SAN ANTONIO — Nearly one in five adults in the United States suffer from some form of mental illness, according to the National Awareness of Mental Illness Organization.
A local woman knew the stats and wanted to do something. The St. Mary’s University alumna decided to turn her passion and education into a career to help others improve their mind and body.
The gym is not a place you’d often think of when talking about mental health, but it’s exactly the right place, if you ask Tracy Cooper and her husband Kenny McClendon.
“Mental health is certainly starting to be less stigmatized and more people are starting to recognize it’s just as important as me going to the gym,” Cooper said.
Cooper, a licensed professional counselor, co-created Fit Therapy of Texas, which brings mental and physical health together in one place. “It’s different. It’s really made people to feel more comfortable being that it’s not this cold office,” she said.
She said stress is a good indicator of whether or not you have good mental well-being, something Jackie Rodriguez said she could relate to.
“You tend to talk yourself down when you are stressed; your mind just starts to go on in a different direction,” she said.
Jackie joined the stress management class offered at the gym and said it’s helping her keep up with her goals. “You unfortunately think that it is part of your day to day, and it really shouldn’t have to be,” Rodriguez said.
Keeping mental health part of the routine is helping others like Bradley Winer learn to ditch the negative habits too.
“They helped me figure out eating Whataburger every day is bad and it was a one-on-one session of how to do better exercises,” he said.
Tracy said everyone should consider talking to a professional, but for those who can’t, she said breathing techniques, starting a gratitude journal and, of course, exercise are ways to improve your well-being.
“Being able to figure out what’s going on internally is going to be able to help us to know what steps to take to help ourselves,” Cooper said.
McClendon agreed and added, “Every time you feel like ‘oh, I don’t feel like getting up today,' you look up... I want to get up for my kids, I want to live long for my kids.”
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