We understand the importance of sleep for both physical and mental health in our office so we have begun the AH Beard 6-week Sleep Challenge.

​We are into Week 2 where we are getting physical and aiming for at least 30 minutes each day.   Our previous exercise initiatives are really helping with this one...

​Well done team!

Our Healthier. Happier. Workplace programme has been going for six months now.  Can you believe it!

Congratulations to Linda for keeping the programme moving and achieving everything on the action plan.  This enabled us to apply for our upgraded status and we are now successful Bronze achievers!

In another six months, we hope to earn our silver.

We are back in the office now and moving a bit slower after all that food over Christmas and New Year!

We are mentally repaired and prepared to get into our projects for 2016 and we will keep you posted as the year goes along.

In the meantime, there are a lot of sporting clubs which are at the beginning of their seasons and are keen to engage new participants.  If you haven't already, check out local sporting groups and get involved!

Or if you just want to join, despite the season try one of these...

With Steptember over, it seems we were looking for something else to do... So we joined the local Summer 6s soccer competition...

We even finally got around to having our corporate shirts printed which we all agree look great.  We are off to a good start, winning our first game.  Despite that, though, we all had an absolute blast - and not too many injuries or bruises the next day!

Thanks to Laidley Soccer Club for organising such a wonderful event.

Keep your eye out for our shirts at other local events.

Steptember is over and now we have a chance to recover!

Here were the final results for our office challenge from 1-28 September 2015:

Dionesia: a whopping 701,863 steps (and two broken pedometers)...
Pam: 470,644
Linda: 348,806
Nicky: 288,302
Leanne: 167,484
Tanya: 121,236

A huge thanks and well done to everyone who participated!

As for the official Steptember (from 2-29 September 2015), Linda, Pam, Nicky and Leanne made it to the summit and beyond with a total of 1,281,876 steps. 

Well done, girls!

We are almost at the end of week 3 and some of us are struggling to keep up with the 10,000 steps... Sickness, tiredness and having to keep finding the time to squeeze all of those steps into already busy days seem to be the main problems.

BUT!, despite all of this, we are almost there so we are still determined to make it...  We have checked into five of seven milestones, and collected a green key, a blue key and a red key and have had some exciting adventures along the way. 

As part of our Healthier. Happier. Worklpaces programme we are up for a pedometer challenge!

We are now registered to get stepping in September with Steptember.  Four of us are officially registered with Steptember but seven of us are actually undertaking the challenge!  We aim to take 10,000 steps each day between 2 and 29 September 2015. 

Steptember is an initiative to raise funds for Cerebral Palsy, so drop by and pop some loose change in the jar in reception.  Otherwise, jump onto the website and make a donation at www.steptember.org.au.

Our path to our Wellness Programme had very simple origins... Linda and Belinda had a conversation.  They commented on the amount of "bad" food they found in their diet and the difficulty of finding enough time to exercise.  So they put it to the office to hold simple circuit training sessions three nights a week after work - convenient and easy!  

Our programme as it is now, was also inspired by a visit to our local library.   The Lockyer Valley Library arranged for Marie Bean, author of Lazy Runner and Lazy Loser, to visit Laidley to discuss her books.  Toting a copy of each back to the office, we had some great options and simple tips to easily incorporate into our day-to-day decisions.  Thanks to the Lockyer Valley Library for organising the visit and thanks Marie for your inspiration!

Physical, emotional, mental and social wellness is incredibly important to CW Hooper & Hooper.  We spend so much time at work that our time in the office needs to be more than just a place we earn money.  We need to spend more time engaged in healthier options for day-to-day activities - healthier for our bodies, our hearts, our minds and our relationships.

To combat some of the issues which come from our sedentary roles and the growing concern for mental health in not only the legal profession but in all of our lifestyles we have developed our Workplace Wellness Programme for the staff at CW Hooper & Hooper and our Hooper Taxation Services roomies.  We have some exciting projects on the go to enrich our office and our lives in so many ways!

A huge thanks goes to Linda Taylor and Belinda Panzram for developing the programme (and keeping up with the paperwork) so we can work in:

For more information about the Healthier. Happier. Workplaces Initiative which is funded by the Queensland Government and overseen by the Department of Health, visit http://workplaces.healthier.qld.gov.au.