Conference Schedule

At the Intersection of Race, Health, and History is an interactive experience designed to explore outcomes and disparities at the intersection of racial constructs, historical practices and policies, and social determinants of health. By engaging with tools that feature a vast compilation of research, this workshop comprehensively weaves a thread that effectively starts to answer the question: how did we get here? Placing the St. Louis Metropolitan African American community at the center of the conversation, this experience models effective ways to holistically explore the impact of inequities, as it relates to the historical oppression of our national community’s most vulnerable populations. Through the completion of this workshop, participants will engage with tools and resources that raise awareness and inspire transformation related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and fulfilling our personal and collective commitments to the communities we are a part of and serve.

Dr. Ron Goetzel will provide an update on workplace health promotion research studies including findings from new studies using randomized controlled trial designs and those that address the controversy of whether wellness programs are effective in managing workers’ health and achieving business results. He will also address the shift from a return-on-investment (ROI) rationale for these programs to one that emphasizes value-on-investment (VOI).

The discussion will probe deeply into questions of program design, effective implementation, and rigorous evaluation. Controversial issues relating to cost-shifting and confirmation bias along with ethical considerations in designing programs that satisfy the needs of diverse populations will be explored.

Session Take-Aways:

• Learn about three major studies conducted in the last 12 months that have strongly influenced workplace health promotion
• Understand what it takes to achieve a world-class and effective workplace wellness program
• Gather new information to make a compelling business case for investing in workers’ health and well-being
• Identify key factors needed to develop or expand an effective and credible workplace health promotion program.

This breakout seminar is about empowering middle managers and supervisors to create subcultures of well-being within their workgroups. These leaders are gatekeepers, set informal policies and practices, can reduce barriers to personal change, and are ideally positioned to engage employees. They can, and often do, make or break workplace wellness programs. We need to develop a positive role for these VIPs. They need to be ready to assist. We need to give them basic peer support skills. We need ways for them to better align informal cultural influences such as rewards, training, modeling, communication, and traditions. We need a way for them to track their workgroup’s progress without violating HIPAA or eat up our entire wellness program budget. This seminar will address all these critical topics and will empower participants to develop a strategy and training for middle managers and supervisors that match the unique needs of the organizational culture.

"Tough conversations in today’s world are important,” explained one Reflection Point participant. “We respected and worked to understand each other. It practices humility, you know.” In this breakout, CWRU’s Medical Director, the Founder of Reflection Point and a seasoned Reflection Point facilitator will share the outcomes of this unique approach, demonstrating how social-emotional learning and collective exploration builds the foundations of intellectual humility, extending its reach to the farthest corners of the workplace."

The world and the culture we live is rapidly changing and we can either adapt to these changes gracefully or get swept away with the currents. Many Stress Management Programs and Resiliency Trainings are stuck in the 20th Century. New Perspectives and strategies are needed for the uncertain times. Specifically, What are healthy boundaries and why are they necessary? What are the essential skills that comprise a Resilient nature? This presentation takes participants through a seven-step adaptation program offering personal health challenges to strengthen one’s resiliency muscles in these changing and challenging times and concludes with an expose on the three bones of resiliency: The backbone, the wishbone and the funny bone.

As more companies adopt Big Data analytic strategies to advance their business efforts, there is also a greater need for people who can understand and apply those analytic discoveries. Today a majority of analytic projects never produce business value --- not because they lack data, technology and analytic talent, but because analysts and business teams don’t speak the same language. As a result, projects are often poorly defined, inadequately explained, and discarded as incomplete or confusing. This session explores the reasons why analytic efforts fail and introduces Analytic Translation, a new role to bridge the gap between the promise of Big Data and the reality of defining and meeting essential business needs. Content will include examples of effective project definition and relevant delivery of findings

Statement of the problem: Seventy percent of adults in the United States routinely obtain insufficient sleep and approximately 50-70 million adults are at risk for a sleep disorder. Unfortunately, fewer than 10% of employers report sleep-focused programs for their employees. Intervention: We evaluate an online Sleep Health and Wellness (SHAW) program paired a personalized sleep training program deployed via a smartphone application (app) that promotes healthy sleep and treatment for common sleep disorders, among employees at a large healthcare organization. Participants were randomized to intervention (n=794) or control (n=561). Study Design: Open-label, randomized, parallel-group controlled trial at a large healthcare employer in the US Northeast. Measures: Our outcome measures were sleep duration and sleep quality according to the validated Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Our secondary outcome measures included employee absenteeism, performance, and productivity using the WHO Health and Work Performance Questionnaire; and healthcare utilization using a validated tool. Results: At follow-up, employees in the intervention condition were more likely to report increased sleep duration on work (p=0.01) and free nights (p=0.03). At follow-up, the prevalence of poor sleep quality was lower in the intervention (n=318, 40%) compared to the control condition (p=0.04). The mean total dollars lost due to workplace performance was less in the intervention condition (p=0.0001). Employees in the intervention condition reported lower healthcare utilization over the study interval (p=0.03). Conclusions: Results from this trial demonstrate that a SHAW program followed by access to a digital app can be beneficial to both the employee and employer. Future research may apply the approach taken in this trial to employees on other work schedules, such as shift workers.

Between raging pandemics, social epidemics, threats to climate, economy, democracy, and life, humanity is facing the complex and cumulative brunt of it all. In turn, the world of work contends with the ramifications of these social determinants of health (SDoH), ranging from burnout, the great resignation, growing polarization, and a workforce that’s insecure, unhappy, and unhealthy. This session focuses on how employers can tackle two epidemics - loneliness and chronic disease, both bearing dire consequences and needing immediate action. While intellectual humility means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers, it also means taking responsibility to emerge from our siloed approaches, move beyond traditional indicators, and bring well-being within everyone’s reach. This session will provide foundational learning on SDoH and demonstrate how practitioners and organizational leaders can build impactful SDoH-informed strategies to systemically promote health equity, social connectedness, and well-being, at work and within the larger society.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large sector of the workforce moved to remote work. In the aftermath of the pandemic, while many employees have returned to in-person work, large segments of the workforce remain either fully remote or in a hybrid situation. For in-person worksites, OSHA regulations and worksite wellness professionals can control many of the factors affecting health including ergonomics, air quality, work-life balance, and nature contact. However, much less is known about the environment that surrounds remote workers, and it is expected large health disparities may exist for lower-wage remote workers. This interactive session will discuss the potential health and well-being effects of working remotely, review data from a nationwide survey of 657 remote workers, and discuss potential interventions to improve remote worker health. This is an essential topic for human resource and worksite wellness professionals as remote and hybrid work become commonplace.

Workforce mental health became the topic du jour during the pandemic, as COVID-19 and society’s response to it upended the way people live and work. Today, it is common to hear employers voice their commitment to the psychological well-being of workers and to see CEOs pledging to make it a priority. New guidance is also providing a roadmap to help organizations deliver on that promise. The reality, however, is that implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based workforce mental health efforts still lags far behind physical health and wellness practices in most organizations. This session will focus on how employers can improve their efforts regardless of whether they are just starting out or looking to strengthen a well-established program. By reviewing best practices, hearing case examples from exemplary organizations, and discussing how to apply the lessons learned, participants will be better positioned to turn their commitment to workforce mental health into meaningful action.

Spiritual well-being has long been a dimension in a holistic approach to well-being, but most workplaces have been reluctant to address it as part of their workplace well-being initiatives. The reluctance often stems from a desire to avoid conflict or legal issues related to religious discrimination. Workplace spirituality offers a broader model, inviting individuals with a diversity of perspectives to consider how their values, beliefs, life purpose, and core identity contribute to whole-person well-being. This session will address why it is important to address spirituality as part of a more holistic approach to workplace well-being and how intellectual humility can support efforts to include spirituality in well-being initiatives. Employer case examples will be used to exemplify how organizations are fostering a culture that invites spirituality, faith, and religion into the mix.

Employers have traditionally thought of employee health and well-being through the lens of their group medical plans and have often conflated that goal with the goal of saving money. Employers who limit themselves in that way are missing a bet. They have multiple plan opportunities to enhance overall employee health including those tied to their medical plans such as EAPs and other mental health benefits, concierge medicine, telemedicine and on-site or near-site clinics and account-based options such as HSAs and HRAs. In addition, they can possibly make a bigger long-term impact on their employee overall wellness using their retirement plans, educational assistance and training opportunities, lifestyle accounts, flexible and paid leave options, flexible work arrangements, etc. The session will explore a holistic look and employee benefits and employee health and well-being. It will provide participants a hands-on workshop experience culminating in their design of a presentation that provides a strategic design of all employer benefits and employment practices that, if adopted, would have a positive impact on employee health and wellbeing.

To do our best work in advancing equity for marginalized populations, including LGBTQ+ communities, we must first examine our subconscious beliefs, biases, and privileges. It is with an understanding and awareness of how we are positioned and the lens through which we view the world that we can most effectively support the communities we aim to serve. This presentation will offer a philosophy for approaching equity work, explore where our beliefs originate and how to disrupt beliefs that are harmful, and examine the role of privilege in our lives and work. Through a series of interactive exercises and discussion, attendees will gain insight into how their personal experiences shape the way they show up for LGBTQ+ communities and others. With new information and tools, attendees will feel equipped to approach their equity work with intention and humility.

The imposter phenomenon (IP) is the conflict between intrapersonal and interpersonal perceptions of self. It is a failure to internalize accomplishments and downplay praise from others. When people experience the IP, they have the illusion of personal incompetence, hold self-defeating thoughts, and question their value, which can lead to paralysis in productivity or even over productivity (Fields & Cunningham-Williams, 2021). This phenomenon affects highly educated people from marginalized groups, such as BIPOC women, immigrants, and people living with disability, who have negative, oppressive feelings about their identities (David et al., 2019). Addressing this phenomenon requires a multilevel approach in organizations that involves creating spaces for practicing critical self-awareness, sharing individual and collective stories, and challenging systems that promote and sustain divisiveness and oppression. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to discuss culturally responsive organizational strategies that promotes inclusivity of diverse ideas and identities to improve community health and well-being.

Employers are increasingly recognizing the importance of becoming wellbeing-supportive organizations. But in this era of continuous disruption, societal unrest and injustice, increasing work demands, high-stress environments and burnout, mental health challenges, financial strain, and more – supporting employees in their wellbeing is increasingly complex. A systems thinking mindset will equip health promotion practitioners and wellness leaders to assess and plan for a sustainable and inclusive strategy in support of the wellbeing of their workforce that reaches far beyond programs. This session will describe the theoretical philosophies of Systems Theory and the Socio-Ecological Model as they form the underpinning of an organizational framework for action in support of employee wellbeing. Through the practice of a systems thinking mindset, attendees will explore the actionable framework to create impact for employee wellbeing across three essential pathways: foundational (individual), strategic (organizational), and systemic (community).

Working in complex systems can be structured and regimented but thinking quickly to provide creative solutions is crucial for effective health promotion. Teaching artists and researchers alike are adopting evidence-based improvisation techniques to help people across disciplines respond authentically in the moment, rather than following a specific formula. In this session, attendees will learn how improvisation skills and exercises can apply to their professional and personal lives, supported by groundbreaking research. Attendees will participate in improvisation exercises, focusing on resilience, being present, clear communication, and saying “Yes, and…”. We will center our own lived experiences to co-create new worlds and visualize how practicing these skills can build empathy and improve patient outcomes. Say Yes, AND join us! Please Note: This is an interactive workshop. You will be put in small breakout groups to participate in the (fun!) exercises, but you are welcome to attend and simply listen, learn, and laugh.

Organization Description: Union Bank & Trust is a locally owned bank that takes a personal approach to providing a breadth of services. In fact, our guiding principle is that at UBT, people don’t have your money – your money has people. Located primarily in Lincoln, Nebraska, our organization’s culture lives and breathes a faith-family-friends-work hierarchy. UBT is a healthy, thriving organization because of its healthy, thriving people. Program Components: Fitness classes, wellness challenges, weekly virtual meditation, two on-site fitness facilities, catered healthy lunches, and a wellness reimbursement program for financial, mental, and physical wellness education or experiences make up the base of UBTwell, Union Bank & Trust’s worksite wellness program. Program Implementation and Evaluation History: With most programming available in-person, virtually, or digitally, all associates have access to a variety of wellness activities and offering. An internally built wellness portal houses wellness challenges, resources, and information about how to live your best life. Evaluation is completed through the use of surveys, challenge and event participation, and healthcare claims. Program Impact: During a global pandemic, UBT as seen a 60% increase in flu shots administered on-site from 2019 to 2020 and a 10% increase of health plan participants completing an annual exam with their primary care provider. The participation goal is 5.0 touchpoints relating to wellness programming per associate and in 2020, the average per associate was 5.1 touchpoints. From a mental health perspective, UBT’s employee assistance program usage of 9.0% is double that of the national average of 4.5% in 2020.

Employers have traditionally thought of employee health and well-being through the lens of their group medical plans and have often conflated that goal with the goal of saving money. Employers who limit themselves in that way are missing a bet. They have multiple plan opportunities to enhance overall employee health including those tied to their medical plans such as EAPs and other mental health benefits, concierge medicine, telemedicine and on-site or near-site clinics and account-based options such as HSAs and HRAs. In addition, they can possibly make a bigger long-term impact on their employee overall wellness using their retirement plans, educational assistance and training opportunities, lifestyle accounts, flexible and paid leave options, flexible work arrangements, etc. The session will explore a holistic look and employee benefits and employee health and well-being. It will provide participants a hands-on workshop experience culminating in their design of a presentation that provides a strategic design of all employer benefits and employment practices that, if adopted, would have a positive impact on employee health and wellbeing.

Working caregivers are not just parents caring for children or older women taking care of aging parents. Caregiving impacts working adults 18 to 75+. The often-unaddressed biases and misconceptions are getting in the way of addressing a problem that is costing employers $23B+. This issue also has a big impact on gender leadership equity and diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as health costs. By understanding how to understand the biases and misconceptions, having a way to measure the number caregivers and associated costs, and taking a more intersectional approach can mean a better approach to addressing health and wellbeing costs, reducing turnover costs, and sending a clear message that an organization supports their working caregivers. With one out of four employees in the U.S. being 55+, caregivers need to be included in diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives.

To do our best work in advancing equity for marginalized populations, including LGBTQ+ communities, we must first examine our subconscious beliefs, biases, and privileges. It is with an understanding and awareness of how we are positioned and the lens through which we view the world that we can most effectively support the communities we aim to serve. This presentation will offer a philosophy for approaching equity work, explore where our beliefs originate and how to disrupt beliefs that are harmful, and examine the role of privilege in our lives and work. Through a series of interactive exercises and discussion, attendees will gain insight into how their personal experiences shape the way they show up for LGBTQ+ communities and others. With new information and tools, attendees will feel equipped to approach their equity work with intention and humility.

Between raging pandemics, social epidemics, threats to climate, economy, democracy, and life, humanity is facing the complex and cumulative brunt of it all. In turn, the world of work contends with the ramifications of these social determinants of health (SDoH), ranging from burnout, the great resignation, growing polarization, and a workforce that’s insecure, unhappy, and unhealthy. This session focuses on how employers can tackle two epidemics - loneliness and chronic disease, both bearing dire consequences and needing immediate action. While intellectual humility means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers, it also means taking responsibility to emerge from our siloed approaches, move beyond traditional indicators, and bring well-being within everyone’s reach. This session will provide foundational learning on SDoH and demonstrate how practitioners and organizational leaders can build impactful SDoH-informed strategies to systemically promote health equity, social connectedness, and well-being, at work and within the larger society.

Working in complex systems can be structured and regimented but thinking quickly to provide creative solutions is crucial for effective health promotion. Teaching artists and researchers alike are adopting evidence-based improvisation techniques to help people across disciplines respond authentically in the moment, rather than following a specific formula. In this session, attendees will learn how improvisation skills and exercises can apply to their professional and personal lives, supported by groundbreaking research. Attendees will participate in improvisation exercises, focusing on resilience, being present, clear communication, and saying “Yes, and…”. We will center our own lived experiences to co-create new worlds and visualize how practicing these skills can build empathy and improve patient outcomes. Say Yes, AND join us! Please Note: This is an interactive workshop. You will be put in small breakout groups to participate in the (fun!) exercises, but you are welcome to attend and simply listen, learn, and laugh.

Two hallmark practices of design thinking are empathy mapping and journey mapping. Empathy maps and journey maps provide processes for empathizing with clients, community members, service or product users, or stakeholders. They help us understand a person's experiences and the context of those experiences. Empathy mapping and journey mapping, especially when paired with an accompaniment philosophy, can be used to help target the focus of health promotion programs and interventions and can also be used as an effective instructional tool in health promotion education. This presentation will provide an overview of empathy mapping and journey mapping, describe best practices in utilization of these tools, and explore their potential applications in health promotion programs. Results from the utilization of empathy mapping and journey mapping in a graduate-level health promotion practice course will be shared.

Did you know that more than 80% of diets fail in their promises of weight loss? Meaning, at least 80% of people who start a diet end up gaining back the weight they lost (and most often additional weight from where they started) within 5 years. To go a step further, cycling between weight loss and gain itself has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and impaired immune function. Weight-centric approaches to health are still prevalent in workplace wellness programs, despite evidence against their effectiveness. Wellness programs and their administrators should be conscientious of weight bias, and work to offer more inclusive programs that support long-term behavior change and subsequent health benefits. This discussion exposes weaknesses in weight-centric programs and offers alternative guidance to implement weight-neutral approaches to employer-sponsored wellness programming.

The imposter phenomenon (IP) is the conflict between intrapersonal and interpersonal perceptions of self. It is a failure to internalize accomplishments and downplay praise from others. When people experience the IP, they have the illusion of personal incompetence, hold self-defeating thoughts, and question their value, which can lead to paralysis in productivity or even over productivity (Fields & Cunningham-Williams, 2021). This phenomenon affects highly educated people from marginalized groups, such as BIPOC women, immigrants, and people living with disability, who have negative, oppressive feelings about their identities (David et al., 2019). Addressing this phenomenon requires a multilevel approach in organizations that involves creating spaces for practicing critical self-awareness, sharing individual and collective stories, and challenging systems that promote and sustain divisiveness and oppression. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to discuss culturally responsive organizational strategies that promotes inclusivity of diverse ideas and identities to improve community health and well-being.

Our experiences, education and expertise are valuable. They inform. They build confidence. They often affirm who we are or think we are. They also can create assumptions, limiting beliefs and interpretations that can keep us stuck in a narrow perspective without awareness or willingness to consider other options. How do we create performance-oriented workplaces that reward cognizance, vulnerability and intellectual humility? Cultivating psychological safety creates space for interpersonal risk taking, curiosity, and candor, which we assert fosters intellectual humility and can help dismantle silos in the workplace. The concept of a psychologically safe workplace has been well-researched and requires hard work at both the individual and collective level. This session will explore the components of a psychologically safe work environment that can be applied to fostering intellectual humility, inspire a “beginners mind”, and will engage participants to experiment with individual skill building and discuss organizational strategy and leadership.

"Tough conversations in today’s world are important,” explained one Reflection Point participant. “We respected and worked to understand each other. It practices humility, you know.” In this breakout, CWRU’s Medical Director, the Founder of Reflection Point and a seasoned Reflection Point facilitator will share the outcomes of this unique approach, demonstrating how social-emotional learning and collective exploration builds the foundations of intellectual humility, extending its reach to the farthest corners of the workplace."

AdventHealth is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care providers, known worldwide for the expert, compassionate, and individualized care given to the million plus patients who visit yearly. With over 83,000 team members across the nation, we value and care about their personal health journeys so they can be the best version of themselves. To promote whole person health, mind, body, and spirit, we’ve developed The Trust Transformation program that focuses on the keys to building healthy relationships both at work and at home. The Employee Health and Well-being Team at AdventHealth embraces trust, humility, and authenticity as core approaches to support team member needs. Our Trust Transformation education series with expert authors facilitates meaningful dialogue around critical issues, including conversations around mental health and trust in the workplace, which creates a space that allows team members to continually build supportive relationships. Our efforts to provide continuous support and education still take place today and are constantly being reevaluated to provide our team members with the best experiences and resources for whole person health during this time. We continue to evaluate trust between leaders and team members on quarterly organizational surveys and implement strategies to address low-scoring areas to improve overall satisfaction and well-being in the workplace. The impact of promoting whole person health and trust in the workplace resulted in a 90% satisfaction rate in our Trust Transformation program surveys and an overall improvement on our organizational Culture of Health scores, a survey we distribute annually.

As more companies adopt Big Data analytic strategies to advance their business efforts, there is also a greater need for people who can understand and apply those analytic discoveries. Today a majority of analytic projects never produce business value --- not because they lack data, technology and analytic talent, but because analysts and business teams don’t speak the same language. As a result, projects are often poorly defined, inadequately explained, and discarded as incomplete or confusing. This session explores the reasons why analytic efforts fail and introduces Analytic Translation, a new role to bridge the gap between the promise of Big Data and the reality of defining and meeting essential business needs. Content will include examples of effective project definition and relevant delivery of findings

As schools work to secure improved funding for teachers and resources, it is critical for them to manage their healthcare spend. Carmel Clay Schools (CCS) is doing just that with an ever-evolving approach to their onsite wellness center. Rather than focusing only on primary care and medications, CCS truly embraced lifestyle medicine and provided a diverse array of resources and multidisciplinary health promotion professionals to help improve lifestyle choices. The program has been able to continue to expand the services offered in their state-of-the art wellness resource center by reinvesting savings and adding services that impact the root causes of reduced health, creating a virtuous cycle of decreasing dependence on the healthcare system. The center offers services such as exercise facility and private training, group exercise classes, dietician, health coaching, physical therapy, mental health counselors, and primary care. The key is the team works collaboratively to provide the right service and support at the right time and then is able to provide soft hand-offs to the next service as an individual’s needs change.

The Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health (BHSH) System provides care and coverage across Michigan with a future vision where health is simple, affordable, equitable and exceptional. The Family Kitchen program is a product of this vision. Diet ID is a revolutionary digital nutrition assessment and behavior change platform designed by the world’s leading experts in nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Program Components Family Kitchen is a bilingual hands-on 9-week culinary medicine coaching program (with 6 months extended support) for low resource children and families with obesity and chronic disease. The program provides affordable, culturally relevant recipes, cooking instructions, and groceries. Program Implementation and Evaluation History Family Kitchen was designed and implemented in 2018 in response to the 2017 Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment. The Spanish version, Cocinando en Familia, launched in late 2020. Evaluation methods include dietary habits/attitudes via Cooking for Health Optimization (CHOP) survey, diet quality via Diet ID, BMI and program acceptability. Program Impact: One-hundred-twenty families (English) and thirteen families (Spanish) graduated from the program with an acceptability rating of 96%. Over 300 participants have engaged in graduate classes. Fifty-seven percent of participants reported improved dietary habits. The average diet quality improvement was 0.9 deciles representing approximately $142,011 in annual population healthcare cost savings. What makes this program innovative or disruptive: The effect of poor diet quality in families supersedes that of genetics and is predictive of poor health outcomes. Family Kitchen aims to improve dietary self-efficacy by engaging families in nutrition, culinary knowledge and skill-building. This is a proactive approach to health care which empowers change within communities.

As society acknowledges the full range of gender identity and expression, benefit plans and those responsible for them need to rethink their approach to gender. This necessitates a review of all aspects of benefit plan design and administration, to recognize and support members and beneficiaries who identify as other than male or female. For this exercise to be effective, those involved must understand the legal requirements and best practices, current insurer practices, and the interaction of public and private coverage options. This session outlines legal requirements for the recognition and accommodation of gender identity and expression and discusses how to meaningfully incorporate inclusive language into benefits and HR forms, policies, and practices. It shows how insurers approach distinctions between biological gender and gender identification, and how this varies by insurer and benefit type. Finally, it reviews public coverage for gender affirming care (including jurisdictional variations), and available supplementary private insurance products.

Workforce mental health became the topic du jour during the pandemic, as COVID-19 and society’s response to it upended the way people live and work. Today, it is common to hear employers voice their commitment to the psychological well-being of workers and to see CEOs pledging to make it a priority. New guidance is also providing a roadmap to help organizations deliver on that promise. The reality, however, is that implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based workforce mental health efforts still lags far behind physical health and wellness practices in most organizations. This session will focus on how employers can improve their efforts regardless of whether they are just starting out or looking to strengthen a well-established program. By reviewing best practices, hearing case examples from exemplary organizations, and discussing how to apply the lessons learned, participants will be better positioned to turn their commitment to workforce mental health into meaningful action.

Most of us make New Year’s resolutions and most of us fail to achieve these goals. Too often our job and our workplace conspire to see that we don’t even get to the end of January before throwing in the towel. Why is it that only 3% of Americans meet the recommended amounts of daily exercise and produce consumption, keep a healthy weight, and don’t smoke? For those of us who spend most of our waking hours working, we can’t escape the influence of our employer. While many organizations attempt to address health and wellness through programs, these can often feel transactional, hypocritical, or even manipulative. Generally, they are only partially successful because they expect the individual to bear the full responsibility of changing their behavior despite the influence of the workplace culture. The better solution is a partnership between the employer and the employees. The better solution is when everyone is on the same team. In this session, Richard will share a well-being prescription for a happier, healthier, and more resilient workforce – including you. Learn the ingredients to become a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Working caregivers are not just parents caring for children or older women taking care of aging parents. Caregiving impacts working adults 18 to 75+. The often-unaddressed biases and misconceptions are getting in the way of addressing a problem that is costing employers $23B+. This issue also has a big impact on gender leadership equity and diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as health costs. By understanding how to understand the biases and misconceptions, having a way to measure the number caregivers and associated costs, and taking a more intersectional approach can mean a better approach to addressing health and wellbeing costs, reducing turnover costs, and sending a clear message that an organization supports their working caregivers. With one out of four employees in the U.S. being 55+, caregivers need to be included in diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of evidence-based information and the role of health communication, education, and promotion. In 2021, Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service (CUCES) began targeting rural and Hispanic communities in South Carolina to better understand COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy through the Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching & Engagement (EXCITE) program. Cooperative Extension’s history as a trusted, community resource, allows CUCES to reach vulnerable populations in South Carolina for COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and education. As a result, CUCES has implemented a series of health communication strategies to target rural and Hispanic South Carolinians and other community members with evidence-based information about COVID-19. Strategies have included social, print, mass media, and other educational materials resulting in CUCES reaching over 1.6 million individuals across SC. Important lessons learned will be discussed to better understand barriers to reaching vulnerable populations and effective strategies for combating misinformation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large sector of the workforce moved to remote work. In the aftermath of the pandemic, while many employees have returned to in-person work, large segments of the workforce remain either fully remote or in a hybrid situation. For in-person worksites, OSHA regulations and worksite wellness professionals can control many of the factors affecting health including ergonomics, air quality, work-life balance, and nature contact. However, much less is known about the environment that surrounds remote workers, and it is expected large health disparities may exist for lower-wage remote workers. This interactive session will discuss the potential health and well-being effects of working remotely, review data from a nationwide survey of 657 remote workers, and discuss potential interventions to improve remote worker health. This is an essential topic for human resource and worksite wellness professionals as remote and hybrid work become commonplace.

Employers are increasingly recognizing the importance of becoming wellbeing-supportive organizations. But in this era of continuous disruption, societal unrest and injustice, increasing work demands, high-stress environments and burnout, mental health challenges, financial strain, and more – supporting employees in their wellbeing is increasingly complex. A systems thinking mindset will equip health promotion practitioners and wellness leaders to assess and plan for a sustainable and inclusive strategy in support of the wellbeing of their workforce that reaches far beyond programs. This session will describe the theoretical philosophies of Systems Theory and the Socio-Ecological Model as they form the underpinning of an organizational framework for action in support of employee wellbeing. Through the practice of a systems thinking mindset, attendees will explore the actionable framework to create impact for employee wellbeing across three essential pathways: foundational (individual), strategic (organizational), and systemic (community).

Did you know that more than 80% of diets fail in their promises of weight loss? Meaning, at least 80% of people who start a diet end up gaining back the weight they lost (and most often additional weight from where they started) within 5 years. To go a step further, cycling between weight loss and gain itself has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and impaired immune function. Weight-centric approaches to health are still prevalent in workplace wellness programs, despite evidence against their effectiveness. Wellness programs and their administrators should be conscientious of weight bias, and work to offer more inclusive programs that support long-term behavior change and subsequent health benefits. This discussion exposes weaknesses in weight-centric programs and offers alternative guidance to implement weight-neutral approaches to employer-sponsored wellness programming.

In 2020, as our company shifted to a remote work environment, the need for connection and community blossomed. It also became apparent that many members of our organization were grappling with how to best discuss and learn from complex – and at times – uncomfortable topics rooted in racism, bias, privilege, social justice among others, that have gone undiscussed in the workplace. New Perspectives, a grassroots initiative, was developed as a platform and an opportunity for our community of employees to engage and learn from others through sharing their own unique experiences as it relates to DE&I, mental health and healthcare benefits. In addition to partnering with business functions within Human Resources, New Perspectives offers employees space and time to look at their personal identity and identify ways to address stigma enterprise-wide. If you ask our CHRO why we promote DE&I at Cardinal Health she’ll say: “It’s a talent strategy for us".

Our experiences, education and expertise are valuable. They inform. They build confidence. They often affirm who we are or think we are. They also can create assumptions, limiting beliefs and interpretations that can keep us stuck in a narrow perspective without awareness or willingness to consider other options. How do we create performance-oriented workplaces that reward cognizance, vulnerability and intellectual humility? Cultivating psychological safety creates space for interpersonal risk taking, curiosity, and candor, which we assert fosters intellectual humility and can help dismantle silos in the workplace. The concept of a psychologically safe workplace has been well-researched and requires hard work at both the individual and collective level. This session will explore the components of a psychologically safe work environment that can be applied to fostering intellectual humility, inspire a “beginners mind”, and will engage participants to experiment with individual skill building and discuss organizational strategy and leadership.

As society acknowledges the full range of gender identity and expression, benefit plans and those responsible for them need to rethink their approach to gender. This necessitates a review of all aspects of benefit plan design and administration, to recognize and support members and beneficiaries who identify as other than male or female. For this exercise to be effective, those involved must understand the legal requirements and best practices, current insurer practices, and the interaction of public and private coverage options. This session outlines legal requirements for the recognition and accommodation of gender identity and expression and discusses how to meaningfully incorporate inclusive language into benefits and HR forms, policies, and practices. It shows how insurers approach distinctions between biological gender and gender identification, and how this varies by insurer and benefit type. Finally, it reviews public coverage for gender affirming care (including jurisdictional variations), and available supplementary private insurance products.

Do we think about resilience in limited ways (e.g., that resilience is a trait instead of a behavior)? Instead, what if we could reliably train resilience using techniques of mindfulness, heartfulness, and flexible thinking to help individuals and groups thrive under stress and traumatic circumstances? Using the Resilient Mind Program as an example, this session will examine evidence-based practices to optimize mental health, wellness, and performance. We will focus on the science and implementation of mindfulness-based practices and resilience-training, and their benefits – e.g., enhanced cortical functioning, improved heart rate variability, reduced stress, more efficacious coping skills, more social connection. Drawing from applied settings (fire departments, college students, Olympic teams), this session will examine key psychological and behavioral strategies for developing resilience that work across multiple settings and organizations. Included in this session will be opportunities to practice some of the skills presented.

Visualizing and activating a holistic, unified, and comprehensive approach to creating a health promoting organization is necessarily complex. This session will provide a framework to help participants formalize the why (purpose), who (target audience), what (well-being dimensions), how (holistic approach) and when (continuum of care), and their intersectionality, for their unique organization. As a strategy model it can be activated for assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. It is designed to be translational and can be and is being customized across a variety of organizations and campuses. This visual “executive summary” incorporates numerous theories and concepts and has the interdisciplinary professional support of national health and well-being collaboratives interdisciplinary subject matter experts. Come see how it can be useful to you.