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SUCCESS<br />
STORY<br />
Alumnus Marika Gumienny-Matsuo<br />
Workplace Wellness <strong>and</strong> Health Promotion<br />
Grad Combines Interests<br />
COMMUNITY AND<br />
HEALTH STUDIES<br />
Growing up, Marika Gumienny-Matsuo thought her<br />
educational <strong>and</strong> career process would be linear:<br />
high school, university, become a doctor. The route<br />
Marika — who graduated from Centennial College’s<br />
Workplace Wellness <strong>and</strong> Health Promotion program<br />
— actually took to making an impact in health<br />
turned out to be quite different.<br />
“This program truly changed the course of where<br />
I thought I was going to go,” says Marika of the<br />
graduate certificate offering. “It showed me how<br />
many different options there are to accessing the<br />
health field. The program was like nothing I have<br />
ever experienced from an educational st<strong>and</strong>point.”<br />
When Marika enrolled in this Toronto health<br />
program, she had already earned an Honours<br />
Bachelor of Science with a specialization in the<br />
brain <strong>and</strong> cognition, previously held a university<br />
research assistant position, <strong>and</strong> transitioned out of<br />
science to become a flight attendant. After seeing<br />
flaws in the aviation industry that she thought were<br />
detrimental for employees, Marika considered<br />
how she could integrate wellness, her research<br />
background, <strong>and</strong> an interest in mental health.<br />
“Centennial was the only school that offered a<br />
program of this sort,” she says. “It combined<br />
everything I was looking for <strong>and</strong> it catered to<br />
students’ individual interests. Also, the continuous<br />
outreach from instructors was unmatched. They<br />
would reach out daily to help you succeed, <strong>and</strong> it<br />
was always genuine. They cared about you.”<br />
A one-year offering, the program focuses on<br />
planning <strong>and</strong> management, health promotion<br />
theory, leadership <strong>and</strong> coaching skills,<br />
organizational health <strong>and</strong> wellness, <strong>and</strong> community<br />
health. Students further strengthen their skills<br />
during a substantial field placement.<br />
“From a tangible perspective, the placement was<br />
one of the most beneficial parts of the program,”<br />
says Marika, who was hired by her placement host.<br />
“We were provided with a list of companies, <strong>and</strong><br />
encouraged to find an organization that was in an<br />
area of interest to us. The process was individuallydriven.<br />
The importance of networking while gaining<br />
real-world experience was also prioritized by<br />
instructors.”<br />
As a product analyst for LifeWorks by Morneau<br />
Shepell, Marika works on a platform for an<br />
employee assistance program <strong>and</strong> work-life<br />
solutions that enable employers to develop <strong>and</strong><br />
maintain healthy work environments <strong>and</strong> improve<br />
health <strong>and</strong> productivity. Her role, in part, involves<br />
identifying <strong>and</strong> finding ways to fill gaps on the app<br />
by researching workplace wellness trends.<br />
“In university, I had this idea that you worked from<br />
a textbook, but the Centennial College program<br />
emphasized different modalities of information,”<br />
says Marika. “In the research that I do, that helped<br />
me have a different way of problem-solving, <strong>and</strong><br />
I brought a different perspective to the field. The<br />
program makes you a great c<strong>and</strong>idate because<br />
you know the impact your work will have on the real<br />
world.”<br />
68 Success Story
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