The Team

Dave Wood, Senior Health Improvement Advisor 

Dave has worked in public health for over eight years.  He is the Senior Health Improvement Advisor for the WorkWell team at Toi Te Ora – Public Health Service and while supporting a number of workplaces through the WorkWell process, he is also responsible for looking after the day to day running of the team.  Dave leads the national approach to wellbeing and can often be seen training and supporting other district health board and public health staff in the successful delivery of the WorkWell programme.

Having worked in a variety of occupations from large government departments to engineering workshops, Dave brings a wealth of experience to the role helping him  relate to the wide variety of needs and realities of each workplace.  Dave says, “Regardless of the industry or size of your organisation, with WorkWell you can achieve optimum workplace wellbeing step by logical step.”
 

Susie Bankart, WorkWell Advisor

Originally hailing from the UK, Susie is a Registered General Nurse.  Susie recently returned from Qatar where she worked in a Sports Medicine hospital leading an initiative to re-design patient and community education to better meet the needs of the multicultural patient population.

Susie has a wide range of clinical and project management experience.  She has a master’s degree in public health, a passion for shared decision making and health literacy, and a keen interest in ensuring that healthcare information is as accessible and as jargon free for the public as possible.

Susie is excited to be involved in assisting workplaces to implement Workwell.  She is confident that when staff are engaged and all aspects of the work environment are considered, workplaces can have positive effects on the health and wellbeing of their staff.

 

Alice Walker, WorkWell Advisor

Alice originally hails from our neighbouring country, Australia, and has previously worked in migrant health, cancer screening and dietetics.  She also worked for Healthy Together Victoria where she supported over 30 businesses to develop health and wellbeing programmes very similar to WorkWell. She has experience working with a variety of industries including production and manufacturing, transport, the health sector and has more recently led the development of the Good4Work workplace wellbeing tool.

"The culture and environment of the workplace can have a huge impact on individuals health and wellbeing.  It's great to see how making positive changes in the workplace can influence staff and their families to be happier and healthier."

Alice has a Masters in Nutrition & Dietetics (Research),  Bachelor of Public Health (Health Promotion) and a Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.   She has also completed a research dissertation on antenatal and postnatal nutrition.

Lucy Leppard, WorkWell Advisor

Having completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy and a postgraduate certificate in Public Health with an endorsement in Health Promotion, Lucy has returned to the sunny bay after living in windy Wellington. 
 

Lucy previously worked as a Health Promoter on a Maternal and Child Health programme as well as in a variety of clinical settings.  “When working in the hospital setting, I often felt like we were the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, that’s when I started to look into Public Health.”  
 

Lucy is passionate about empowering individuals to achieve better health outcomes, “Most of us spend a third of our time at work so it’s no wonder the workplace is an optimal setting to improve the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and the community”. 

Sofia Wood, WorkWell Advisor
 

Sofia brings with her a wide understanding of wellbeing and the potential barriers towards achieving a healthy workplace.
 
Sofia has previously worked alongside the Ministry of Health, the Lowdown, and the Health Quality & Safety Commission and holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in marketing with a specialisation in behaviour change. This experience allows Sofia to foster approaches that are tailored to the individual workplace, ensuring messages are well targetted and received.
 
“People are at work for a significant portion of their lives, meaning that employers are in a powerful position to create an environment which enables staff wellbeing,” says Sofia.  “This is what I love most about WorkWell; that it gives employers the opportunity to change their workplace and positively influence staff health and wellbeing.”
 
 

Sharon Muru, Health Improvement Manager

“It is now well recognised that successful workplaces support the health and wellbeing of their staff,” says Sharon Kennedy-Muru, Health Improvement Manager.
 
Sharon has worked for Toi Te Ora - Public Health Service for a number of years in a variety of roles and was part of the initial development of WorkWell.  Qualified in public health and education, Sharon has expertise in population health, health promotion, policy development, communication and organisational development and management.

“As Health Improvement Manager, I have responsibility for leading and managing all of Toi Te Ora’s health improvement programmes and I have full confidence in the WorkWell programme and team.  WorkWell is based on best practice and encourages workplaces to follow a step-by-step process of continuous quality improvement in staff wellbeing.”

“The workplace is an ideal setting to improve health and wellbeing, with the workplace benefiting from this also, through the likes of increased productivity and staff engagement.  Creating a supportive workplace makes the healthy choice the easy choice and normalises healthy behaviours.”

Dr Phil Shoemack, Medical Officer of Health