Over the past four weeks, Julia Evans, CEO of RedPack, has facilitated our Akamanako Fridays – Workplace Wellbeing Series at the National Environment Service (NES), creating a dedicated space for our team to pause, reflect and build practical tools to support our wellbeing both in and outside the workplace.
Beginning on 14 August, the series took us through Stress Signals – Understanding What Your Body is Telling You, where we explored the physical and emotional signs of stress and how our bodies respond to pressure and Navigating Anxiety – From Overwhelmed to Regulation, providing practical techniques to ground ourselves and better manage challenging moments.
Our third session looked Work-Life Balance – Restoring Sustainable Wellbeing, looked at boundaries, rest and recovery, and how we can better navigate the competing demands of our professional and personal lives.
Today, we concluded the series with Healthy Communication – Connection Under Pressure, exploring how we communicate during difficult or stressful moments, navigate challenging conversations, and strengthen our relationships and connection with one another.
Across the four weeks, Julia has shared useful information, practical tips and techniques, while creating opportunities for us to better understand how we manage stress, anxiety, workloads, relationships and our own wellbeing.
The series also supports the Cook Islands Government Healthy Workplace Policy 2026 and its commitment to creating healthy and supportive workplaces where mental wellbeing is taken seriously. For NES, Akamanako Fridays have been one practical way of putting that commitment into action.
Importantly, Akamanako Fridays reinforced that workplace wellbeing is not simply about responding when things become difficult. It is also about recognising the signs early, communicating well, looking out for ourselves and each other, and creating a workplace culture where wellbeing matters.
A big meitaki ma’ata to Julia and RedPack for sharing your time, knowledge and energy with our NES family. While this may be our final Akamanako Friday for this series, we hope it is only the beginning of an ongoing conversation about wellbeing at NES.
Those interested in learning more about RedPack’s workplace wellbeing services are also encouraged to connect with Julia and the RedPack team.
