Why It Matters
One idea drives everything you’ll do this year: make the healthy choice the easier choice. It is more doable than it sounds. By the end of this short lesson, you’ll know what INtegrate is, the one idea at its heart, and why your role as a Champion matters to it. This is the foundation for every lesson that follows.
What to Know
What INtegrate is
INtegrate is your school corporation’s staff wellness initiative, run in partnership with NuStart Health, created to help the people who keep our schools running live healthier, happier lives. It does this in a few connected ways:
- Healthy-living education staff can work through on their own time, through the self-paced NuStart Blocks lessons.
- Making healthier choices easier to reach by reshaping the workplace, using the spaces, equipment, and other assets a building already has.
- Reviewing and, where possible, revising policies so they better support healthy choices at work.
- Making sure staff know about every resource INtegrate and NuStart provide.
- Connecting people to outlets for extra support, guidance, and accountability when they want it.
It works building by building, and that is where you come in.
The one idea to carry with you: make the healthy choice the easier choice. When the healthy option is the easy, obvious one, people choose it without much willpower.
The idea behind the name: INtegrate
There’s a reason the program is called INtegrate. To make the healthy choice the easier choice, we look for things already moving in that direction and we integrate into them rather than starting something brand new. You rarely build from scratch. You take something that already happens and run it a little differently, for a better result. That makes your job lighter: look first for what’s already working in your building, then connect INtegrate to it.
Why your role matters
A program like this succeeds or stalls based on the person on the ground, and that person is you. A Champion isn’t an expert with all the health answers. You’re the connector and encourager who helps colleagues notice what’s available, take part, and support one another. Buildings with an active, supported Champion see far more staff take part than those without one. This training exists so you always feel equipped, and so you always know what to do next.
Start with the Champion Manual
Alongside these lessons, the INtegrate Champion Manual is your complete guide to the role. Read it as you begin, and keep it handy to reference throughout the school year.
Try this · Your turn
Say the heart of INtegrate out loud to one colleague this week, in your own words. Then take two minutes to check in below: it records your completion and emails you a copy of your responses.
