’s connect! 

In light of next week’s WELCOA Summit, I’m rebroadcasting my interview with Ryan Picarella, president of WELCOA.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ryan's career at the Blues of Tennessee and the wellness initiative that seemed to work best with their employees.
• Why you don't need a large budget to have a successful wellness program
• How he got to be President of WELCOA and a friend that nudged him to apply
• His first 6 months on the job and his aggressive course for changing things
• How the ROI conversation put the wellness field in a precarious position

Ultimately, Ryan thinks we're having the wrong conversations around wellness.

He gives us advice on:

• How to change the culture
• Where the wellness function should sit within the org (hint - it's not in benefits)

Ryan is very transparent about the changes he's making within WELCOA and gives us a behind the scenes recap of their brand redesign. He also shares the 3 words that represent WELCOA's brand.

For full show notes visit https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

In today’s episode, Jen interviews Dr. Joel Bennett, coachsultant and president of Organizational Wellness and Learning Systems. Joel is a certified wellness practitioner with 28 years of experience in his field. He creates science-based wellness and learning systems that will help structure and manage wellness in organizations.

In today’s episode of Redesigning Wellness, Joel and Jen take a in-depth look at what it means to approach wellness from a place of wisdom, as opposed to knowledge.  They define the terms, discuss the current trends of workplace wellness today, and explain why wholeness is synonymous with wellness.

For full show notes visit https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

One area that Jen has not yet covered over the life of her podcast, Redesigning Wellness, is the topic of mental health. She found today’s guest, Joseph Rauch, from his articles on Huffington Post that discuss mental health in the workplace.

The heart of this episode is to open up a discussion about mental health and take listeners into a deeper understanding of what one faces when wrestling and coping with a mental illness.

Joseph will graciously share his own story of what it was like to live with anxiety depressive disorder throughout his formative years and now, as an adult in the workplace. Joseph will also share valuable insights regarding how to approach mental and chronic illness in the workplace and how starting the conversation is an incredible step towards awareness and change.

For full show notes visit https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

What exactly is a psychologically safe workplace? And what’s wellness got to do with it? Questions like these are what today’s guest on Redesigning Wellness answers.

Meet Karen Mastroianni, a nurse who’s been running her own wellness company successfully for the past 24 years. Karen is a master on the subject of psychological safety (a big reason the National Wellness Institute asked her to host their webinar on the topic) and believes achieving psychological safety without a holistic approach to wellness is impossible.

Tune-in to hear Karen’s talk about the evolution of the wellness business since the early 1990s, the ascension of psychological safety in the workplace and how unrecognized biases can impact how we practice wellness.

For full show notes visit https://redesigningwellness.com/

To join the Redesigning Wellness Community, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

Today is a special episode as the tables are turned and listeners get to know Jen Arnold, founder of Redesigning Wellness. Bob Merberg not only convinces Jen that it’s important for listeners to know her story; but interviews Jen himself.

Jen shares her beginnings working as a wellness professional in a corporate setting before pivoting to the entrepreneurial world of wellness. She openly shares about how her shortcomings and lack of knowledge at the outset of her experience and how it motivated her to learn more, teach more, help more, and continue the discussion of wellness through her company, Redesigning Wellness.

Tune into find out the weaknesses of an outcome-based based program when it comes to wellness and the importance of looking at one’s health holistically.

For full show notes visit: www.redesigningwellness.com

Join a collaborative and supportive group of wellness professionals in the Redesigning Wellness Community on Facebook. You can ask to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

As wellness professionals, most of us are supporting employees in living healthier lives. When and why people change their behaviors has always been fascinating to me. Why do some people change when others stay stuck?

Umar Hameed helps people get unstuck from any limiting beliefs or inner conflict that hold them back from accomplishing what they desire. He is an expert in changing individual behavior and improving team dynamics. Umar uses techniques and tools from the world of applied neuroscience and neurolinguistics programming (NLP) to help individuals and organizations become more successful.

Umar believes every behavior and team dynamic has an underlying belief that drives it and one must address these beliefs to create change. Listen in as Umar explains how we get unstuck from our limiting beliefs, inner conflicts and hotwired responses in order to create real change in our lives and business.

To collaborate, positively support and network with other wellness professionals, join the Redesigning Wellness Community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

If you’re a regular listener, you’ve heard me mention an online wellness community for us (wellness professionals) share ideas. Well, it’s now open!

I decided to make it a closed Facebook group because most of us are on it anyway, so why create another log in and password for any of us.

Let me tell you the why behind this community. A few months ago a friend and colleague emailed me with all of these crazy requests from her boss to defend her role. One of them was “tell me why you can do this job better than an admin”.

I helped her as well as I could but I wanted to get input from others in the field to help her but the only forum we have is email or Linked In….and neither of those felt right. What if I could design a community where she could post the challenge and we could collectively jump in to help her solution?

That’s why I built the Redesigning Wellness Community as a group on Facebook. It’s a closed group so you’ll have to request to join. This is to keep out the spammers and bots but to also make sure to keep it a positive community.

You can ask to join here:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/rdwellnesscommunity/

I hope to see you there!