About Us
Our mission is to bring sustainable wellness within everyone’s reach. We do this with our evidence-based, whole-person and whole-organisation framework and best practice approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing of employees that enables people and businesses to thrive.
Angela Derks Founder CEO of Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy
Unlocking Organisational Success Through Sustainable Wellness
At the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy (ASWA), our 25+ years of global workplace wellness experience spans diverse industries and continents. We understand that achieving organisational objectives doesn’t have to come at the cost of employee mental health and well-being. When individuals thrive, organisations thrive, fostering sustainable success.
Empowering a Wellness Culture Beyond Compliance
ASWA was born from the belief that workplace health and safety obligations should transcend compliance—they should cultivate a culture of authentic care. Our proactive, preventative-focused training courses and consulting solutions go beyond mere obligations, enabling organisations to truly adapt, grow, and thrive.
Our Threefold Strategy:
- Empowerment through Education: We equip individuals and teams with a deep understanding of mental health and well-being principles, providing practical tools to lead their best lives both personally and professionally.
- Managerial Activation: Educating and empowering managers and leaders to integrate best practices into workplace processes and procedures, becoming champions for employee health and wellness.
- Organisational Alignment: Enabling organisations to integrate engaging strategies that prioritise the health and wellness of their people, aligning seamlessly with values, goals, and objectives.
Partner with ASWA and join the movement towards sustainable wellness that transcends compliance to cultivate a work culture rooted in authentic care and high performance
Meet Angela Derks, Our Visionary Founder
Angela Derks, our Founder and CEO, is a visionary in wellness leadership. Her journey, including leading revolutionary strategies and projects with the world’s most awarded wellness and sustainability organisations, have been shaped by diverse education in Health Science, Eastern Philosophies, and Commerce. Angela embodies a passion for leadership, business management, and human performance, with her pioneering spirit leading her to design and operate one of Australia’s first integrated health and well-being facilities, earning national industry awards for Innovation in 1998.
Angela has led ASWA since our inception to contribute to elevating the wellbeing of tens of thousands of lives within hundreds of workplaces.
Wellness Advisory Board
Our esteemed Wellness Advisory Board Members, industry professionals in their respective fields, contribute their extensive expertise to maintain the quality and integrity of our training programs and advisory services. Their combined wealth of experience, alongside our dedicated team of mentors, fuels ASWA’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge wellness training and advisory services.
Peter Goodchap
Supply Chain and Manufacturing Analyst
Peter Goodchap is a Supply Chain and Manufacturing professional with 20 plus years’ expertise of SAP applications and integration with business processes within supply chain and manufacturing environments. His experience has taken him across the Asia-Pacific region with organisations including Dulux, NCI and Norco Pauls.
Peter brings his technical and viability analysis, as well as his project management experience of initiatives that boost productivity, efficiency and cost reduction, to the Advisory Board of the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy.
Peter is an advocate of wellbeing as a strong foundation for individual and team performance. A passionate player and coach of cricket, he has been a volunteer Committee member for over 20 years and is a Board Member for Cricket Gold Coast. His passion for cricket has taken him to Thailand and India in his role as Development Officer and Coach for the Cricket Association of Thailand. He also spent time with the Australian Women’s Cricket team in India, performing technical analysis and assisting the coaching staff during a quadrangular series, which Australia won.
Peter prioritises quality time with his wife and two young children and enjoys supporting them in leading their best lives.
Sara Carrigan OAM
Olympic Cycling Champion, Owner/Director of Sara Carrigan Cycling, Accredited Cycling Coach, Bachelor of Business.
Sara Carrigan has been an Australian Professional Cyclist who has enjoyed the sport of cycling for more than 25 years. Some of Sara’s plethora of successes include winning the Gold Medal & being crowned Olympic Games Champion in the 130 km Road Race at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games medallist, two-time National Champion and World Cup winner and even having a street named in her honour– Sara Carrigan Court.
As one of Australia’s most dedicated and passionate advocates of the sport of cycling, Sara brings to the Advisory Board of the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy her lived experience and expertise of an elite athlete with a healthy performance mindset, owner and manager of an inspirational small business and a dedicated wife and mother of two adorable small children. Sara is mindful of the nutrition she provides for her children and is continually strengthening her own understanding and knowledge of physical and mental wellbeing.
Sara’s driving purpose is to pass on her years of knowledge to guide others on how cycling can support their own wellbeing so after 10years of elite competition, she founded ‘Sara Carrigan Cycling’ providing coaching clinics to recreational riders in a fun, supportive and safe environment.
Sara’s role as coach involves sharing her insights with all ages and experiences, from small children to adults, newbies and racers, on what they can enjoy on a bike. What Sara loves most is “how the simple act of ‘learning to ride’ turns into so much more … freedom, adventure, endorphins, relationships and happiness! It has presented many with an opportunity to overcome fears, to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, to meet like-minded people, to feel empowered to make positive lifestyle choices, and to feel bold, strong and full of energy. Ultimately, self-confidence and enduring relationships have been the result with a motivation for life that is far greater than the ‘bike ride’. Health and well-being is a consequence of having fun. I love that on a bicycle I can explore territory that I would have not otherwise seen, many beautiful spots are usually blind to the passing motorist but cherished by the rider.”
Taryn Collins
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, Certificate IV Fitness
Taryn Collins has over 15 years’ experience in busy hospital settings and in private practice where she works with clients to facilitate independence and wellbeing whilst working to overcome injury and illness – sustained both in and out of the workplace to help facilitate return of function – whether that be in the workplace, as a parent, student or grandparent or even a child needing to get back to play-based tasks.
Taryn brings her expertise and lived experiences to the Advisory Board of the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy. As a busy mother of two young children Taryn understands the daily struggle of maintaining the roles of Mother, household organiser and working professional. Her journey into motherhood was not the standard journey with Taryn being diagnosed with severe post-natal depression and anxiety resulting in frequent hospitalisations. Taryn’s lived experience has deepened her empathy of a patient’s experience and enabled her to understand that recovery encompasses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. She volunteers as a PANDA community champion as well as works casually as a consumer and carer representative for Mothers with peri-natal illness at a leading private hospital in Brisbane.
Taryn embraces physical activity and is also a qualified personal trainer. She realises that keeping oneself healthy through quality nutrition, physical activity as well as mindfulness and meditation practices is not only for her benefit but for the benefit of her family. ‘One must fit their own oxygen mask first before assisting others’, this is true in the sense of embracing and maintaining one’s own wellbeing before trying to care for everyone else around you. This mantra has helped to guide Taryn’s journey as a working allied health professional, wife, mother and friend.
Di Pedersen
Juris Doctor, Master of Education, Graduate Diploma in Music Education, Bachelor of Education, Diploma of Education.
Di has been a primary school educator for more than 3 decades and has been in roles of School Principal for 26 of those years. Di brings her passion and expertise in education and for enriching the lives of children, especially those with complex needs, to the Advisory Board of the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy.
Di believes in giving back to the profession and as such has mentored many preservice teachers during her time in the classroom. When she’s not in the classroom Di enjoys cooking, reading, card making and spending time with her family.
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