Wellness Educators Needed The Banlanced LIfe Magazine August 2003
Many businesses and organizations are paying increasing attention to the problem of employee stress and burnout.
Here are some Canadian statistics:
• Lost productivity due to employee stress is estimated to be costing Canadian businesses and employers $5 billion a year. (Canadian Life and Health Magazine, 1995)
• 41 % of Canadian employees surveyed said that their employer did not do nearly enough to help them manage stress at work. (Aventis, 2001)
• Stress claims by Canadian employees will increase 50% in the next 30 years. (Mindsets, 1998)
• 1 in 4 Canadians reported that they did not really know enough ways to maintain and improve their mental health. (Canadian Mental Health Survey, 2001)
• Up to one half the burdens of medical costs can be prevented by changes to a healthier lifestyle. (Government of Ontario, 1999).
Work site Wellness programs are on the increase as many organizations are realizing the costs of employee absenteeism and burnout. There is a need for trained and experienced Wellness Educators to assist employers implement Wellness Programs in their organizations. A wellness educator provides a myriad of services including wellness assessments, training in nutrition, fitness, team building, stress management, problem solving, conflict resolution and other services as needed by the organization.
According to the program "Work Smart Live Smart" (www.worksmartlivesmart.com), funded partially by the Canadian Mental Health Association, "effective programs deal not only with the physical aspects of health but with all aspects of optimal health. Health is influenced by life circumstances, beliefs, actions, culture and by social, economic and physical environments".
In his new book The Next Trillion author Paul Zane Pilzer discusses how fortunes of the new millenium will be created in the wellness industry. He predicts the wellness industry will exceed $1 trillion in the next ten years. This is exciting for anyone interested in supporting personal growth and wellness education.
There is an increasing demand for trained wellness educators and counsellors. For nearly eight years, Rhodes Career College has been training life skills instructors, coaches and counsellors. In our very popular Wellness Counsellor Diploma program we are finding there is a strong demand for individuals with a background in business to train and provide services to corporations. If you have a background in the corporate sector, are interested in personal growth and wellness and want to investigate a career change, come and find out the employment prospects in this rapidly growing industry.
