Monthly news & updates
April, 2020 | Issue 4
[MOVEMENT]
[ CONNECT ]
[ MINDSET ]
COMING SOON!
Community Strong Workplace Wellness Certification Program!!
The pilot launch is almost here for an easy-to-implement and potentially cost-free workplace wellness program, complete with certification. You can be among the first certified healthy workplaces in St. Charles County!

What we are creating…
Community Strong is building a certification for healthy workplaces in the St. Charles County area. The application for the award is now finalized and our action team of subject experts and professionals in nutrition, fitness, substance cessation, and mental health are focused on building a supplementary online toolkit. The intention of the toolkit is to provide all the tips and resources needed to satisfy the application for certification with little-to-no-cost. Business leaders only need to implement the program by sharing the health information and available resources with their employees, which won’t take much time using the Community Strong Toolkit.
What we are providing for resources is an arrangement of free/low-cost counseling, classes, trainings, apps, ask-an-expert forums, guides (etc.) for each of the areas of health (nutrition, fitness, cessation, and mental health). Want to have a Lunch-and-Learn at your workplace, with certified educators on managing workplace stress, nutrition and exercise (etc.)? Besides the cost of lunch, we can set that up free of charge and even provide the assessment tools to see what resources might benefit you most!
While we have arranged partnerships to provide great value within our community provisions, much of what is listed is already available to the community; We have simply leveraged our intimate understanding of the St. Charles healthy-living landscape into a consolidated pool of information that will be intuitive and easy to use based what health concerns the employer and employees have. 

Sign-up to Pilot Test it today
We have based our criteria for certification and much of our provided resources on an abundance of evidence-informed models of health and mental health. As you’ll notice in each of our toolkit components, we have cited the data for practically everything.

We have done the research and applied it, so that all you need to do is share it with your employees.

Sign-up now to be among the first certified healthy workplaces
in St. Charles County by calling or emailing
Thomas at Tredd@edcscc.com – 636.336.8381

CRUSH, the Substance Use Prevention action team, met via ZOOM video conference last Thursday 4/16. A major theme among the many CRUSH partner organizations is that despite the pandemic and resulting social distancing practices, the mental health and SUD community is working harder than ever to ensure consistent access to resources to help those with SUD or SUD affected friends/family. We are rising to the occasion and will likely even have a one-stop resource page for this soon- facilitated by the DEA, Community Strong, and other partners.
Keeping in mind that social isolation is a strong predictor of decreased mental health and SUD, the CRUSH coalition is also creating a fun and engaging activity for the community that involves leaving your (or your kids!) own creative work in areas where walkers, bikers, park goers (etc.) will find them. The creative designs will include the positive messaging of how you’re not alone- we’re here for you. The designs will also link to related resources and news to compliment the messaging. Eventually the mentioned resource page will be the spotlight of the Facebook group.
Stay tuned for instructions on how to participate. It will be easy to do, fun (for you and even your whole family), and your participation will contribute to your community’s health and wellbeing. 
inspiring a culture of health and wellbeing
 in St. Charles County
Partnering for Purpose & Passion
Community Strong Speaks:
Part 2 of a 4 part speaker series on Resiliency... featuring Lindsey Hopkins.
Join us on April 30, at 12:00pm for this online event (Thursday)
Click HERE event details.

Part 3 of 4: Building Resiliency in the face of Compassion Fatigue will be on May 7, at 12:00pm. Please check our calendar for more details (coming soon).
Community Strong is hosting a Healthy Happy Hour every Tuesday from 4:00-4:45pm in a virtual setting. Sometimes we have a topic, sometimes we play games... but we always find a way to enjoy connecting with everyone attending. Please Join Us!
**we are not having the happy on April 28 or May 5 as we will be hosting 2 of our virtual
speaker series webinars those weeks.
Please check our events calendar for upcoming Happy Hour dates HERE.
Mikey Moments- Try It You Might Like It









Finding it difficult to get some excercise while quarantined? Have you looked onlne?

Our friends at the local YMCA are here to help with Virtual Workouts. They are adding videos that people of all ages and ability can check out and follow along with. Videos range from Cardio, Mind/Body, Core/Strength, and older adult options. From chair exercises to stretching to more physical workouts to keep you active in these unordinary times.

Please click the image above or this link below to try them out. You never know, you may like it!










Struggling with keeping the kids busy? And also keeping healthy snacks in their hands?
We've heard from many friends and partners that entertaining their kids and making sure healthy eathing doesn't get left behind is a real struggle at this time. So we looked around to see if we could help find answers to both challenges. And we came across this page on the Food Network.
5 healthy snacks kids can make. These recipes are designed for the kids. Have your kids cooked before? Are they eating healthy? We figured now would be a good time for them to try it, because they too may like it.

Please click image above or link below to view the recipes...