UCS accepts 2023 Vermont Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Gold Level Award

Vermont Business Magazine Members of the Worksite Wellness Committee at United Counseling Service (UCS) recently traveled to Burlington, VT, to accept the 2023 Vermont Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Gold Level Award. The Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports presented the award in partnership with the Vermont Department of Health. The Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award was developed over twenty years ago and is presented each year to organizations across the state that make employee wellness a priority. UCS is one of 112 employers in Vermont who received recognition for their worksite wellness programs.

“We are extremely grateful for being recognized as a 2023 Vermont Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award winner,” says Lorna Mattern, Executive Director at United Counseling Service. “The health and well-being of our staff and families is high priority and we never stop thinking of new ways to engage them with opportunities to make time for wellness.”

The UCS Worksite Wellness Committee engaged staff in several worksite wellness initiatives this year that focused on environmental, social, financial, emotional, and physical health. The committee hosted a Fall Family Hike in October at Equinox Preserve for staff and families, prepared and served a salad bar lunch during the workday with fresh local produce, conducted ergonomic assessments for staff workstations, and secured free summer passes to Lake Paran for staff and their families. The wellness committee also chose a different staff member at random each month to receive a gift card to a local business as part of a Healthy You in ’23 campaign. These included gift cards for healthy food options, bookstores, sporting goods, and farmers markets. Upcoming plans include scheduling on-site chair massages for staff, planning staff lunch events throughout the year, and an accountability-based physical activity challenge to encourage staff to keep active.

United Counseling Service (UCS) is a private, non-profit community mental health center that has been an essential part of Bennington County’s integrated healthcare system since 1958. The organization has been designated as a Center of Excellence by Vermont Care Partners. UCS promotes healthy lifestyles through all its programs and offers care at 15 different facilities, including two primary outpatient facilities in Bennington and Manchester. UCS provides outpatient counseling and addiction services, emergency mental health services, extensive rehabilitation services, home and school-based services, employment services for people recovering from mental illness or with developmental disabilities, and early childhood services. For more information visit www.ucsvt.org.

Photo: Members of the UCS Worksite Wellness Committee receiving award.