It can be a challenge to stay healthy at work, given how many different careers ultimately have you sitting in front of a computer. And that goes double if you’re working remotely! A good organization cares about the health of its employees, though. That’s why you can make an entire career out of helping people stay healthy on the job, through workplace wellness and health promotion. And the only place to learn about and get into that career is at Centennial College, through our one-year Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion program. Through hands-on learning, you become an expert on promoting the wellbeing of employees or the community. It’s the only graduate certificate on the subject in Ontario, and that’s not all that’s unique about it, as the program’s graduates can attest.
The program is for professionals only
As a post-graduate program, Workplace Wellness and Health Promotions is for learners who are already out there in the health or fitness world, already have education and want to learn a new set of skills. In other words, you don’t need to start over when you take this program. Consider the story of program graduate Andrew Honor, who was already a personal trainer, and who didn’t want to start from basics. Instead, Andrew was able to pivot the career he had into becoming a wellness specialist at a major company.
You learn the logistics of wellness
“How do you define well-being?” It is one of the first questions you’re asked when you start Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion, according to Andrew. And indeed, the program teaches you how to promote the wellbeing of people, be they solo or in groups, as a part of corporate or community life. The skills that you learn include the theory behind health promotion, the practical parts of managing and planning programs, the leadership and coaching skills you need to pull them off, as well as the facts about organization and community health and wellness.
Jennifer Workman, a program graduate who later used her experience to launch a wellness app called Wehl, praised the program for its holistic approach, which makes sure you’re aware that health involves more than just healthy eating and exercise (not that those aren’t a part of it). Meanwhile, graduate Marika Gumienny-Matsuo praised the instructors, and how they continuously checked in and reached out to students, to make sure they were getting what they needed to succeed.
Diversity is an important part of Centennial College, and is embedded into the program, which is a big benefit, since your career in workplace wellness could easily put you in touch with people from many cultural and social backgrounds, especially if you favor the “community” side of things when it comes to your eventual career.
There’s a direct path into the working world
The back half of the Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion program sees you take what you know out into the working world with a field placement, which provides both a learning opportunity and maybe even a way to connect yourself to a career. In a unique twist, that field placement isn’t just given to you, you need to apply for it and interview with host companies, just like a real job.
Marika Gumienny-Matsuo also echoed the placement as being one of the most beneficial parts of the program. It helps that the program’s teachers emphasize gaining real-world experience and building a professional network, which (hot tip!) is what you should always do on a field placement.
And after the program? There are multiple directions you can take. You can go into the corporate world or the world of community health, for example. Either way Workplace Wellness is a job with tangible impact, and Centennial can teach you how to make that impact a positive, healthy one.
Written By: Anthony Geremia