Movement helps mental health. Money shouldn't decide who gets to move.
The Well Being Foundation pays for personal training, running shoes and gear for people in Grand Rapids who are working on their mental health and can't afford it.
2011The Well Being opens, with a free gym for every client
6–12people in funded personal training at any one time
100+runners through 7 Mental Health Runner cohorts
50%off running shoes, thanks to our neighbors at Miera's
Our story
It started with a pack of cigarettes and a gym membership
In his early thirties, Brendan Kelly was a licensed social worker, a pack-a-day smoker, and in poor shape. He quit smoking and joined a gym on Northland Drive.
Then he noticed something. On the days he went to the gym, it was easier not to smoke. His focus at work was sharper. He had more energy. He felt better. When he went looking for an explanation, he found a body of research that described what he was feeling.
In January 2010, at a staff meeting, his supervisor handed him an article about a therapist who had clients walk or run on a treadmill during sessions. Brendan couldn't picture someone running and crying at the same time. But another thought followed:
"Why couldn't you take a traditional outpatient therapy practice, add a room, and fill it with exercise equipment?"
Brendan Kelly, LMSW, founder of The Well Being
He searched for a practice that already worked this way and couldn't find one. So he built it. With a business partner, he opened The Well Being in June 2011: a counseling practice with its own fitness center, where movement is part of treatment. The gym was free for clients from the first day. Fifteen years later, it still is.
A small, private gym also removes a barrier that's easy to overlook. For someone anxious about walking into a big fitness center, it's a place to start without feeling watched. Today The Well Being sits just off Leonard Street on Grand Rapids' West Side, with a full-time fitness director on staff.
The Well Being's fitness center, free for clients since 2011.
Why the Foundation exists
The Great Unfairness
A free gym solved one problem. Another remained. Many clients had never exercised and didn't know where to begin. A few months with a personal trainer could teach them to move safely, build their confidence, and turn movement into a habit. But trainers cost money, and many clients couldn't pay.
Picture two clients. Same age, same health, same starting point. Both would benefit from a few months with a trainer.
One can afford it. The other can't.
Brendan called this the Great Unfairness. The Well Being Foundation exists to end it.
A founding board formed in October 2020, and the IRS granted the Foundation 501(c)(3) status in November 2021. Our mission is to advance the use of movement and exercise for better mental health in our community.
How it works
Personal trainingClients pay what they can afford, and the Foundation covers the rest. Funding usually lasts about three months of weekly sessions: long enough to learn, build confidence, and keep going on their own. We fund 6 to 12 people at a time.
ShoesMiera's, the shoe store down the street on Leonard, fits clients with proper running or walking shoes, takes 50% off, and sends us the bill. A local business and a local nonprofit, working together.
GearSports bras and workout clothes, so nothing stands between someone and showing up.
Our board
Why a doctor chairs the board
Dr. Ben Davidson spent ten years as an emergency physician in Australia before moving to Grand Rapids, where, like every doctor trained overseas, he had to complete residency again. During that residency at St. Mary's, he went to a lecture on movement and mental health. The speaker was Brendan Kelly.
The two became close friends. Ben was a founding member of the Foundation's board and now chairs it. He teaches family medicine residents with Corewell Health, and in his hospital work he sees the toll mental illness takes, and how often cost keeps people from care.
"I've experienced the life stress, and in my case depression, that comes from being a physician, a migrant, a parent, a husband, and really just a human living in the 21st century. Like most people, I've long realized that moving makes me feel better. It just makes sense."
Dr. Ben Davidson, Board Chair
What we fund
Where your gift goes
Every dollar goes to the movement side of care. The Foundation doesn't pay for therapy; it pays for the things that help people get moving and keep moving.
Personal trainingWeekly sessions with a trainer who understands mental health, for people who can't afford them.
Shoes and gearRunning and walking shoes through Miera's, plus sports bras and workout clothes.
Mental Health RunnerA free 12-week couch-to-5K with weekly mental health support, run with Still I Run.
Training at The Well Being.
Mental Health Runner
A couch-to-5K built around mental health
Still I Run is a national nonprofit that started in Grand Rapids in 2016. Its founder, Sasha Wolff, found that running changed her own mental health, and set out to share that with as many people as she could. Her Starting Line Scholarship sent new runners across the country the shoes and gear they needed to begin.
Sasha wanted an in-person version here in Grand Rapids, and she knew The Well Being had the space. Together, Still I Run and The Well Being Foundation built Mental Health Runner, a free 12-week program, and fund it together. Still I Run brings the community; The Well Being brings the treatment side. The two complement each other.
How the program works
15 to 20 people per cohort, every spring and fall. Seven cohorts so far, since fall 2023.
Wednesday evenings at The Well Being: a bootcamp-style class, then an hour-long mental health support group.
Saturday mornings: group runs in a local park with a certified running coach.
Gear included: running shoes, a GPS watch, shirts, shorts, socks and a running bra.
The finish: entry to a local 5K, such as the Riverbank Run, the LMCU Bridge Run, or our own Miles for Mental Health 5K.
Open to the community. Most participants aren't clients of The Well Being.
Mental Health Runner participants on race day.
At the first cohort's race, in fall 2023, the runners who had already finished went back out onto the course to find the last runner still out there, and crossed the finish line with him together.
What the research team found
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison evaluated the spring 2026 cohort. Of the 18 people enrolled, 9 completed both the before and after assessments. Among those 9:
Depression symptoms improved moderately, and anxiety and stress improved a lot.
At the start, most were exercising less than twice a week. By the end, every one of them was exercising at least three days a week, and about a third five days or more.
They reported large gains in confidence that they could run or exercise at all.
The researchers call these findings preliminary: the sample was small and there was no comparison group. Not everyone improved. A few people reported no change, and a small number got worse. We'd rather you hear that from us.
The program helped me "understand and see the link between my mental and physical health."
Mental Health Runner participant, spring 2026
The Well Being was founded on research. Fifteen years later, it's helping to produce it.
At the Motion Impacts Emotion conference in 2025, Ben and Brendan met Dr. Jacob Meyer, director of the Wellbeing and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his lead researcher, Dr. Jeni Lansing. They had been studying the idea The Well Being runs on every day. Their research suggests that exercising for 30 minutes before a counseling session may make the session itself more effective.
That conversation became a partnership. Drs. Meyer and Lansing are now studying Mental Health Runner as part of NIH-funded research, starting with the spring 2026 cohort.
Community
Five years of wiffle ball on the West Side
Every year for the past five years, we've teamed up with our neighbors at the Mitten Foundation, from the pub across the road, for a wiffle ball tournament at Historic Valley Field, a fixture of Grand Rapids' West Side. Teams compete for a trophy, and every swing raises money for movement and mental health.
In June 2026 we also held the first Miles for Mental Health 5K with Still I Run, on the White Pine Trail.
Help someone get moving
Tax-deductible. Every gift goes to movement access in Grand Rapids.
Looking for help yourself?
Our partner, The Well Being, offers therapy for mental health and stress, an integrated movement program, and free gym access for clients — and accepts most insurance.
Visit The Well Being →
