Giselle Barrientos

COM100 10344

Liz Cantu

22 September 2025

Workplace environments play an important role in employees' wellbeing and can relate to stress and the amount of long hours worked. The purpose of this artifact is to highlight the importance of health, wellness and wellbeing in practice in the workplace by sharing these professionals' points of views and community knowledge. Organizational wellness has a key factor in influencing healthcare outcomes, by viewing these workplace policies, cultural practice and the wellbeing of employees. This artifact aims to show the key points on how organizations can help reduce healthcare costs,promote long term health benefits, and prevent illness. 

Organizational wellness is a major aspect of workplace health, wide policies, cultures, and programs. These programs support employees wellbeing by stress management initiatives, flexible schedules, and access for help. While these programs influence productivity and overall wellness outcomes, many of these factors influence the effectiveness of organizational wellness. Social determinants of health play a role in how employees engage in these programs, supporting the shape perceptions of mental health and cultural norms. Environmental factors, including workplace, offices, noise levels also have an impact on the employees wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization, promoting supportive awareness to  workplace environments and mental health reduces stress-related illness and improves organizational wellness.

Communication is the secret to wellness programs' success. If there is good and open communication, then it leads to improved understanding in trust, but poor communication leads to misunderstandings and confusion. Actionable strategies can be utilized to improve organizational well-being, such as preventive health screening, formal mental health programs, flexible work hours, and leadership development promoting healthy behaviors. These programs have the potential to create a workplace culture that is of worth in a way to deliver the health and wellbeing of staff, productivity, and retention. The majority of this research that I found most interesting was the strong relationship between the healthcare outcome and organizational wellbeing in culture.The most challenging insight was the social, cultural and environment factors in creating a successful wellness program. Additionally putting everything together shows an overall organizational wellness approach can reduce healthcare costs, and enhance employee healthcare and a healthier work environment.

- My main point in this artifact was specifically how mentally tiring the job could be but how it takes a strong mindset to go into the job everyday because you almost always know the outcome of every case. This relates directly to SDG #3 because it ensures that your mental wellbeing is in a good place to ensure good health and wellbeing.

- My artifact could help others learn how to manage the stress and mental hardships this job could bring you. We talk about how to get through hard times and to focus on things outside of work to get your mind off cases.

- We can sustainably build workplaces and communities that are healthy to all by ensuring everyone has access to resources they may need. Working in healthcare, everyone should have access to a therapist. Having a safe space to talk about the traumatic things they may come across can give them the outlet they need to not take that stress home with them. All workplaces need a supportive and inclusive culture as well to ensure no one feels alone or isolated. This will support the strong mental and physical well being of the staff knowing that they have a supportive community.

Walking is often considered healthier than running for many people because it provides many of the same physical and mental benefits while placing less stress on the body. One of the biggest advantages of walking is that it is a low-impact exercise. When a person walks, the joints especially the knees, hips, and ankles experience significantly less force than they do during running. This lower impact reduces the risk of injuries such as stress fractures, shin splints, and joint strain. Because of this, walking is a safer and more sustainable activity for people of all ages, including beginners, older adults, or those recovering from injuries.

Walking is also easier to maintain consistently over long periods of time. Since it requires less physical strain and recovery time, people are more likely to stick with a walking routine compared to a running routine. Consistency is one of the most important factors in improving long-term health. Regular walking can improve cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease, and help maintain a healthy weight.walking can be more accessible and adaptable than running. It does not require special training or intense conditioning, and it can easily be incorporated into daily life by walking to nearby places, taking breaks during work, or enjoying time outdoors. Walking also supports mental health by reducing stress, improving mood, and promoting relaxation.while running burns more calories in a shorter amount of time, walking provides a safer, more sustainable, and accessible way for many people to stay active and support long-term physical and mental well-being. Personally, Walking seems to be more healthy with almost no downside but doctors have told me before while I was in the military that running all the time for physically training can hurt our joints and backs as we progress into Old age.

Spring COM100

Wellness and Resiliency in the Workplace

Artifact 1: The Resiliency Blueprint

Strategies for Professional Well-being

Building a healthy workplace isn't just about fruit baskets and ergonomics; it’s about systemic support and individual toolkit building. Here are three core strategies to build professional resiliency:

The "Check-In" Culture: Normalize 5-minute debriefs after high-stress events. This prevents the "stacking" of trauma and allows teams to process adrenaline before moving to the next task.

Radical Boundaries: Implement "Deep Work" zones and "Post-Shift Rituals." Creating a physical or mental "airlock" between work and home ensures that stress doesn't bleed into recovery time.

Micro-Rest Practices: Resilience isn't about enduring exhaustion; it’s about strategic recovery. Using techniques like the Box Breathing method (inhale 4s, hold 4s, exhale 4s, hold 4s) can reset the autonomic nervous system in under a minute.

Workplace Mental Health - Resilience: A strong workforce needs it. Workplace Mental Health - Resilience: A Strong Workforce Needs It. (n.d.). https://workplacementalhealth.org/mental-health-topics/resilience

COM100

Dr. Cantu

05/7/26

Com100-11054

Dr. Liz Cantu

5/9/26

COM 100 - 11054

Dr. Cantu

09 May 2026

The main point of the artifact is to shed light on something that can help grow a good work environment and how having a good team and good communication can help with stress while working. This relates the SDG Goal #3 because it focuses on how communication in the work environment can help ensure stress is low and people can feel comfortable with others and promote good health.

• What can others learn about your artifact as it relates to health, wellness, and well-being in the workplace? 

What others can learn is that good teamwork can really help create and maintain health and well-ness in the work setting. Knowing teamwork can help my friend get through his two jobs even as hard as it is, he feels happy and healthy with the teams he works with.

• How can we sustainably build workplaces and communities that are healthy and well? 

First thing that needs to be done is having good communication in general while working as you will already be working together so having that communication can build good teamwork. Connecting with the ones you work with can also be practiced and just enjoy working with your crew and build good relationships. Building these relationships can help when times get stressful and you need someone to help you or talk to at work and you have plenty of people to do so. All it takes is good communication to make teamwork easier in the work environment.

COM 100 11054

Dr. Cantú

05/11/2026

The main point of my artifact is to show the importance of health, wellness, and resilience in the firefighting profession. Through my interview, I learned that firefighters experience physical exhaustion, emotional stress, and high-pressure situations on a regular basis. Because of this, maintaining mental health, strong communication, and supportive relationships in the workplace is extremely important. My artifact connects to SDG Goal #3, Good Health and Well-Being, because it promotes awareness of mental health, stress management, and healthy workplace environments for first responders. Others can learn that wellness in the workplace is not only physical, but also emotional and mental. Support from coworkers, healthy coping strategies, and open communication can help reduce burnout and improve overall well-being. To sustainably build healthy workplaces and communities, employers should encourage mental health awareness, provide support systems, promote work-life balance, and create environments where employees feel supported and valued. This project helped me better understand the importance of resilience in demanding careers like firefighting.

Others can learn from this artifact that health, wellness, and well-being in the workplace are deeply connected to both system-level challenges and individual coping strategies. Healthcare workers often experience emotional strain and risk of burnout, making it essential to have strong support systems, effective communication, and healthy coping strategies such as teamwork, breaks, and empathy.

We can sustainably build healthier workplaces and communities by prioritizing both patient care and worker well-being. This includes improving access to healthcare, reducing barriers to treatment, and creating supportive work environments that encourage collaboration, mental health awareness, and resilience.