Albuquerque Public Schools
April 2022 Employee Wellness Newsletter
Quiet the noise, Infobesity explained, 30 ways to well-being, and more nutrition, fitness & wellness trends in the news.
Wellness Wire - Quiet the Noise
The past two months of Wellness Wires have been about how we can make an internal connection with our wellness. Recognizing our emotional triggers, the behaviors that stem from those triggers, and how they make us feel. When we start to identify those behaviors, we can clear the mental and physical clutter bottlenecking our wellness effort. We can create time and space throughout the day to nourish our roots for good things to grow. This gives us the opportunity to connect with the people, places, and activities that feed our souls, bring us joy and get us interested in life again.
- Don't wake up connected. Give yourself time in the morning before looking at emails. This could be having your morning coffee/tea in silence or reading something motivational. If possible open a window or sit on a porch and listen to the awakening world, stretch, or other forms of meditation.
- Take time to walk away during the day (literally and figuratively) to move and breathe. Even if it's only for 2 minutes it will help alleviate stress and boost energy versus staying fixed on a device.
- Stop the media scroll. Use that time to move, stretch, meal-prep nourishing foods, do house chores, etc. As soon as you start to do 'the swipe', catch yourself and put the phone or device down. Think of what you can do instead that will enhance your wellness, help you simply feel better and more productive.
- Recognize that when we multi-task with devices (laptop & phone) not only is it less productive, it's usually an avoidance, procrastinating maneuver. So, instead of turning from your computer/laptop to the "phone media scroll", get up and move, do a small task, walk around, stretch, then go back to the computer task at hand with a refreshed body and brain.
Check the information below for more Employee Wellness Programs to reconnect with your well-being.
This is a great time of year to redeem those wellness incentive points for a New Mexico Sports & Wellness membership or other awesome rewards.
If you are going to engage with social media, do it in a wellness-y way by connecting with APS Employee Wellness on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube! If you have questions or would like to schedule a presentation and stretch break, contact Becky MacGregor at becky.macgregor@aps.edu. Thank you & be well!
- March 28 Wellness Wire: Create Space
- April 5 Wellness Wire: Nourish Your Roots
- April 12 Wellness Wire: Prune Back the Busy
APS Employee Wellness Programs & Events
APS Employee Wellness offers many free programs to help all employees (regardless of benefits coverage or full/part-time status) lower their risk for disease, attain lifestyle and weight loss goals as well as manage stress and mental health issues.
- 30 Ways to Well-being is a new email-based program. Register and you will receive daily wellness emails with simple yet innovative practices to do every day. This will bring new awareness for you around stress, sleep, movement, nutrition, connection, and more! This is an ongoing program. Enroll and engage at your own pace. *Open to all APS employees.
- Nourish Your Green Zone: What is your green zone and how can you grow it? Our capacity to manage stress and burnout in a more healthful way can improve when we nourish our green zone! Sign up for this ongoing, self-paced virtual program. *Open to all APS employees.
- This is a Game Changer for your health! Do you feel like you need to lose weight, manage your nutrition and get more movement but you just don't know how to start? The Pre-Diabetes Prevention Program may be for you! Join this national pilot program from the CDC and through NMSU. Options for online/virtual and continuous, personal coaching for one full year. *Open to all APS employees.
- New! Pet therapy for APS employees. If you would like to offer your staff or department a couple of hours of furry-cuddle-stress-relieving therapy time, fill out this request form. Please note that accommodations must be made for any colleagues who have allergies to dogs.
- Health Coaching: Open to all APS employees. If you would like help with managing a chronic illness, or weight loss to improve your health, or simply feel better, APS offers free Health Coaching to all APS employees.
- Livongo: Get your life back and manage diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity with this personalized program- Livongo. The name is short for Live On The Go! Because having a chronic illness can hinder our positive life experiences. We want you to get that back and feel better! Participants receive one on one expert coaching, and integrated tools to manage blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight loss. *This program is free for eligible employees and dependents under APS Benefits.
- Life on Mindfulness: Check out your new Life on Mindfulness website with the password APSLOM. This is a free, flexible program for all employees that offers daily drop-in meditations, new weekly and monthly content, featured meditations, and Saturday workshops. Everything is recorded for on-demand access. Links for daily drop-ins and the Saturday sessions are in the APS Employee Wellness Calendar. Enroll in the Life on Mindfulness Program for all content and email reminders. This site is mobile phone optimized so you can access a wide variety of recorded meditations anytime, anywhere. *The Life on Mindfulness program is open to all APS employees.
- 2022 Employee Wellness Incentive Program: This is a voluntary wellness reward program for all full-time APS employees. Do wellness, log points, and receive awesome rewards like New Mexico Sports & Wellness memberships, LesMills OnDemand, Stone Age gym passes, Wecks, Flying Star, or Sports Systems gift cards. If you haven't participated, take time to read more about it, log in to your Wellness@Work well-being dashboard, and get started this year. *Open to all full-time APS employees.
Mental Health Resources
- Effective January 1, 2022, there are new APS mental health benefits with no cost/co-pays for covered employees and dependents.
- All APS insurance benefits plans offer virtual and digital mental health services.
- Mental Health Corner: We are all facing continual stress and uncertainty in our home and work lives. Burnout is the result of this ongoing, chronic stress. But we can ease this burden with wellness practices and outside support. Click on the Mental Health Corner for a list of different community and APS resources for mental and behavioral well-being as well as direct resources you have under your APS health insurance plan.
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My Stress Tools: For interactive, online, and app-based resources to help manage stress and anxiety and build resilience try MyStress Tools.*Open to all APS employees.
APS EAP Program
Employees and immediate family members have access to free, confidential short-term counseling through the EAP program. Please call the EAP office at (505) 884-9738 to schedule an appointment. WeCounsel virtual sessions are available.
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