Florida Gulf Coast University
IN-25: Innovation B

For many years, Florida Gulf Coast University has made counseling and referral services available to students through Counseling and Psychological services as well as to employees through the Employee Assitance Program. We have also offered basic wellness programs to employees and students via the Campus Recreation Center and Department of Prevention & Wellness. These efforts are described in PA-13: Wellness Program.

In January 2016, FGCU's Human Recourses department implemented the "A Healthier You" innovative wellness program. The program seeks to engage employees in fresh and deeper ways to improve their understanding and practice of health and wellness activities. "A Healthier You" accomplishes this by offering programs and resources during the workday.

It can be difficult for many employees to make time for health and wellness activities outside of work hours, and Campus Rec offerings filled with predominantly 18-24-year-olds can intimidate employees. With this in mind, the HR department developed the "A Healthier You" program to support employees in creating and maintaining healthy habits alongside their colleagues and peers.

The program is offered to all employees to promote health and wellness of our staff and faculty through education and initiatives that encourage habits of well-being. The program consists of a monthly newsletter, monthly lunchtime wellness educational programs, a diet program, and scheduled classes. The newsletter is sent out the beginning of each month and highlights monthly health observances, healthy recipes, and tips for a healthier lifestyle. The monthly lunchtime wellness sessions are led by a different speaker each month on various topics such as cancer detection and prevention, nutrition, healthy cooking, creating a fitness routine, shopping at your local farmers market, and much more. Throughout the year, we also host weekly yoga classes, a walking program, and mindfulness sessions. The yoga classes are held during the spring and fall semesters and are led by a fitness instructor from our Campus Recreation department. The walking program is held weekly in the late fall and winter months and is led by students from the Exercise Science program. In addition, we host weekly mindfulness sessions, which is 20 minutes of silent, seated mindfulness. We also experienced great success with running “The Full Plate Diet” program on campus also. The program only had 30 seats available, which were filled in less than 35 minutes after the communication was sent out. The group met once a week for 8 weeks and went through an instructor-led program that guides you in making wiser food choices. We are looking forward to offering the program again in the coming year.

Over the past eighteen months, the program has continued to grow and we have experienced increased participation. We sent out a survey to all employees in March 2017 and received 193 responses, which is a fantastic response rate. We received some excellent ideas from our employees on what they would like to see in the wellness program in addition to gratitude that FGCU cares about its employees and their wellbeing.

This program supports the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for Good Health and Well-Being. In particular, the program connects to the Goal 3 target to “strengthen the capacity of all countries…for early warning, risk reduction, and management of national and global health risks.” According to the National Institutes of Health*, heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the top three causes of death in the United States. Lifestyle changes and/or maintenance of healthy habits decrease risk factors for all of these diseases. FGCU’s “A Healthier You” supports employees in making healthier lifestyle choices.

*https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide/leading-causes-of-death-ages-1-85-in-the-us.shtml