17th Annual Worksite Wellness Conference

'Stress is a Laughing Matter'

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our conference this year! It was so great to spend the day networking, learning, and celebrating another great year.

The First Coast Worksite Wellness Council and title sponsor, Florida Blue, were honored to host the 17th Annual Worksite Wellness Conference and Healthiest Companies Luncheon on May 7th, 2025, at the Florida Blue Conference Center.

The health of our local organizations and their employees makes a huge impact on the First Coast community's ability to grow and thrive. Our goals with this conference are:

• Attendees will leave feeling empowered to make lasting change in the lives of their families, workplace and community
• Empower organizations of all sizes to create a healthier environment for their employees and promote a culture of health and well-being
• Present evidence-based programs that improve employee health and productivity
• Educate wellness professionals on industry trends and best practices to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of their wellness program

Conference Highlights

Keynote Speaker

Paul Onsicup - Stress is a Laughing Matter

Paul Osincup is a Corporate Trainer, Humor Strategist, and author of the best-selling book: "The Humor Habit."  Paul’s global mission for workplace happiness has provided him the opportunity to work with hundreds of organizations, including Google, Discover, the U.S. Airforce, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Leadership. He’s a content creator for Happify's digital health app, serving over 17 million users, and a certified Stress Mastery Educator with the American Institute of Stress. Paul is also the Past President of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, an international organization dedicated to studying and applying humor to enhance health and human performance. Paul’s work has been highlighted in The New York Times, Forbes and on his mom’s refrigerator.

Breakout Sessions

Charley Estey - Aligning Wellness with Key Business Needs

In this discussion, we illustrated how to identify and align your wellness plan and tactics to support key (sponsoring) company business needs. Attendees learned a framework that drives leadership involvement, program integration, sample measures, increased participation, and results. Best practices were shared, including creative tactics to "engage the hard-to-reach" hourly and salaried employees, union members, and dependents

Melanie Wood - Boost Productivity and Energy with Workplace Exercise

This session focused on how to supercharge your productivity and well-being by highlighting the benefits of incorporating simple exercises into the workday. Attendees learned effective bodyweight exercises, stretching techniques, and mobility drills that can be easily integrated into their daily work routine. 

Amy Williams - Transforming Stress into Strength through Wellness Insights

In this presentation, we explored how deeper population health insights can revolutionize employee experiences and drive meaningful change. Attendees learned actionable strategies to enhance engagement, tailor interventions, and inspire lasting behavior shifts in managing the stress response.

Dawn Ozanne, Tracy Gallo and Marshall Lowry - Why your Company Should Invest in a Mental Health Employee Resource Group

This session focused on how they successfully started, maintained, and have grown Florida Blue’s Mental Health Collaborative (MHC). The MHC is a peer-led team that focuses on reducing stigma with their GuideWell companies and the communities we live in. Attendees learned ways to engage employees in discussions and events, engage leaders in mental health discussions, and how a peer-led team can help your employees with significant changes, from pandemics to layoffs. 

Dr. Lana Saal - Inflammaging, Aging, Brain and Health Benefits

Chronic inflammation related to diet and obesity is shown to elevate levels of blood inflammatory markers, creating “inflammaging,” which is also linked to insulin resistance (a component of Diabetes).Diabetes is an epidemic in the US, with 12% of the population having this disease and 1 in 3 adults having prediabetes, which is creating unsustainable costs to employers, health plans, and individuals living with diabetes. The impact on health-related quality of life is far reaching.

Adding to the impact of lifestyle and aging on the brain, every 66 seconds, someone in the US is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Researchers are finding the connection between inflammaging, insulin resistance, and the mental decline of Alzheimer’s disease.

This session provided attendees with an understanding of this emerging health issue and easy-to-incorporate lifestyle changes that can positively impact brain health and help decrease the odds of developing brain dementia while improving overall well-being.

Emcee

Anthony Austin - First Coast News

Anthony Austin is an emmy-nominated journalist who joined First Coast News in January 2016 as an anchor and reporter. He now anchors the 5pm, 6pm, 11pm newscasts and helps people in the community solve their problems with his weekly segment called "Ask Anthony."  He headed to the sunshine state after spending two years as the primary anchor at Time Warner Cable News in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Florida Blue Presenter

Darnell Smith

Darnell Smith is Florida Blue’s market president for the North Florida region. In his role, Smith is responsible for Florida Blue’s business market growth as well as customer and community engagement across 36 North Florida counties covering cities from Palm Coast to Pensacola.

Throughout his career, Smith has been very active in serving the community through numerous organization boards and councils, including United Way of Northeast Florida, LIFT JAX, A.L. Lewis Black Opportunity and Impact Fund, Generation W, Blue Zones Jacksonville, First Coast YMCA, Sulzbacher Center, Communities in Schools Florida, World Affairs Council, Cathedral Arts Project and Feeding Northeast Florida. Smith has demonstrated leadership in developing the community through numerous board appointments including Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council of Tallahassee, the Flagler College Board of Trustees, JAXUSA Policy Council and Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Smith also served as 2017 Chair of the JAX Chamber Board of Directors. He has been recognized by numerous organizations for his contributions to the region including the American Heart Association, Junior Achievement of NE Florida, OneJax, Operation New Hope and Leadership Jacksonville. Smith served as Chief of Staff to Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan as an executive on loan.

The First Coast Worksite Wellness Council, Inc. would like to thank all of our amazing sponsors, exhibitors and others who made the conference possible through their generous donations!