Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | March 6, 2017 | wbjournal.com Central Mass. companies are embracing programs like meditation and present-moment awareness to increase health and productivity F or years, Tara Healey practiced meditation on her own time. But about 10 years ago, her onetime hobby became a new career path – and a business venture for her employer. Healey, who at the time was working in organizational development at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, knew the benefits she got from meditating could help her colleagues. She piloted a seven- week introduction to meditation at work class for 14 Harvard Pilgrim employees in 2006. Since then she has taken that program to more colleagues, Harvard Pilgrim customers and compa- nies outside of the insurer's network. Today, Healey is Harvard Pilgrim's program director for mindfulness- based learning. She estimates that about 50 percent of the insurer's 1,200 employees have been through mindful- ness training. She and her staff have worked with 160 companies, bringing mindfulness to 10,000 workers. "I continue to be really pleasantly sur- prised by the receptivity to this topic," she said. "Interest continues to grow." Mindfulness is centered around the idea of being present in any given moment, without providing any judg- ment on any thoughts or feelings that might arise. This can be done through meditation, yoga, and other practices. Large companies like Google and Target have offered mindfulness train- ing to their employees, as a way to enhance their health, well being, and hopefully, their productivity. Mindful Worcester Mindfulness was pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who went on to found the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at UMass Medical School in Shrewsbury. In Worcester, interest is growing in offering mindfulness and other corpo- rate wellness services in the workplace, said Elizabeth Belliveau, owner of Enlightened Interventions, LLC, a pro- vider of mental health and corporate wellness services. Since Enlightened Interventions opened in 2014, onsite corporate well- ness services have been in high demand, Belliveau said. Wellness in the workforce Since Elizabeth Belliveau opened Enlightened Interventions in 2014, there has been an uptick in demand for corporate wellness services. BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Elizabeth Belliveau said small businesses and nonprofits tend to think they can't afford wellness programs, but she said there are options for companies of all sizes. P H O T O S / M A T T W R I G H T

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