Exercise Empowers

How community connection boosts mental health

Written by Acacia Soares - Content Writer at Strength to Strength Mental & Physical Healthcare

Strength To Strength Mental and Physical Healthcare is a registered NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provider aiming to improve people’s mental health through exercise. The founder of Strength To Strength, Elise Falloon, said that community and social connection are key factors contributing to the consistency of exercise and increasing a person’s overall wellbeing. 

Falloon said a lot of her clients have a diagnosed mental illness, and Strength to Strength specialises in this area.

“My vision is to provide opportunities for all individuals to gain access to health and wellbeing professional services,” she said. 

“Our main services are working with clients who are NDIS participants, we are a mobile service that offers social work intervention, exercise physiology and personal training services. I also lead a run community and provide online running programs and coaching.

“The idea of being mobile is to ensure people can train that day, it provides our clients extra support especially if they don't have a car or unable to access public transport.

“We also like to make sure we still see our clients, even if they don’t feel like exercising. I really think this helps in relationship building.

“So we’ll either come to you take you out for a session to the gym or a local park or even just in your own home.

“Strength to Strength aims to provide a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to overall wellbeing.” 

Beyond Blue reported that 3 million Australians are living with anxiety and 3.1 million people have experienced an affective disorder in their lifetime. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines affective disorder to include a depressive episode, dysthymia and bipolar affective disorder. 

“I think an important factor is the community aspect of exercise for our mental health."

Strength To Strength’s mission is to work with people who are vulnerable or from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

“And statistics also show that this may also be someone with a diagnosed mental illness or someone with a disability because, unfortunately they don't have access to this type of service, or for many reasons, exercise doesn't fall into the category of first priority,” Falloon said. 

“I think an important factor is the community aspect of exercise for our mental health, exercise can bring that sense of community for someone and really make an individual feel like they belong.” 

“And that often actually influences how we feel about ourselves and how our mood can be lifted because we're surrounded by other people doing the same thing.”

According to ABS, Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, there were 4.4 million Australians with a disability. Almost one-quarter (23.2%) reported a mental or behavioural disorder as their main condition. 

Falloon said 90% of Strength to Strength’s clients are women. 

“We're all about empowering women to move their bodies and understand their bodies in a way that they feel comfortable doing,” Falloon said. 

“Also, we’re a women-run business, I do think more women like to seek women trainers,”

“When we're talking about male or female, influencing the percentage could be more women might seek psychological help as opposed to men.” 

According to Beyond Blue, females are more likely than males to experience depression and anxiety in their lifetime, and men are less likely to seek help for mental health conditions than women. 

“To be honest with you, it’s impacted me greatly. 

I would be lost without it.” 

Kara Lee Dickinson is one of Strength to Strength’s long-standing clients who is receiving personal training services under the NDIS. 

“The company’s amazing, it’s helped me to get out and about when I’m feeling really depressed,” Dickinson said. 

“You get to vent and talk about your mental health space as well while you’re exercising, or you’re walking, or you’re looking at the beach, it’s really, really, really helpful. 

“To be honest with you, it’s impacted me greatly. 

“I would be lost without it.” 

Falloon has experienced many successes since launching her business. 

“Having these long-standing clients and relationships, I think, just shows that it's working,” she said. 

“Exercise and moving your body can be something as simple as putting a pair of shoes on and going for a walk. Sometimes when working with our clients this might be the first step. Getting outside moving may help someone to gain a sense of confidence and lift their mood.”

Falloon completed the Run for Resilience project, operating as a 12-week programme to train beginner or first-time runners for a 10km race in September 2023. The project was created to assess how physical activity and community engagement impact participants' wellbeing. 

“We ended up running this as a pilot project, which was two groups,” she said. 

“We had a participant group that would meet every Wednesday, and then we had a control group that was just solely online, and the only interaction they would get was a text on Sunday with the programme. 

“The participant group would also get ongoing run coaching support.” 

Run For Resilience participants had their wellbeing measured before, during and after the programme using a new scale of wellbeing (COMPAS-W) developed by UNSW Associate Professor Justine Gatt. 

“At the end of the program the results showed an positive increase in their wellbeing over the 12-week period,” Falloon said. 

“It was really cool to see the participation rates stayed high in the participant group.

“We had one girl say she quit vaping, which is pretty good because that's super hard to do. 

“Another person was in the middle of studying her degree and she just said that the programme had really helped her to get through those hard times.

“Different people signed up to the program for different reasons, but they all had that common goal of running and moving their bodies. It was really cool for everyone to come together like that.”

31-year-old Falloon said she hopes to rerun the programme this year and provide more affordable programmes throughout her business, Strength To Strength Mental & Physical Healthcare. 

“We are hoping to seek funding to run this programme each year,” she said.

“I really think this programme is so unique and can be really helpful for anyone looking to begin running and find tools to better manage their overall mental health and wellbeing, this project really highlighted the impact of community and social connection.”

Post Race Feels -Run for Resilience Project