Welcome to the Council of Yukon First Nations Working on Wellness page!

We spend half of our waking time at work and when we are at work, we spend much of our time sitting at a desk. This sedentary lifestyle puts us at risk of acquiring chronic diseases

WoW aims to contribute to the reduction of chronic diseases through promotion of overall wellness and healthy choices in the workplace.

In Yukon, CYFN adapted and implemented Canadian Cancer Society’s WellnessFits work place wellness program in four of the First Nations’ administration offices. Policy development, staff input and ongoing evaluation were important components of these four practice-based pilot projects. The resources on the CYFN WoW page are the result of these two years of work with the pilot sites. The intention of the resources is to provide easy to implement workplace wellness activities that do not take much planning or funding.

On the WoW pages you will find a calendar complete with activities and accompanying resources. You will see there are instructions on days when emails have to be sent or activities are to take place. The emails, which are found in the corresponding month’s file, are in word format and can be personalized or adapted. Activities can be modified and new ones can be added based on what is already occurring in the workplace.For example, if you open the month of November 2016:

CYFN also developed a two videos to share more about this program. The live action video features champions from one of the pilot projects and staff at CYFN who were involved with WoW. They talk about the successes and challenges of implementing a workplace wellness program and also what is necessary to ensure sustainability.

Watch the video here:

Also view the animated video here:

In addition to the calendar and the videos, this webpage features many resources of additional activities that can be easily implemented. There are handouts, infographics, instructions on how to do activities and links to other websites for further reading about how to implement a workplace wellness program in your office.

Keep in mind, before starting any workplace wellness program, it is essential to have management or leadership support. There also needs to be a team of staff (even a small team) to be champions of workplace wellness. There is a risk of champions becoming burnt out, so finding strategies to sustain the committee will have to be explored. One champion suggested having the committee rotate and have new staff members join to give others a break. Another option is to write workplace wellness into a staff member’s job description.

Staff input is also important if you want people to come to events. Maybe gather all staff for a lunch or coffee break and ask them for input into what activities they would like to see at the workplace. This would also be a good opportunity to recruit staff to be part of a committee.

The reality is that in most Yukon First Nation communities, staff are over worked and at the verge of burn out. Even implementing one or two activities a month or simply putting up posters about healthy eating or taking stretch breaks can go a long way in improving staff morale and promoting a culture of wellness in the workplace.