Sylvia Marusyk
Speaker Expertise
Stress Management/Wellness
Occupational therapist Sylvia Marusyk is an entertaining speaker who gives her audiences the tools to build healthy lives and work places. She's fun, she's sassy and she's passionate about safety, health and wellness! Her lively presentations focus on a proactive approach to creating vitality, personally and corporately. As an Occupational Therapist with years of practice in the field of work place safety and personal health, Sylvia! knows prevention is the key to creating happy, healthy individuals, employees and businesses.
Sylvia!’s entertaining presentations focus on a proactive approach to building healthy lives and work places. Her years of assessing and treating injuries as an Occupational Therapist offer Sylvia a unique insight through which she has developed a proactive approach to preventing stress and workplace injuries.
Stressed employees make more mistakes, take more time off work and are less safe on the job due to preoccupation, poor judgment and fatigue. Recognizing we are a mind-body, not a mind and a body, has helped her educate people on truly effective ways to change their health. Sylvia!’s presentations invite audiences to laugh while learning practical, powerful tools to handle stress, reduce repetitive strain injuries and prevent burn out.
Presentation Description & Topics
The Same Kind of Different
Making the Case for DEI in Health and Safety
Focussing on diversity, equity and inclusion is doing the right thing, creating a respectful and happy workplace where all are welcomed and valued. But what does it have to do with safety specifically?
Policies are in motion and employees are receiving training workshops on what these concepts mean and how to implement them. All of this speaks to the head. When we speak to the head with policy, we get compliance. But when we speak to the heart, what’s in it for each of us, we get commitment.
This presentation focusses on the application of DEI policies to our every day workplace practises. We focus on real life situations and scenarios to help identify and understand the roadblocks the people are facing in the workplace and how to navigate through them.
In this interactive and fun session, participants will learn:
- What DEI ACTUALLY means in the workplace and it’s personal relevance
- How to identify the insidious ways in which we unintentionally exclude people
- The specific effect of DEI practices on safety
Navigating Post-Pandemic “Normal”
Have you stopped to imagine what things will be like when we return to whatever state of “normal” following the last year and a half?
The effects of the long-term stress we have been experiencing are going to be seen in the months and years to come. Learning effective strategies (and a tool called “snacking”) to deal with the damaging and life draining consequences of the last 16 months may be life-saving for you, your company, and your family!
Please come and join us for a “Talk to the Expert” segment on stress, recovery, boosting the immune system, and creating the wellbeing you crave!
Stressed To Kill
The effects of stress are fast becoming the next health crisis in North America! Stress leaves are costing American businesses over 35 billion dollars a year, mental illness is on the rise and everywhere you turn people seem ready to blow their top! This presentation examines the effects of stress, research-based tools to reduce stress (the legal and moral ones only….) and strategies that use the power of your mind-body to reclaim your vitality, quality of life and health. Laugh and learn your way to making the rest of your life the best of your life.
Respectfully, Up Yours! How to Play Nice at Work
Work is the number 1 stressor reported by Americans (along with finances, closely tied into work). For most, it’s not workload, type of work or workspace, it’s relationships that cause stress at work. This interactive and collaborative presentation will focus on the old fashioned value of respectful treatment of others. We will explore practical and concrete ways to build a respectful, happy, engaged and supportive team of people who actually WANT to be at work.
Happy Hour Begins at 9:00 AM
Happiness at work….an oxymoron, an idealistic fantasy or a real possibility? Happy workers are more productive, take less sick time, are more engaged, and let’s be honest, are nicer to be around! This presentation deals with several significant Deadly Sins that can kill the happiness of a workplace, things like technology, competing demands from work and home (work-life conflict) and relationships at work. Learn how to transform your workplace into a happy, healthy, productive place to be!
Rules of Engagement
Employee engagement is one of the hallmarks of a successful team or business, and a significant determinant of employee retention. Who doesn’t want to keep good workers? The cost of turnover can be high and very taxing on workers who are always making concessions for the “newbie”. Learn strategies to create a team of engaged workers who want to be at work and stay at work.
Why Size Really Does Matter……
Well, at least length does……of your telomeres that is. Telomeres are the protective end caps of chromosomes and shortening of them is associated with ageing and disease. Great news though, there are several lifestyle changes that have been shown to reverse this process, preventing disease and slowing the ageing process. Learn how you can transform your life with these few small changes. Live long and prosper!
Other topics include the following:
THE PRICE IS LIFE OR THE PRIZE IS LIFE – YOU CHOOSE
Safety is so much more than machine guarding and hearing protection. It’s about Mind, Body and Work.
Psychological wellness and safety impacts workplace accident and injury rates significantly. One study showed that 80% of workplace accidents happened to workers who reported being stressed. The price could be life! Alternately, for those who know how to manage stress, especially workplace stress (the number one stressor for Canadians!), the prize is life.
A healthy strong body also impacts safety at work. Feeling tired, being deconditioned or lacking enough strength to use good body mechanics directly impacts a worker’s ability to safely do their job. Again, the price could be life! For those who look after their physical wellness (diet, exercise, sleep, body mechanics, posture, healthy lifestyle), the prize is life.
BORN TO MOVE: MAKE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE THE BEST OF YOUR LIFE
The human body is hard-wired to move but modern man has engineered the movement out of our lives. The effect has been frightening – we move less, eat more, and suffer more life-threatening diseases! Find out how to thrive, not just survive the epidemic of disease, obesity, and early ageing by returning to your biological imperative. Learn how to create your own “miracle grow” and change your life!
SPOT THE HAZARD: PRACTICE SAFE STRESS
Stress-related illness costs North American companies $35 billion annually! Find out what the symptoms of workplace stress are, what the hazards are, and how to stay safe using PPP – Personal Protective Practices. Practising safe stress could save your life!
NO SPRAIN, NO PAIN!
This interactive and engaging seminar takes the pain out of changing your ways! You will learn why poor posture and poor body mechanics can lead to pain and injury. With her entertaining style, Sylvia! will provide the proper strategies and tools that will assist you to improve your quality of life.
Hear what others have to say
“Vibrant…Hopeful….Upbeat…
“Anything she has to offer would be great!!! We need a half day next!”
“A positive attitude..makes life so much better!”
“An energetic and valuable resource….could have gone into so much more…A never ending topic. I could have listened to Sylvia all day.”
The Manitoba Nurses Union Conference 2013
“In a industry of construction where self awareness & personal growth are not discussed, Sylvia with The ARLANGroup, broadened our horizons through humor with her presentation of “respectfully, up yours”. In conjunction with the topic of “bullying in the workplace”, our company has learned old management styles are unacceptable! Thanks Sylvia!” – Colleen Munro, President, Hugh Munro Construction
“We have received nothing but positive feedback and great comments about the seminar Sylvia put on. It was actually a perfect fit for our group of managers here – as we are all a very sarcastic/fun bunch. I can say pretty confidently that Sylvia’s presentation style and her engaging personality definitely is a great fit for StandardAero, and as I believe Fritz mentioned, we will definitely be recommending her within our group.” – Karole Serba, Executive Assistant, TLM, Government & Military Sector, StandardAero
“During our annual January staff meetings, Sylvia’s energy, insight, knowledge and presentation on stress management made for a terrific start to our morning.” – Les Tooth, Senior Manager, Piston Ring
“The feedback received from over five hundred nurses in attendance was overwhelmingly positive. Sylvia’s presentation was informative, engaging and highly interactive. She was able to strike an excellent balance between content and entertainment and, because of her healthcare background, she was able to relate to our nurses. Sylvia was a pleasure to have.” – Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) AGM – May, 2012
“As the sitting chair for the CAPPA conference I have the great opportunity to experience a wide array of speakers and presenters at our annual conference that is attended by an average of 600 members. Our conference just celebrated its 50th anniversary and in all my time involved with the organizations, Sylvia has been one of our best speakers. We have invited her to speak for the last three years in a row with three different topics and her presentations have been filled beyond capacity every year. We were so impressed with what she brought to our conference that we asked her to open for us last year. The results were as we predicted, one of our best opening speakers we have ever had and all the attendees left wanting more. Sylvia has a unique and inviting personality that everyone naturally gravitates to and inspires a common trust among the people she touches. This ability along with her unprecedented people skills gives her the rare ability to teach people and use that knowledge to help guide and change lives. On the occasions I have heard her speak I am continually impressed at her natural communication and motivational skills as you feel her passion and motivation for the message she communicates. It is said the you will never work a day in your life if you do something you are truly passionate about. If you agree with this philosophy, consider Sylvia on vacation.” – Brad Garner, EOG Resources Inc.
“Sylvia is one-of-a-kind. Need a speaker that engages, educates, entertains, and energizes? Look no further. Her messages on stress management, holistic wellness, coping with change and more, together with her stellar credentials in the ‘real world’ give her credibility that will serve your organization well. Her range of topics, from occupational therapy, to safety issues, to wellness is amazing. I have been a professional speaker for more than four decades and I have seen them all. She is one of the most dynamic speakers with whom I have associated. Her personal charm and humility, combined with her genuine desire to take her audiences to unimagined heights of enthusiasm for life, put her in the top 1% of public speakers. Repeated standing ovations attest to this. She is truly a remarkable professional and I highly recommend her for keynotes, seminars and more. She will change your lives, move your company forward, put a smile on your faces, and then, most importantly, teach you how to keep them there!” – Dr. James Reese
“I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Sylvia speak to a few different groups now and each time I am impressed by her ability to captivate the audience and to simultaneously entertain and educate us to improve ourselves as individuals and as members of the various groups and teams we are all responsible to. Recently, she delivered a session to nearly 400 of our staff in a huge space that was not at all conducive to this type of session. As per usual, Sylvia held the audience’s attention from “Hello!”, inspired our staff to choose to make it a good day, and the only thing people left wanting was for her to be heard again!” – Carrol A. Harvey, M.B.A., C.H.R.P., Manager, Human Resources, St. James-Assiniboia School Division