Our Community Wellbeing Response to Covid 19 (Coronavirus)

A Message from our Founder CEO, Angela Derks

As an Australian family owned and operated small business, we like everyone else, are involved with the challenges that Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has presented and will continue to present.

Our purpose at the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy (ASWA) is to bring wellness within everyone’s reach – for people, organisations and communities to thrive. Our decades of experience in providing strategic advice and skills training of wellness in a business context means we are one of the few teams with real crisis response experience having successfully navigated the global impacts of SARS and Tsunamis in Asia, as well as the GFC. We know from our experience that together we will survive this challenge and recover to continue to thrive as a community.

We will use all of the tools we have – wellbeing program donations and pro-bono project work – to help our people, our clients and our communities respond to this crisis and get back on the road to recovery.

“Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama

The COVID-19 crisis in Australia is compounded by the preceding bushfire crisis of 2019-2020. We remain agile in the face of each new challenge. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, working with our community partners, the Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy will continue to live our purpose to make an impact that matters for our clients, our people and our communities. Our community partners are under pressure as fundraising and resources have collapsed. Our initial measures are designed to help social enterprises, community organisations and not-for-profits deal with COVID-19.

This is our 5-step Covid-19 Response Plan:

1. Support the most vulnerable in our community. We know from our close partnerships with community organisations that not all homes and places of work are safe. During times of crisis such as Covid-19 the impact disproportionately affects women and girls. Women historically take the majority of frontline roles in any healthcare crisis and are also at a greater risk of gender-based violence and domestic and family violence during such crisis. More than ever we are committed to ensuring our partners adapt effectively to this new normal and continue to provide critical services and support.
2. We will launch the ASWA Covid Pay It Forward Campaign to donate our self-paced, scaleable online Wellness Within Program (valued at $249 per person), through our industry and community partners. Particularly during isolation and social distancing, our program and peer support will help keep their people connected, safe and well. All participants need is to have a mobile phone and they will have lifetime access and support to take control of their own  wellbeing.
3. Support our business clients to implement effective wellbeing initiatives for their team members. The ASWA Wellness Solutions Team will coordinate responses to enable them to support the wellbeing of their team.
4. Pro bono expert advisory services will be provided to local businesses, industry and community associations.
5.  Continue to support our local, national and international community partners in their individual responses to COVID-19.

 But we won’t stop here. We will continue to introduce new initiatives to ensure the most vulnerable in our community are not left behind in this time of disruption where so many are being so negatively impacted.

The Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy’s accredited self-paced wellness skills training programs, mentoring and consulting services provide the evidence-based competency framework, strategies, tools and customised support for individuals and organisations to thrive.