Extension agents with the University of Tennessee Extension Department of Family and Consumer Sciences and their program partners are launching a new wellness program in November 2021.

The program, Live Healthy Work Healthy, aims to meet the needs of working Tennesseans, helping them achieve work-life balance and actively manage their health. Topics such as eating well, exercising, and time management will be covered, as will action planning, problem solving, decision making, and communication skills.

Live Healthy Work Healthy will be offered across Tennessee through a network of trained FCS agents and community partners. The program’s flexibility to be offered both in-person and virtually will enable FCS agents to reach greater numbers of Tennesseans with credible, evidence-based wellness programming.

The dual formats build upon the agents’ experiences serving Tennesseans during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We learned that through virtual programs, we can provide quality programming for Tennesseans to meet a critical need, while also reaching new audiences who would otherwise be unable to attend our in-person programming,” says Kristen Johnson, assistant professor and nutrition specialist.

The programs provide Tennesseans with the opportunity to learn important skills to improve their wellbeing by becoming active managers of their health, according to UT Extension community health specialist Jessica Taylor. Program participants gain confidence in their ability to make nutritious eating choices, engage in physical activity, and practice important skills in problem solving, action planning, and decision making.

In 2020, as the pandemic halted in-person Extension programming, Tennesseans were experiencing a heightened need to support their mental, physical, and social wellbeing. “Extension has a long history of adjusting quickly to meet the pressing needs of communities. We decided to quickly pivot these programs, which are traditionally offered in small-group in-person settings, to a virtual format,” Johnson says.

Through Extension’s extensive network of FCS agents and community partners, such as the Tennessee Department of Health and the First Tennessee Area Agency on Aging and Disability, more than seventy program leaders were trained since November 2020 and more than 126 people in Tennessee and beyond were reached with the virtual programs.

“The programs provided an opportunity for participants to learn important self-management skills,” Taylor says. “Perhaps just as important, they served as an invaluable opportunity for people to socialize and connect with others during a time of great stress for most of us.”