Workplace wellness: the need for wellness and stress management training

While fulltime in a corporate wellness environment, Dr Arien van der Merwe focused her research and program development on stress and wellness challenges as she had experienced in the workplace on a day-to-day basis. The statistics gained from an interactive Internet based stress management program, with more than 70 000 active users, clearly showed the desperate need for wellness and stress management training in the working environment, says Dr Van der Merwe.

There are many health risk assessments and health screenings available, but as she realised 10 years ago, very few programs are available that address the identified health risks in a truly health care solutions philosophy. “What’s the use of knowing you have a high risk for heart disease, if the solution of how to address it in a wellness way incorporating body, mind, emotions and soul, is lacking? Companies want solutions, which are what drives their corporate mind-set”, she says. For the past 10 years, Dr van der Merwe focused all her attention on finding health and wellness solutions, offering return on investment protocols for companies to manage their employees’ identified health risks. Therefore, both centres and health care practitioners also present wellness interventions and programs for the workplace. Employees attend sessions at the centres or the facilitators present at the companies. The centre in Menlo Park is also used as a conference centre for employees to get an urban retreat experience in the city!