Nine Years of Purpose: Capability Creates Confidence. Confidence Enables Action. Intentional action Creates Progress.

This week, the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy celebrates its 9th birthday.

Nine years is a significant milestone, and birthdays naturally invite reflection. When I think about ASWA’s journey, I don’t find myself thinking primarily about the courses we’ve delivered, the organisations we’ve worked with or even the Diploma of Wellness Leadership that we pioneered. I think about the people: the leaders who have trusted us with their professional development, the organisations that have invited us into their workplaces, the wellbeing professionals who have taken what they’ve learned and used it to influence others, and the many people whose working lives have been positively affected because someone decided that wellbeing deserved to be taken seriously.

That is our purpose in action.

Why ASWA exists

When ASWA was founded, workplace wellbeing was still often treated as something sitting alongside the “real” business—a wellbeing week here, a workshop there, an EAP or perhaps a poster in the staff room encouraging people to look after themselves. These initiatives can have value, but after more than 25 years working in wellbeing, I could see that something important was missing.

If organisations genuinely wanted to support the wellbeing of their people, they needed more than programs. They needed capability: people who understood wellbeing deeply enough to look at the whole organisation, not simply mental health, and who could connect wellbeing with leadership, people management, workplace health and safety, organisational systems, culture, strategy and performance.

They needed leaders who could turn good intentions into consistent action.

That’s why we developed Australia’s first accredited Diploma of Wellness Leadership. We didn’t create it because another qualification was needed; we created it because the capability was needed.

Capability creates confidence. Confidence creates change.

This has become one of the clearest lessons of our nine years. Knowledge matters, but knowledge alone doesn’t necessarily create change. People need the opportunity to develop, practise and apply their skills in real organisational contexts.

Capability creates confidence, and confidence enables people to take action.

A confident wellbeing leader is better equipped to influence strategy. A confident manager is more likely to recognise when something isn’t right and have the conversation. A confident organisation is more likely to move beyond reactive responses and build prevention into the way it operates.

When enough people develop that capability and confidence, change begins to spread.

The ripple effect

One of the most meaningful testimonials we’ve received came from Paulette Scaife, Team and Culture Leader at Silkwood School. Reflecting on ASWA’s work, Paulette shared:

“The positive impacts have a flow on effect from our staff, to their own families and also onto our students.”

That sentence means a great deal to me because it captures the ripple effect we hoped to create when ASWA began. We don’t simply want to develop one capable person; we want that capability to influence teams, workplaces, families and communities.

We’ve seen this same progression within organisations. Melissa Blanks, Business Manager at First State Super, reflected that:

“ASWA has helped us form strategies on how to create an environment that promotes health, safety and wellbeing.”

That distinction remains important to us. Workplace wellbeing shouldn’t sit on the margins of organisational life. It can and should be woven into the way organisations lead, plan, communicate, recruit, develop people, manage risk, measure performance and make decisions.

This is also why measurement matters. As Michael Blackburn, Business Development Manager at Data Services Group, observed:

“What gets measured gets managed.”

His experience with the ASWA Wellness Tracker reinforced the importance of measuring and monitoring wellbeing rather than simply assuming that an initiative has created an outcome.

Nine years on, the conversation has changed

The workplace wellbeing landscape looks very different today. We have much greater awareness of psychosocial hazards, psychological health and safety, psychological safety, burnout and the impact of work design on people’s wellbeing. Organisations are increasingly recognising that wellbeing isn’t simply an employee benefit; it is connected to risk, leadership, culture, performance, retention, capability and sustainability.

And I believe the next evolution of this conversation is even bigger: human sustainability.

How do we create organisations where people and performance can thrive together? How do we design work that enables people to contribute without compromising their health and wellbeing? How do we develop leaders who understand that caring for people isn’t separate from achieving organisational outcomes? And how do we create systems that reinforce healthy behaviours rather than relying on individual resilience to compensate for unhealthy environments?

These are the questions that will shape ASWA’s next chapter.

Our greatest achievement is what happens next

When I think about the last nine years, I feel incredibly grateful for every person who has trusted ASWA with their learning, every organisation that has opened its doors to us, every graduate who has taken their knowledge and gone on to make a difference elsewhere, and every partner, collaborator and supporter who has helped shape our journey.

Perhaps our greatest achievement isn’t something we can put neatly into a number.

It is what happens after someone leaves ASWA.

It is the leader who now has the confidence to have a conversation they once would have avoided. The wellbeing professional who can contribute meaningfully to organisational strategy. The manager who recognises that their team’s wellbeing is influenced by work design, relationships and leadership—not simply individual resilience. The organisation that moves from reactive wellbeing initiatives towards a more strategic and sustainable approach.

Those are the changes that matter.

And they remind me why we started.

Entering our tenth year

ASWA isn’t the organisation it was nine years ago—and that’s exactly how it should be. We have continued to learn, evolve, challenge our thinking and respond to the changing needs of workplaces, while remaining grounded in the same fundamental belief: people deserve workplaces where they can thrive.

As we enter our tenth year, our purpose is clearer than ever. We will continue developing the capability of wellbeing leaders, helping organisations move beyond isolated initiatives towards sustainable systems and cultures, and creating education, mentoring and advisory solutions that enable people and organisations to thrive.

We also recognise that progress requires more than simply doing something differently. Not all change is progress, but all progress requires change. The challenge for wellbeing leaders is to understand what needs to change, why it needs to change, and how to create change that delivers meaningful and sustainable outcomes for both people and organisations.

That requires more than good intentions. It requires knowledge, critical thinking, professional capability, confidence and the courage to turn evidence into action.

And perhaps that is the clearest expression of what we’ve been working towards for the past nine years:

Capability creates confidence.
Confidence enables action.
Intentional action creates progress.

As I look towards our tenth year, I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built together—and even more excited about what comes next.

Because our work has never simply been about wellbeing programs or qualifications. It’s about developing people who can influence positive change, strengthen organisational capability and help create workplaces where human and organisational sustainability can thrive together.

Image: National Dental Care Practice Managers Professional Development Workshop 2026 – Sofitel Hotel, Gold Coast.

Thank you for being part of the ASWA story.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Angela Derks MBA, BHSc, BComm, TAE, MHFAi
Founder & CEO
Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy