Highlighted in this piece is Centennial College’s Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion program. Not only does the article recount benefits such as the types of hands-on training students complete but it also looks at the benefits they bring to companies as professionals in the field.

1. Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion Trains Students for
Emerging Field
Healthy employees are happy employees. It’s no wonder then that employers are increasingly
implementing wellness programs. According to Healthy Alberta, employees of companies that have
a workplace wellness program are likely to have: increased awareness and knowledge of ways to
improve their health; a better (less stressful) workplace; increased protection from injury;
improved health and well-being; higher morale and greater job satisfaction; increased productivity
and effectiveness at work; reduced personal health care costs; and a more relaxed/flexible
approach to health issues.
Helping promote the total well being of individuals and groups within corporate and community
contexts are graduates of undertakings such as Centennial College’s Health Promotion
Program and Workplace Wellness Program. As the first post-graduate wellness program of its sort
in Canada, it has set the bar high for offerings that may follow it as it offers both the management
and communication skills needed to become an effective manager of wellness and health promotion
programs.
Firstly, the program presents a range of topics that are essential to professionals who will deal with
people from all walks of life and who have a range of health issues, including: research methods in
health studies, psycho-social and physical health issues, mental health, nutrition, assessing health
risk factors, and more.
Secondly, it takes all of the health issues and places them into a corporate or community context
as students learn program design and management, mental health management, program planning
and health promotion theory, coaching as well as designing, implementing and evaluating effective
health promotion strategies and programs, and managing programs in accordance with
organizational policies and procedures.
Thirdly, there is a heavy emphasis on hands-on training. The most beneficial practical aspect is a
field placement in the second semester. The placement totals two days a week, eight hours per day
based on times that are mutually agreeable for both student and employer. Students must
integrate and apply theories and skills that they acquired in their classes. In conjunction with their
placements, students attend a two-hour class to complete applicable paperwork, get assistance if
needed and to present their professional portfolios. At the end of their field placement, students
present a final version of their professional portfolio, which incorporates their personal brand.
As a result of their training, grads bring a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to workplace
wellness and community health promotion. They have the ability to utilize a variety of presentation
techniques and strategies, develop a business case for wellness, and market and promote wellness
programs.
Applicants to one of the most respected health and wellness programs in Toronto has to offer
are required to have completed a college diploma, or university degree in any discipline. They also
have to demonstrate English Proficiency.