Independent wellness company focuses on being one-stop shop for employers

After more than a decade of working in corporate health care, Trisha Dohn decided to launch her own independent wellness company to help businesses create customized wellness programs that work.

Engagement, motivation, support and strategy are all part of Well 365’s approach, Dohn said.

“A lot of times right now, people working on corporate wellness are partnering with their health insurance company,” Dohn said. “So there is really no independent partner that can essentially work with anyone — that allows me to have a lot more flexibility to customize platforms and programs.”

Well 365 is one of four companies chosen by the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship to participate in the Zeal Growth Accelerator, a 12-week program that allows each company to develop a plan to grow revenue and increase capacity.

Since starting the business in January, Dohn has a team of two registered nurses who work as health coaches and seven clients ranging from a manufacturing company to a retail business.

Although with each business the goal is to create opportunities that allow employees to set wellness goals and have the resources to meet them, the focus isn’t just on physical well-being. Wells 365 also addresses mental health, stress management, financial well-being and preventing habits that can lead to chronic disease.

“Most companies understand the need for wellness, but then as they work internally, a lot of times it gets pushed on the HR team and they’re not able to fully commit to doing those initiatives,” Dohn said. “Another thing is not measuring outcomes and building trust so that employees are willing to participate and be engaged.”

When meeting with a first-time client, Well 365 identifies the problems and risk factors involving employee well-being before making recommendations for change. For some companies, this might involve a survey to analyze interest and gauge lifestyle and behavior habits.

Trisha Dohn presents about her business at 1 Million Cups.

Dohn stresses that the focus isn’t just on helping businesses keep their health care costs low. She said to have a successful program, it must be tailored to meet the needs of employees.

“It’s helping businesses improve their culture, morale and helping people like their workplace because their employer cares about them,” Dohn said.

Each strategic plan developed for a business looks a little bit different, Dohn said, but is created to be well-rounded.

“That way maybe those people who are intimidated can take a financial class that helps them with their budget or do something that’s going to help with work-life balance,” she said. “And to them, they’re thinking of a wellness program as a nurse weighing me and taking my blood pressure.”

The benefits of creating a wellness program from a business perspective are threefold.

From an HR standpoint, having a gym membership reimbursement can help set a company apart to retain employees. If the program is tied to insurance, companies can receive deductions. And if not, incentives to participate can include gift cards and other rewards.

Well 365 also offers an occupational health model that allows Dohn and her staff to bring services such as flu shots, DOC physicals, drug testing and midlevel practitioners directly into businesses. Her vision is for Well 365 to be a one-stop shop for companies so that they don’t have to use multiple vendors to accomplish wellness goals.

“I want them to be able to come to us and to trust us to coordinate and facilitate all these different areas,” Dohn said. “Am I an expert in occupational therapy or financial well-being? No, but I have the resources to bring those things to companies.”

With her company model established, Dohn is hoping that as a Zeal accelerator participant she can expand Well 365’s marketing efforts, along with reaching the right audience, learning where to invest dollars and gaining name recognition among the business community.

“The entrepreneurship world is 100 percent new to me. … I was in the corporate world and then I took a major leap of faith and did this, so I’m still adjusting to the world of being an entrepreneur,” Dohn said. “But I’m just excited to be surrounded by people that I can learn a lot from and to grow my business.”

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