My first interaction with the Wellness Council of Wisconsin and WELCOA occurred early on in my career when I attended their Annual Worksite Wellness Conference. It was a great event in which I left with my first exposure the proven 7-Benchmarks of Success Model, tangible information from the breakout sessions, and a dose of inspiration and vision from the industry leaders brought in for the Keynote addresses. It was this event that motivated me to ask my supervisor to purchase a membership. Looking back at it now, this was an integral part of my development as a Wellness practitioner.
The timing of the conference and membership was perfect; I was working at Affinity Health System and was recently promoted to a position responsible for the internal wellness of employees. The 7-Benchmarks provided me with a proven model that I could use to develop our plan for success. With the model now in place I also took advantage of the opportunity to have our program recognized by submitting an application for Well-Workplace designation. With the help and support of the Wellness Council of Wisconsin Staff, we attained designation, and with it, earned the respect of our employees leadership, and clients.
The value of the Wellness Council of Wisconsin membership continued in my next role as Wellness Director at Fond du Lac Area Businesses on Health (FABOH). Now, providing consultative services and support to our members, the 7-Benchmarks model was again a great resource to promote. It provided instant credibility, a scalable model to fit the wide range of program levels, educational resources (webinars, handouts, case studies, etc.) on how to implement each of the benchmarks, and an opportunity to be recognized through the Well-Workplace Application process. Simply stated, the Well-Workplace process was the foundation of the wellness offerings I provided our members. Fast forward five years, it was this strong foundation that we used to help Fond du Lac earn Well City designation in December of 2016.
As you can see, the tools and resources provided as part of your membership with the Wellness Council of Wisconsin are there to support your efforts every step of the way. So if you don’t have a membership, or you are currently not using your membership to the fullest, take the time to understand how you can leverage this for success, it is well worth it!