The theme for this year’s Coeliac New Zealand Awareness Week is Caring About People with Coeliac Disease and is scheduled to take place from the 10th-16th of June 2024.

A key focus for the week is shining the spotlight on coeliac disease in the workplace and how employers and employees can better care about colleagues with coeliac disease. For many people living with coeliac disease, eating at work can cause a great deal of anxiety. There are several challenges to navigate, whether it is kitchens that aren’t properly set up to avoid cross-contamination, shared morning teas and lunches that don’t include safe, gluten-free options or venues and restaurants chosen for events that don’t provide coeliac-safe food.

To help raise awareness, Coeliac New Zealand has partnered with Synergy Health – a leading provider of workplace wellbeing programmes to deliver a series of wellbeing modules to help employers create safer workplaces and educate people living with coeliac disease to advocate for their needs.

We have produced a series of tiles that can be used by our members on social media. They are a great way to raise awareness about coeliac disease and for you to share your coeliac work challenge with your friends, family, and followers. 

Are you keen to share your own #MyCoeliacWorkplaceChallenge on Facebook? Follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Email admin@coeliac.org.nz to request the Facebook tiles to be sent to you
2. Select the tile (or tiles!) you want to share
3. Save as an image on your phone
4. Post on Instagram or Facebook during Coeliac Awareness Week with some words about your greatest coeliac work challenge and how you plan to overcome it
5. Tag @coeliacnewzealand and use the hashtags #CoeliacNZ #MyCoeliacWorkChallenge

We look forward to seeing all your posts during Coeliac Awareness Week to help raise awareness for this disease and inspire others to overcome the many challenges people living with coeliac disease face.

Here are some tips on what to talk to your colleagues and managers about coeliac disease.

Educate: do not be scared to open the conversation with your team about coeliac disease, particularly when it comes to the kitchen/tearoom and cross-contamination. It is always helpful for everyone to be educated about coeliac disease and to be able to ask questions.

Inform: your colleagues the next time there is a celebratory event at work, where food is bought in by others about gluten-free options. If it is catered ensure the caterer can provide coeliac-safe gluten-free options.

Ask: employers and managers to ask staff if anyone has coeliac disease (or another dietary required), and where possible when celebrations are planned, provide alternative gluten-free options, and inform staff not to use their hands or utensils designated for non-gluten-free food options when taking GF food! This will ensure that everyone can feel included in the celebration.

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