Hiring a Health Promotion Professional can increase your Employee Wellbeing Engagement
Kristina Mereigh
Director of Wellbeing
Struggling to foster a culture of well-being for your organization and want change but you…
Don’t know where to start Are tired of reading the 10,000 new digital well-being app emails that flood your inbox Skeptical about wellness & mental health Recognize that digital apps cannot create culture change or will work for everyone Are spending thousands of dollars on programs that are getting low engagement
The simple solution is to hire a health promotion professional.
What is a health promotion professional?
A health promotion professional is a public health specialist, trained to develop and promote wellbeing within communities and populations. Health promoters undergo “specialized training to understand and practice effective population-based prevention efforts”. They are trained to assess the health status indicators for given populations and identify the assets and barriers to well-being on multiple levels: systemic, cultural, organizational, social, environmental, and individual.
How would hiring a health promotion professional support your organization?
In the workplace, well-being is a community effort because we share physical, digital, and intellectual resources with each other. Working within an organization creates components of shared, collective identities and experiences. Thus, the well-being of the individual is influenced by the cultural, societal, and organizational interdependencies of relationships and defined structures.
A health promotion professional will be able to assess both the needs of the population and the barriers to well-being and then plan and implement initiatives that will address intrapersonal, interpersonal, and population-level influences on health and wellbeing.
What are the skills that health promotion professionals bring to the table?
The field of health promotion is broad but generally, some of the skills that health promotion professionals possess are as follows:
Plan, implement, and evaluate health promotion initiatives informed by your unique and diverse population. Engage with community stakeholders and coalitions to maximize the reach of initiatives. Collect and utilize qualitative and quantitative data to establish an equitable practice for historically marginalized populations. Develop measurable key performance indicators for health promotion initiatives and how they connect with your organization’s overall values, goals, and mission. Consult and coordinate with other departments to enhance core competencies throughout the organization that impact wellbeing such as supervision, mentorship, performance feedback, and fostering inclusive spaces. Vet mental health and wellbeing programs for diversity, equity, inclusion, and community relevance. Curriculum development and training Evidence-based community engagement strategies Internal and External communication strategies
What qualifications should you look out for in a health promotion professional or consultant?
Health promotion is a broad field with many specialties. It is vital to have a vision of what will be needed from the individual prior to hiring them, whether you need someone to be topic specific, like an alcohol and other drug educator, or if you need more of a public health generalist to conduct initial needs assessments and program implementation.
Be mindful that if you are starting a new well-being program or you currently only utilize a digital platform or employee assistance program, it is vital to look for a professional with a Masters of public health, Masters of Science in Public Health, or a Doctorate of Public Health. Some Masters of social work, and clinical psychology might also be able to assist with program implementation if they also have experience in needs assessment, program implementation, and evaluation.
Note: Most clinical providers are not trained to do population health-based work.
Conclusion
Health promotion is a powerful tool for creating a culture of healthy living and mental health stigma reduction in the workplace. Still, the techniques can only be effective when there is a targeted approach to well-being messaging and programming, supported by decision-makers, with community buy-in. It’s important to find the right health promotion professional to work with (consultant or employee in residence) to help you create an effective well-being implementation and engagement strategy unique to your community, field, and environment.
References: (ACHA Guidelines: Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education, 2019).