Workitwell, Cromwell (2025)

17/12/2025

Happy Christmas and Holidays everyone from Paula & I at Workitwell :)

Another fantastic year supporting our wicked rural communities to live better.

A huge thank you to all the businesses that have chosen Workitwell as their wellbeing partner, prioritising health makes excellent business sense and creates benefits for everyone including the wider community.

Huge thank you to Paula, my incredible admin manager who has kept me on track all year with her efficiency, systems and impeccable organisation.

Lastly, my largest thank you is always to my one to one clients who have chosen me to be part of their journey towards improved mental health. Its a massive honour to be able to sit with you during what are often dark and difficult times.

Stay tuned for some exciting new Workitwell initiatives moving into 2026 including Workplace Wellbeing Consultation services and a pro-active approach to EAP!

Wishing everyone a restful festive season - filled with soul food!!
Workitwell will return on 12th Jan.

If you require urgent mental health support during this time please consider the following:

During Christmas, New Zealand offers several 24/7 mental health helplines like 1737 (Need to Talk), Lifeline (0800 543 354), Samaritans (0800 726 666), and Youthline (0800 376 633).

07/12/2025

Neuroscience and evolution constantly remind us of the importance of connection and being part of a 'tribe'.

A great wee Cromwell community initiative facilitated by Community house is launching in January next year.

02/12/2025

A huge pattern I notice working with clients with anxiety, burnout and depression is their lack of engagement in hobbies and interests.

Life is so easily sucked away with "tasks and jobs" - the next bit of cleaning, personal admin, work, kids stuff, and whilst this is all important it denies ourselves access to long term soul food.

As Occupational Therapists we consider hobbies essential for health. A 2025 study backs this up on multiple levels:

* Hobbies mitigated the effects of working long hours and should be promoted to enhance workplace wellbeing

* Hobbies significantly improved recovery for adults with depression and those that regularly participate in hobbies are less likely to develop depression

*For adolescents, hobbies reduced the likelihood of engaging in problem gaming and reduced negative interactions and criticism from friends

* Relaxation, self expression, flow state, connection with others - its all fantastic stuff!

Hobbies don't have to be expensive or use heaps of time; but they do require planning and intention.

Local hikes - Roaring meg track up to the beautiful wee lake, 10 mins from town, 2hr return, roadside coffee on the way back $6

Breast Hill - Lake Hawea, solid day trip 8hrs, 50 min drive each way, appropriate gear, food, pint at the Hawea pub $12

Gardening - Iceberg rose from Nichols (impossible to kill!) $39
small lavenders $15 or use cuttings. Time - 10 mins here and there. Utube how to prune, fertisliser, when to spray etc.

Pottery - starter kit $17 The warehouse - cheap as chips! Fun little project despite the handle snapping off minutes later ;)

Reading - free sign up to the library, place holds on new releases or buy a book/magazine $15-40

Backyard fireworks with the kids - Bad boy fireworks - Bucket of family rated fun $30 or $150 for a full experience!!

And actually if you don't have the cognitive capacity for any of this at the end of 2025, and fancy a series binge, I highly recommend Clarksons Farm, Prime Video $10.99 per month!

So, happy hobbying everyone!

11/11/2025

It's been an absolute privilege facilitating workshops for Catalyst Performance Agronomy Regional teams both online and in person over the past few weeks.

These teams are right amongst their busiest time of the year but were still able to be pro-active, stop, reflect and take the time to look after their businesses biggest asset - themselves.

This industry is tough - high constant cognitive load, battling the weather, farmer and contractor expectations and significant seasonal workload peaks.

It's not easy to start the conversations about stress, burnout, anxiety and overwhelm. This is often even harder for rural people, and men - but the open-ness from these teams has been incredible (I've really loved the banter & laughs too!)

I look forward to hearing more about you all nailing your wellbeing goals!

05/11/2025

Are you constantly moving between "threat" and "drive" systems and rarely dipping into the "soothing system"?

This is a huge pattern with clients I am currently seeing - their soothe systems are tiny in comparison to the others creating overload, stress, anxiety and a pretty meaningless life.

Tips to help activate and strengthen our soothing system include:

* Being kinder to ourselves (speak to ourselves the way we would to a friend)
* Mini pauses during the day - taking notice
*Having a laugh
*Warmth - hot shower or bath/heat pack
*Gentle stretching
*Music
*Slow breathing
*Hugs

We are not designed to be constantly in a state of threat and drive. Our ancestors had periods of intensity and periods of rest.

I am 100% confident that many of us could really benefit from more time spent in our soothing system - give it a try for yourself and see what happens!

24/10/2025

Love being able to give back to our awesome wee community in Cromwell! This year, Workitwell sponsored the Goldfields school duathlon and a nice bonus was seeing Mila and Neve make the podium - great job team!

07/10/2025

Society often equates success to busyness. Particularly when you are self-employed - the message is that if you are constantly hustling, busy, working 100 hours a week, aiming for bigger, better, more, that means you have it together, you are doing well in life, you are 'successful'.

But sometimes when we are really busy hustling, we also lose sight of why we started a business in the first place. Most people will name autonomy and flexibility to enable time for fun, family etc as some of the biggest drivers.

But what is the point of working so hard creating a business, the graft, unpredictability, uncertainty and cognitive load of being self-employed if you never actually get to reap the benefits of the 'autonomy and flexibility'?

Last month maxed out my worklife flexibility and was spent with family Northern Territory and East coast of Australia - exceptional😄

04/09/2025

The more workshops I facilitate the more I acknowledge it's not really about the content.

Its about the connection. The ability to be real, human and authentic. To listen, validate and acknowledge that sometimes life is actually just bloody tough. To bring people together through sharing my own and each other's challenges, to have a laugh, and feel a bit less alone.

Its a privilege to share my story to help others, its a privelege to have knowledge and skills backed by science that can massively enhance wellbeing - but the biggest privilege is being the person that brings the "glue".

😄

29/08/2025

Super exciting news for Cromwell. Park run is coming!

27/08/2025

Burnout can creep up on you. Sometimes without you even noticing.

Workshop participant comments:

👉 "I'm so burnt out I am essentially just embers"

"After your workshop I realised I am definitely burnt out and I need some help"

"I've been running on fumes for years, and its not healthy"

Burnout occurs due to chronic work related stress and a complex interplay of both workplace and individual dynamics. Ideally solutions need to happen at both levels.

Workitwell helps organisations and individuals catch warning signs & risk factors early and intervene with best practice techniques.

Do you see any of these warning signs in yourself or others?

21/08/2025

I laughed, and cried reading this book. What an incredibly brave, raw portrait of the challenges of parenting & the realities of battling hospital admission and mental health diagnoses.

Thank you Sinead, for sharing your journey and making those of us who endured similar feel validated and seen 🥰

Highly recommend this read to any Mum or family battling post babies!

14/08/2025

Did you know this week is Women's Health week?

Let's be honest, we are often really great at putting our kids health first, our partners, our parents, but not so great at focusing on ourselves.

I really believe it's time to turn the tide on this - time to value ourselves, be proactive, put ourselves first occasionally and be much better citizens because of it!

As someone who has experienced PND I am really interested in the role of hormones on our mental health. I offer support to women with PND/anxiety and perimenopause/menopause. Get in touch to find out more!

Workitwell

17/12/2025

07/12/2025

02/12/2025

11/11/2025

05/11/2025

24/10/2025

07/10/2025

04/09/2025

29/08/2025

27/08/2025

21/08/2025

14/08/2025

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