Infusing Health and Well-Being into Everyday Life

A huge step on the path to wellness is making the basics of well-being part of your daily routine. It’s not enough to remember that you really should head to bed earlier, or that you really should  go for a walk at lunch, if you’re not committed to changing your habits.

One of the focuses of Greenwood’s Strategic Plan for 2016-2021 is incorporating health and well-being into all of our programs. We believe that wellness is a major driver of student success both in and out of the classroom, and we want to help every student feel at-ease and supported every day.

We also believe that student wellness starts with staff wellness, which is why Dr. Greg Wells worked with Greenwood staff last year. Dr. Wells is a physiologist, an exercise medicine researcher at SickKids and a professor of kinesiology at the University of Toronto. Throughout 2017-2018, Dr. Wells helped staff to:

The result? Our staff not only learned to value their own well-being more highly, but set a positive example for students. In seeing their teachers and other staff members display healthy habits - such as eating well, hitting the fitness room or maintaining work-life balance - students begin to see the value in these choices, too.

Dr. Wells is returning to Greenwood this year - but this time, he’s working with students. After an introductory assembly on October 1, Dr. Wells will send out a survey to all students to find out what they want to learn about well-being this year, and he’ll build a customized program for Greenwood based on their responses.

Dr. Wells’s program will be incorporated into the Adviser program and infused into the curriculum. Because well-being isn’t an add-on; it’s vital to a positive school experience, and to exploring new territory.

“Everyone has something that motivates them to maintain healthy habits,” says Carla DiFilippo, Director, Student Life. “For high-performance athletes it’s their sport, but it could be performing well on an exam, or memorizing lines for the play, or pushing yourself on your next Outdoor Education trip. No matter what that one thing is, we want to help every student find it.”