Wellness coach to host free workshop

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This article was published 10/4/2019 (450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Joyce Odidison has travelled all over the world teaching people how to take control of their own health and well-being.

From Asia, throughout North America, the Caribbean and Europe, the wellness coach has shared her tips and tricks to living the best life possible for more than a decade.

This week, Odidison will be in Brandon to host a free workshop put on by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church called "Spring into Health," along with Glenda Nischuk, a nutritionist from Yorkton, Sask. The event is sponsored by the church.

Odidison said that her goal is for those in attendance to leave the event feeling inspired.

"(I want them) to go back and look at how they’re managing areas of their lives, and make the changes necessary so they can improve how well they’re doing," Odidison said.

The wellness coach moved to Canada from the Caribbean 30 years ago, and has been based out of Winnipeg ever since. She heads a training school called Interpersonal Wellness Services Inc., where she teaches life and wellness coaching to individuals and professionals who are looking to become certified coaches themselves.

"This is my life work," she said. "This is what I was created to do."

Growing up as a sick child, she was in and out of the hospital at least once every three months, during which time nobody could figure out what was wrong. She she’s still not sure why she got sick, but that when she became an adult she took control of her wellness to help stay healthy.

"I need to watch my conversations; I need to be around the right people; I need to create structure in my life," she said. "I had to learn about all these different elements of wellness and how they were important."

Her work was also inspired by her clients. While employed as a conflict mediator, she began noticing how people in high-conflict situations were getting sick.

"They had hypertension when they come to see me, they had diabetes, they were having angina," she said. "I had a client who had a heart attack in my office."

She wanted to find a way to help people become more aware and help them take control of their lives, so she started doing some research.

"I was looking for my clients, but I was also searching for myself," She said.

During the workshop on Friday and Saturday, Odidison will be talking about nine dimensions of wellness, which each have an impact on one’s overall health. She will be touching on spiritual wellness, looking at things like integrity, passion purpose and faith. She will also be looking at social wellness, relationships and interaction with family, friends and co-workers. Emotional wellness will also be discussed, with a focus on doubt, pessimism and self-esteem.

"(I’ll be talking about) how we can separate our self from our emotion, and recognize emotion is something we feel, and not necessarily who we are."

She will also touch on intellectual wellness, physical wellness, financial wellness and interpersonal wellness, among other things.

"It’s life — we all have those dimensions," she said. "So, we’re going to look at how we can improve our wellness in these dimensions."

There will be a workshop held April 12 at 7 p.m., and April 13 at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m..

The workshops will take place at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Brandon (3319 Park Ave.) and will be open to the public to attend.

"We want people to come and take something away and improve their life."

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