Focusing on Spaces, Wages, and Transportation to Build Healthy Communities [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Lisa Robinson

  • Lisa Robinson is the Director of the Office of Food Access & Healthy Communities for the City of Somerville (formerly Shape Up Somerville).  

• [1:08] Impacting energy balance in children

  • “And it was a coming together of community nonprofits and health organizations with academia and working with schools and institutions like the City of Somerville to think holistically about how to impact energy balance in children.”

• [2:15] Creating a healthier community

  • “And what was great is it attracted a lot of funding, a lot of grant funding, and with that created a lot of promotion and aligned messaging, and a top down and a grassroots approach to come around this effort of trying to create a healthier community.”

• [5:21] Systems approach

  • “Now, we recognize that there's so many root issues that can lead to obesity. And it's a complex issue. And we recognized that back then, as well. But how do we come together to really focus in on what's the main goal for attacking that—the systems that affect our health outcomes.”

• [7:08] Data-driven approach

  • “So again, thinking about other pieces of data that inform what we're sort of feeling and experiencing and perceiving. So, thinking about, how are we, people moving around the city? You know, are they relying on their cars? Are they feeling safe? What's our mileage of bike lanes?”

• [8:40] Measuring success

  • “And, during the study, we saw that the BMI trajectory for the students in the study did not rise as much as their counterparts who were not in the research intervention. We continue to look at BMI and keep an eye on that and break it down by different demographics—age, race ethnicity—to continue to target our approach. That's really important. And again, recognizing that BMI doesn't really tell the whole story, we are looking at it again from other different metrics.” 

• [10:38] Investing in green spaces

  • “So, what I think is most striking at this point, as you come into Somerville, is how we've invested in our green space, particularly our parks. And that has come with a policy measure that the City of Somerville residents opted in and voted on, which is the Community Preservation Act. It's a surcharge where that funding goes towards different sectors, one being green and open space.” 

• [13:47] Making spaces accessible

  • “So part of our data collection is to see the demographics of who's using the park and making sure that who's attending the meetings are able, you know, are reflective of who is using the park.” 

• [14:41] Public transportation access

  • “And you know, obviously, public transportation was part of the conversation early on, and they continued to be even stronger partners, recognizing that transportation is a key piece to accessing all the things that support our health.” 

• [16:10] Impact on caregivers’ behavior and weight outcomes

  • “There was a research paper that came out that did look at, actually, the behaviors and weight trajectories of the caregivers, were sort of part of that intervention and primary and secondary receivers of all of the information. And they also did change behaviors and improved their weight outcomes as well.”

• [17:05] Rebranding Shape Up Somerville

  • “And then we also felt like the name was giving off this, supporting the traditional messaging of, you know, it's an individual responsibility.  And we wanted to have it be more of a systems approach, higher level upstream approach, to addressing health outcomes and health disparities.”

• [19:11] Supporting healthy eating and active living during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • “Anywhere you looked in our little dense community, people were really out enjoying the outdoors, making it their living rooms, you know, being active.  People were more public with their activity than they ever had been. And I think that that was really positive. And not only was it helpful for our physical and mental health, it was good for continuing to keep community, you know, and keep those connections there where we were so in need of them.” 

• [22:31] Focusing on spaces, wages, and transportation

  • “So our spaces, definitely our outdoor spaces, that are free and open to everybody for whatever works for their schedule. I think if we can continue to invest in proper staff to help program and activate those spaces across the age range, that would also really be key.”

• [26:09] Advocacy

  • “It's really important to have sort of this historical, institutional knowledge, but you always need to infuse it with new energy and excitement and perspectives. So I think that that's. the more we can have our young people advocating for spaces, and they are…”

• [29:19] Collective impact approach

  • “And how are they going to tackle it from different angles and who is going to take ownership of different aspects of it in sort of the collective impact model, having a common agenda or a common goal that we all agree is the challenge we're working towards.”

Exercising for Mental Health Benefits [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Simon Rosenbaum

  • Dr. Rosenbaum is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney.  

  • He is also an exercise physiologist.  

• [1:12] Connecting mental health and exercise

  • “And just from spending hours and hours in the gym with them, and hearing stories about how quite literally, they would say that exercise keeps them alive or it… And we know that, of course, it's not the cure for everyone. But it can be such an important part of treatment.”

• [3:39] Training fitness professionals in mental health

  • “And if I think about when I started and what's happening today, and where the health and exercise and fitness industry is, I think we've come a really long way. We have programs now like Mental Health First Aid. And here in Australia, we know that all exercise professionals have to do a first aid certificate and cover things like CPR.  There is this fantastic curriculum that is Mental Health First Aid that gives people those practical skills to identify a crisis, manage it, refer, get people to help, ensure that everyone is safe.”

• [5:17] Exercise as a right

  • “It's almost nothing new.  Humans inherently know, when we move we feel good. The challenge is how do we actually support people, particularly those that are the most vulnerable, and therefore the least likely to have the luxury or the privilege to engage in exercise? I think we too often forget that it is a privilege.”

• [8:19] Training mental health professionals in exercise

  • “We do need to train exercise and fitness professionals, absolutely, in mental health. But likewise, we can't ignore the training that's needed for the mental health professionals around their knowledge of how to integrate exercise as part of their practice. We can't assume.”

• [8:52] The importance of integrating into a mental health team

  • “There’s no point doing this in isolation.  There's no point in the exercise world going ‘we need to train ourselves in mental health’ and the mental health world going ‘we need to train ourselves in exercise.’  I mean, that’s just, it makes no sense.”

• [11:43] Addressing the trust gap

  • “But what we do need to do is find a way that there's genuine connection between these services. And even if that means, instead of just asking for referrals, actually offering your service to the mental health professionals.  Train the staff, let them come and experience what your, what your services are, and what you're offering, keeping in mind that there is going to be probably a level of maybe skepticism or concern about referring their clients to your service. So it's really important that we take the time to build that relationship, as you said, and overcome that, that trust gap, as you as you put it.” 

• [15:38] The role for students

  • “Another thing that's been really successful for us is the use of students on clinical placement as a way of building capacity and staffing services.”

• [17:02] Advice for exercise physiologists

  • “So just jump in, really, and if people have the motivation and the energy and the desire, then there's going to be people around to support and help and encourage along the way.”

•  [18:41] Exercise as part of treatment and recovery

  • “It's actually saying, acknowledging the challenges, acknowledging how hard it is, acknowledging that this isn't going to be a cure, but it can be part of people's recovery.  There are ongoing challenges. And our job as that workforce is saying how do we help those people at that point in time with what they need in order to engage in some form of activity.”

• [21:07] Exercising for mental health benefits

  • “And so we've got to be really careful about that, and really focus on the idea, we're exercising for the mental health benefits, not for the aesthetics, not for our waistline.”

• [22:41] Scope of practice

  • “Yep, just thinking the exact same thing.  Yep, and know when and how to refer. Just like we would want the mental health professionals to know when and how to refer to the exercise, we need our exercise professionals to absolutely know when and how to refer and how that happens.”

• [23:57] Diversifying voices in the health and fitness industry

  • “I mean, it's nothing new, it's just the idea about meaningful engagement. But I think that, to me, is the most important thing going forward. And it's where the exercise industry is likely to learn, develop and change, is if we actually diversify our voice, diversify who we are listening to, sorry, diversify the voices that we are listening to. I think that's the most important part, and ensure that actually it's accessible and safe for everyone.”

• [27:03] Opportunity for the health and fitness industry

  • “There is an absolute opportunity to engage a different demographic and to actually ensure that that right—if we think about exercise as a right—that we actually ensure that there's opportunities for people to have that right met. So that's where I think we're dropping the ball. You know, exercise shouldn't be a privilege.” 

Changing How We Age with Digital Strength and Balance Training - Bold [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Amanda Rees

  • Amanda is Co-Founder and CEO at Bold.  

  • She is also a tai chi and yoga instructor and dancer.  

• [1:10] Bold inspiration for focusing on healthy aging and fall prevention

  • “I think caregiving is an incredible test of anyone's resilience. But, for me, the biggest shift was it made me think more about aging. And taking a long term view of how do I want to age and what are the things that I can do well before I really see myself as being older that will change the way I age for the better.”

• [2:26] Bold mission

  • “And we do this by providing personalized science-based programs to address things like balance and fall prevention, chronic condition or pain management. And then just building healthy habits and having the right resources and support to start increasing more physical activity and bringing more movement to someone's life.”

• [3:41] Investing in health

  • “If you could choose what your life would look like at 100.  And it weren’t—it looked exactly the way you wanted it to—wouldn’t you want to try and find a way to make that possible?”

• [6:44] Market opportunity

  • “And we can help accelerate getting moving. And so that's where I think we sort of timed it, unknowingly, right around when COVID began as well. And so there was also, I think, a flip of starting to feel like, I need to find something at home, and both physically and mentally I know I should find a way to keep moving.”

• [10:34] Bold instructor credentials

  • “The number one thing for me is that they have experience working with clients who are exercising for aging or older, or that have health conditions like arthritis.” 

• [12:18] Science-based

  • “And then validation is actually really important to us. We did a study remotely and online during 2020. And it was published in JMIR.  But it demonstrated greater than 45% reduction in falls and over 200% increase in physical activity.” 

• [15:03] Measuring success

  • “I mean, candidly, the number one thing is the moment someone is taking a class and the moment they sort of finish that class, however long it is.  If they're feeling better, if they're feeling more connected, healthier, more confident as a result of doing dance or doing balance training or doing strength training, I think that's a win.  And that's an immediate instant gratification.”

• [16:55] Integrating mental health

  • “You know, I think my background in yoga and sort of the yoking of mind and body.  And then also dance, I think, is a similar relationship.  It's hard to think of exercise as just for the muscles and not for the mind.”

• [19:05] Caregiving and exercise motivation

  • “This is going to help me be a better caregiver if I carve out a little bit of time to kind of just release the tension or feel strong in my body again.”

• [21:19] Resilience

  • “The other piece we think about is resilience. It's not how many times you get knocked down or stop a habit or feel like you aren't as strong as where you were. But it's how you're able to say, I've jump started before, I'm going to jump start again. And that’s the part that we want to applaud and celebrate, too, is every minute and every action is worthwhile and valuable.”

• [23:26] Partnering with healthcare

  • “But for us, that's one big step as a company in ensuring there's access so that you aren't paying out of pocket and you know that your insurance plan is as incentivized for you to be healthy, and they're willing to put their resources behind that, I think is really important.” 

• [26:08] Value proposition for insurance companies

  • “I think being digital means that we can scale, we can serve rural members that live in rural communities as well as we can in urban communities. I think that's definitely attractive for big partners.”

• [27:58] Changing how we age

  • “And so that more and more individuals truly believe for themselves deep down that they have the power to influence how they age.  They don't feel like aging is happening to them, but that it’s never too late and that there's something that they can do and they feel armed and informed about that.”

Closing the Trust and Communication Gap Between Fitness and Medical Professionals - Wellness Paradox [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Michael Stack

  • Michael is CEO/Founder of Applied Fitness Solutions.  

  • He is also the Host of the Wellness Paradox Podcast and a Clinical Instructor at the University of Michigan. 

• [1:17] Wellness Paradox

  • “[H]ealth and wellness and fitness professionals have all of the capabilities necessary to help improve public health dramatically in this country. Yet there's a trust, communication and interaction gap between those professionals and our other allied health and medical professionals.”

• [2:35] Inclusive language

  • “We use terminology that tends to not be very inclusive and approachable. We talk about things like exercise and fitness and strength. And while all those are amazing things for the 15 to 20% of the population that exercise, for the other 80 to 85% of the population that don't engage with a health and fitness center, those terms are very scary, and they're very off putting.” 

• [5:54] Operationalizing conversations about inclusion

  • “I think that's kind of the same paradigm that a lot of executives in our industry have is that like in the short term, they don't see how this can improve the bottom line, even though in the long term, certainly, if we could get the next 10 or 15% of our population active and coming to health and fitness clubs, it would dramatically improve our profitability.” 

• [9:20] Representation in inclusive environments

  • “This is where I think our industry would really benefit from having more individuals in larger bodies, because they understand the emotional challenge that it is to walk into certain environments.”

• [12:32] Mission to integrate healthcare and health & fitness

  • “For me, my mission, in its totality, is to do whatever I can possibly do to help to level up the health and fitness profession to become a part of the healthcare continuum.”

• [16:33] Coach-based approach to programming and services

  • “And for us, fundamentally, and I also feel like in general for our industry, we need a much more coach-based approach to how we engage with our clientele and with our members, rather than the traditional expert approach that's used in our industry.” 

• [18:47] Partnering with allied health professionals

  • “And just health and fitness in general, if we can focus on purely just getting people moving, getting people active and then use the dietetics professionals, the wellness coaches, all these other amazing allied health professionals to effectuate change in their scopes of practice, then we've got something.” 

• [24:27] Partnering with physical therapy

  • “And it is that very, very warm handoff that maintains the continuum of care right from, as you said, a finite number of sessions which seems to be a an ever reducing finite number of sessions at this point, and then to the health and wellness professional who, in theory, can work with that person indefinitely.”

• [26:24] Being seen as essential

  • “And so I think that that's the challenge here is to allow our industry to figure out a way to shift the perception of what we do in the minds of multiple stakeholders—politicians and lawmakers, certainly, but also people in the medical and allied health community and the population at large, who I think also views us as entertainment and a luxury rather than something that is an essential health care service.”

• [28:42] Progress on shifting the mindset

  • “But I also think because the conversation is starting to move away from just purely weight loss and esthetics to all of these other benefits, mental health in particular being one that's really been salient in a lot of the conversations in our industry as of late. I think we're starting to move towards it. By no means are we there yet.  Again, I think, look, anything in business, follow the money, and that will cause shifts in an industry or shifts in a market.”

• [30:15] Building trust

  • “And they should trust us because there are professionals in our field that are incredibly qualified, incredibly educated, and incredibly well positioned to provide a service that is not only essential, but it's a service that would make a physician’s job easier when it's done. And that's why they should trust us.”

Moving Together Outside - American Council on Exercise® [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Graham Melstrand

  • Graham is Executive Vice President, Mission and Stakeholder Engagement, at the American Council on Exercise®.

  • He is also President Elect of the Physical Activity Alliance.  

• [1:18] Mission alignment

  • “We believe that the community-based physical activity programs and interventions are critical components to ensuring access, diversity of programming options to support all of the different things that consumers are interested in, and providing the leadership and the expertise that meet the needs of all members of the communities.”

• [3:20] COVID pandemic and the Moving Together Outside campaign

  • “So many communities provided some flexibility in exchange for those closures that were imposed on them, by allowing those facilities, those exercise professionals, to take their programs and services to a risk mitigated environment in parks or other community spaces, so that they could continue to provide services that consumers still want and felt that they needed.”

• [7:02] The value for exercise professionals

  • “And this is an opportunity for us to bring our expertise, our leadership to those communities and take on kind of that higher profile as a resource for people, particularly during COVID, where there has been such a dramatically different outcome for people with good health status versus poor health status or underlying conditions.”

• [10:46] Pathway to sustainability

  • “As we move from pandemic to endemic, they're uncomfortable with the idea of going back indoors, or quite frankly, if they just enjoy the outdoor environment.  There's a growing body of evidence around the idea of green exercise and green physical activity where you're outside in nature. And in many cases people make the connection to that exercise being more palatable and better tolerated is that you have the community support, you have the professionals that are kind of coloring within the lines, if you will, by seeking out those permits and holding a current credible credential from an organization like ACE.”

• [15:18] Resources for policymakers and exercise professionals

  • “So really, I think that the real value in the directory that we're building is that it gives insight into what other communities are doing, which reduces the risk for the policymakers, because otherwise their natural inclination is to make it expensive.”

• [18:39] High visibility for exercise professionals

  • “So having programs that resonate with people, the types of activities that they're interested in engaging in, and having those scheduled and delivered by a qualified professional, it's amazing how well received that is.”

• [20:34] Success stories

  • “And then the one that really surfaced related to the Moving Together Outside campaign and the pandemic—and you were involved with the discussion with her—is St. Petersburg, where they built a comprehensive community wellness initiative, Healthy St. Pete, that includes not only a permitting program that engages professionals and facilities to deliver programs and services in parks, but also to basically sponsor and deliver at least once per month for free in parks in exchange for the community recognition so that everybody has access.”

• [25:44] Meeting people’s needs

  • “Sure, well, and to your point when you're describing what you see right outside your window, it helps people move from that pre contemplative phase, too, where they're like, ‘Well, I'm not sure what's happening in there or if I’ll like it or if it's for me or if I’ll like the other people that I'm participating with. One of the challenges, I think, with membership and fitness facilities is an individual has to make that commitment In many cases before they’ve really kind of adequately tried on the experience to see if it's for them.”

• [28:29] Call to action

  • “We're also asking individuals and organizations to help us build that directory of the community permitting resources by sharing the website address and contact information for communities that offer permits so that we can help populate that and make that more viable and robust.”

Measuring Group Exercise Program Efficacy and Motivation - Les Mills [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Bryce Hastings

  • Bryce is Head of Research for Les Mills International.

• [1:07] Researching exercise program efficacy and exercise behavior

  • “So, you know, we've been doing a lot of research over the last 10 years on efficacy of our programs, but also exercise behavior and how to make the most out of that group fitness environment.”

• [2:53] Partnering with researchers to use best practice

  • “And so I think there's a big opportunity in the industry for that, to partner with the experts, partner with the academics, partner with people who are really looking at fine details as to what we do every day and just ensure that we're using best practice every time we're turning up and taking someone through an experience.”

• [4:36] Delivering the best instructor and coaching techniques

  • “Yeah, we owe it to the people who are tuning up to our classes to know what we're doing and know what that class delivers in terms of efficacy, but also know that we are employing the best instructor techniques and coaching techniques to make sure that their experience is one that that is going to help them out.”

• [5:03] Exercise habit formation research

  • “And so currently we're looking at habit formation because that's really important for people coming onto a platform, like what can we do to help them get exercise to be sticky.  And I think in the industry, we've relied on, you know, we've looked a lot at habit execution. And execution only happens when all the previous behaviors took place.  And by previous behaviors, I mean things like preparation and instigation of the habit.”

• [7:29] Framing exercise as enjoyable

  • “And one of the other up skills that we're going to use in the intervention is getting people to think of exercise not as a chore but as a hobby, something that you would actually like to do.”

• [9:32] Focusing on the experience and enjoyment factor

  • “But it's often the experience and the enjoyment factor—as you were saying—are things that often get put to the side. And I think the industry is a little bit guilty of taking quite a clinical approach to exercise. And, you know, reducing the—or ignoring to a degree—the experience factor.”

• [12:00] Group connection as motivation

  • “[I]f people thought that they were in a group of individuals who were all there for the same purpose as them, and that was actually recognized at some part, during some part of the workout, they felt motivated by that, they felt like they actually had a connection to the group. And then they could use the group dynamic to help them achieve their goals or the objectives they walked in the room with.”

• [15:06] Translating research into action

  • “It might all look like fun and games with great music and kind of people jumping around on the stage, but there's actually a lot that goes into it. And that gives them confidence when they're up there. And, you know, we can kind of tweak their coaching styles and their coaching approach.”

• [17:14] Instructor and member retention

  • “But now when I look at people exercising in a lot of facilities, I see people who are exercising because they have to be there, not because they want to be there, but because they’ve been told by the health professional, or they've recognized something in their life that they want to improve.  And the key to retention for me is just shifting them from exercising because they have to, to exercising because they want to.”

• [19:20] Identifying as an exerciser

  • “I think it's just taking a step back and putting yourself in their shoes and thinking what is it that's going to keep them interested and allow them to take that step and identify as an exerciser. And it's very hard for someone to identify as an exerciser if it's completely foreign to them and there's no sense of enjoyment there.”

• [21:07] Building the evidence base

  • “We should be swamped with evidence of all of the things that the health and fitness industry achieve on a regular basis. But there was none. There was a couple of papers, but there's very little, and if you don't measure it, you can't discuss it, you can't change it.”

• [24:40] Measuring and testing claims

  • “ I would just say that if you're making claims on something and you want to get respect from the health industry or the medical industry, then measure it. Test it, and measure it, and then publish. And publish in journals where people have looked at your methods and checked that everything that you're claiming is well based and has good foundation.”

• [27:22] Researchers who are bridging the gap

  • “And so, we've got plenty of people in the industry who are research focused. And they understand both camps. They understand what it takes to publish robust and well founded research. And they also understand the industry.”

Implementing Physical Activity Screening and Referral in Primary Care - Exercise is Medicine® [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Sarah Linke

  • Dr. Linke is Associate Clinical Professor and Interim Assistant Dean for Community Partnerships within the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science (HWSPH) and Family Medicine at UC San Diego.

  • She has a Career Development Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) to implement and evaluate the Exercise is Medicine (EIM) program at UC San Diego Health.

• [1:28] Exercise as a prevention tool

  • “I had some really great training in using exercise as a treatment or even sometimes as a prevention tool, having these randomized controlled trials using exercise to treat a variety of conditions. But I was still feeling a little dissatisfied with the lack of kind of a global outlook on this, and how do we reach everyone, how do we make exercise part of everybody's life to use as a prevention tool? Why, why does it have to be that you have to have had a health problem, a health scare, to be told about this?”

• [6:19] Training physicians in motivational interviewing

  • “[A] lot of it is trying to train the physicians how to use motivational interviewing and how to do brief conversations with the patients that they're seeing about exercise.  Asking them questions, not using such a directive approach that they're often trained to do in medical school.  And really engaging the patients and helping them to lead themselves to the solution that they want to exercise because it's a, an empowering choice for them to make for their own health, not because their doctor told them they needed to do that.” 

• [11:34] Training physicians in framing exercise as relevant

  • “A lot of times we get stuck in healthcare talking to [patients] about how they can prevent cardiovascular disease in 30 years. Well, that's not relevant to them today. There's always tomorrow to exercise to prevent that from happening in 30 years. But how do we focus, how do we train them to focus on those immediate rewards that they can get? Which would be more energy, improved mood, decreased anxiety, decreased stress, all of these things that happen immediately, that would keep people exercising, and then in the long run would also prevent disease.”

• [16:26] Warm handoff to health coaches

  • “And so one of those things is asking patients in the PAVS—embedded in the PAVS—is, would you like to speak with a health coach about exercise? If they say yes, automatically—the physician doesn't even have to sign an order, nothing has to happen—we automatically get a referral for that patient. And now it's in our health coaches’ hands.”

• [21:05] Addressing the trust gap with community-based health & fitness professionals

  • “And that is definitely something, I know that that ACSM and EIM continue to talk about is that missing link of referring people out to community fitness professionals who can really take that next step with, with patients and that, that barrier has been known for a long time and no one's really solved it.  And I think that you’re identifying one of the main reasons why, in addition to, again, reimbursement, that I think that trust is crucial.”

• [22:40] Implementation science

  • “So really looking at those measures that are sustainable, as well, so that we can continue to evaluate it and adapt it along the way. So it's really a long term practice of making an intervention stick within any given setting.”

• [25:42] Providing the best patient care

  • “That's definitely been a challenge of mine is to make sure that they realize that is my ultimate goal as well. It's our shared ultimate goal. It's not to gather the best data or do the best research so that we have the best paper, but it's really to provide the best patient care to patients.”

• [27:42] Technology as a facilitator for physician exercise referrals 

  • “So we're really building systems in our, in our EMR to reduce clicks, reduce burden, in that way, allowing our providers to—we always talk about them practicing at the top of their license—to be able to spend their time focusing on this discussions rather than all of the documentation that goes along with it.”

Encouraging People of All Ages to Play Actively - Let’s Play America [Podcast Series]

• [:57] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Pat Rumbaugh

  • Pat is Executive Director of Let’s Play America. 

  • Pat is known as “The Play Lady” for her work encouraging people of all ages to give themselves time to play daily. 

• [1:18] Play as essential for people of all ages

  • “It's going to help us relieve stress, it's going to help us feel better about ourselves. If it's social play with others, that's so important. It’s just an overall positive way to help ourselves by playing.”

• [2:02] Addressing the perception of play as frivolous

  • “And so play is...is really something that we need to understand the importance of it and how it will benefit way more than take away from the academics.”

• [3:57] Active play in the classroom

  • “[W]e need to get up and move. Our bodies are meant to move and be physical. And that's what happened for years before all technology kicked in and we began just sitting and doing way less movement.”

• [5:15] Play as a learned and natural skill

  • “And that, that's what play brings to us. It brings, it makes us feel good about ourselves, it makes our bodies stronger.” 

• [7:03] Raising awareness of the benefits of play

  • “Well, I, I think it starts from the knowledgeable folks out there to go to their administrators, teachers, PTA, and say, can you share this with the newsletter? Could we bring in speakers that would talk to us about the importance of play and why our children need it?”

• [9:23] Play advocacy 

  • “Absolutely. A play advocate models playful behavior.”

• [11:57] Playful communities

  • “I really believe that if a group, that community, wants to put playful on the front burner, it's going to make a positive difference. You're going to have fun.”

• [13:09] Planning a play day

  • “And we had to apply with an application. give all our information, and we had to commit to planning a play day. And and you know, it was the best thing that could have happened to us because it gave us a goal.” 

• [14:12] The Play Lady

  • “And he said, Play Lady, you know what I want you to do? Keep doing what you're doing. So, how many years since 2009, I've been known as the Play Lady. And I love that name. It's, it's easy for people to remember.”

• [15:25] Play advocacy tips

  • “But the other thing that you can do is you can go to the people in charge in your community, your recreation director, your city council, your mayor, business leaders and say, can you support this, can you help us?”

• [18:04] Access to play opportunities 

  • “I'm so much for trying to find the funding, whether it be grants or from the city or individuals or businesses, however I can do it, we can do it. It's so important that play opportunities are offered to everybody.”

• [20:17] Play mentors

  • “My dream is to have leaders in all the activities and then they mentor younger as they get older, and they build their community service. They are empowered by play and they empower others.”

• [22:30] Play in the workplace

  • “Let me tell you, anywhere you live, you work, there should be play time. And I think more, more places of work that think about giving their workers. their employees, breaks and opportunities to play, they're going to want to stay.”

• [23:27] Reengineering play back into our lives

  • “You want to look at your calendar and, and you really want to put play on the front burner. Just like you may go to your place of worship on Sunday, you should also give yourself on Sunday some play time.”

• [26:11] COVID-19 pandemic and play

  • “And when it comes to play, we need to think of any way that it's going to help our children and adults. Because everybody has been through so much. It's been a really crazy time.  And play, play is what's going to save us, Amy.  Give it to yourself as ‘I’m giving myself the gift of play’.”

• [27:35] Let’s Play Outside

  • “Playing is so crucial and important to children's lives, that will lead to, hopefully, adults playing for the rest of their life.”

• [29:47] Tips

  • “Let them play on their own as early as possible. Let them be outside as much as possible. And most importantly, parents, educators, model playful behavior.”

Benefits of Youth Sports for Kids, Communities, and Country - NCYS[Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Wayne Moss

  • Wayne is the Executive Director at the National Council of Youth Sports. 

  • Wayne has a long history of working on youth sports, fitness and recreation. 

• [1:18] Youth sports as essential

  • “I see it as three really important reasons why it's important. You know, first of all, there are benefits to young people. And we can talk about the benefits shortly.  Secondly, there are benefits to community, like it builds community. Youth sports and communities is like apple pie. And then the third thing is it really has benefits for our national interest in a lot of ways.” 

• [2:11] Benefits of youth sports for kids

  • “And what's funny is...adults think about exercise, being active through exercise by and large,  Young people just like to go out and play. And so sports is an easy way to really engage young people in that respect.”

• [4:11] Impact of COVID on the youth sports sector

  • “The youth sports sector has been extraordinarily impacted.  And so, many organizations that were operating and, operating on a shoestring when COVID came in, they shuttered, shut down. And, oftentimes these are organizations that were in the communities that really, that young people needed it most.  So young people have been disproportionately impacted in those particular communities.”

• [6:27] Youth sports and mental health

  • “So if we know that youth sport provides protective factors around mental health and around risky behavior—whether we're talking about premature sex or drugs or alcohol—if we know this to be a fact—and we do—we collectively need to be framing youth sports up in that way so that the public in general gets that this is not just fun and games.”

• [8:49] Benefits of youth sports over a lifetime

  • “But all of these benefits really transfer over the course of a lifetime.  And that’s why I think that it is really important for all young people to be involved in sport and really to find whatever it is, is their particular interest, the thing that they like to do, and the thing that they can continue to do over the course of a lifetime. And they should be engaged in a lot of things, experiment with lots of different sports, just to see what's of, what's of interest to them.”

• [10:53] Youth sports and academic performance

  • “If we think about just the nature of sport, what happens physiologically in terms of the body, blood flow to the brain and all of those kind of things.  We know that that also helps from a cognitive kind of development perspective.  And so as young people are more active, they're in a position to do better in school.”

• [13:37] Access to youth sports for girls

  • “And so I think we need to be sensitive to those things and ensure that when we're developing programs, we're also developing those programs that allow for young girls to feel comfortable, to feel welcome, to want to participate.”

• [16:48] Diversity in leadership

  • “[A]s we think about diversity, with diverse thinking, with diverse engagement, you then bring those kinds of issue to the table where a man may not necessarily be thinking about that, because that's just not our or his experience. A woman may bring that kind of experience.”

• [19:25] Access to youth sports for underserved communities

  • “So that's one of the things that we need to do is to provide support from brands that have a vested interest in youth sports. If they're able to provide funding, we're able to get that to the local level, and then to provide wraparound services.” 

• [23:35] Benefits of youth sports for country

  • “We know that there are many young people for whom they're not physically fit enough to join the military. And so that then has national security implications in terms of the pool of people that are eligible to serve.” 

• [25:08] National Youth Sports Day

  • “One of the things that we're doing, we're putting together National Youth Sports Day, which is going to take place on November the 13th, that's a Saturday. And what we're doing is we're calling on all organizations to really do what they do best, which is to serve young people, to have fun and that kind of thing. But it really is a platform for us to all begin to talk about the importance and the benefits of youth sports.”

• [28:05] Calls to action

  • “I think at the end of the day, it really just comes back to being an advocate for, for young people, for their experience, and then looking to see how we can support them in a way that's authentic for each of us.”

Using Storytelling to Make Physical Activity Research Accessible to the Public [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Gretchen Reynolds

  • Gretchen Reynolds is the Phys Ed Columnist for the New York Times.  

  • She is also the author of the book, The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, and Live Longer.

• [1:20] Writing about exercise, exercise science, and physical activity

  • “And it certainly hadn't covered the science of fitness and physical activity and what it means to be fit, and what scientists were learning about how our bodies really work and how we can help them to work better. And I think one of the things that I learned and that the New York Times editors learned was that there was just a boundless well of enthusiasm for that information among our readers.”

• [5:01] Choosing studies to write about

  • “[T]here are a couple of topics that I always know will interest Times readers and interest me.  And that includes issues like exercise and the brain.  That's of enormous interest to people, because there's so little that can be done medically to protect our brains, to allow us to think and remember as we get older. And it does look like exercise can play a role in that and the science is really interesting. Exercise and weight is invariably of interest, even if the studies don't show that exercise is effective for weight. I'm always looking for studies that can advance our understanding of what exercise does and doesn't do.”

• [9:14] Honing the talent to write about exercise science

  • “So the goal is to not dumb down the science because I don't think...People out there are not dumb, they want to understand, again, how their bodies work. So explain the science in the simplest possible terms without losing the important aspects of what made the study interesting.”

• [12:37] Storytelling about physical activity and exercise science

  • “But figuring out how this topic, how this—the whole arena of physical activity— how important it is for our lives, that is, there are stories in all of that and that is what sticks to people. That's how they can remember this information and figure out how to apply it to their lives. So, so yes, I think of myself as a storyteller whose subject matter happens to be physical activity and exercise science.”

• [15:45] Physical activity and enjoyment

  • “I think both the evidence and real life anecdotal evidence are pretty clear that what does get people to get up and move is one to remind them it will make them feel better, they will enjoy it.”

• [18:48] Physical activity and longer, healthier lives

  • “And the more we understand that, I think and hope the more people will want to just move, just to improve their chances of having a longer, healthier life, and the chances that their children will have a longer and healthier life.”

• [23:35] Physical activity and accessibility

  • “But the science and the most recent guidelines make it quite clear that movement is movement, your body really doesn't care how you do it. And if we can remind people that just any kind of activity that is not sitting in your chair and staring at a screen is going to be good for your body. And if people understand that, I think they become, they begin to feel more capable of being active because they already are.”

• [27:33] Individual response to exercise

  • “Our bodies will respond—and the science is very clear—they will respond to exercise, but they may respond differently than your spouse or training partner does. So experiment until you find something you like doing that is just fun.”

Prescribing Nature to Get People Moving Outside - Park Rx America [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Robert Zarr

  • Dr. Robert Zarr is the Founder and Medical Director at Park Rx America.  

  • Dr. Zarr is also a physician researcher at Unity Healthcare.

• [1:14] Founding DC Park Rx, now Park Rx America

  • “And it was simply to, at that moment in time, to be able to give something to doctors and healthcare providers for them to be able to write what we called park prescriptions for their patients.”

• [2:49] Encouraging physicians to prescribe nature

  • “But what I have been able to do, through Park Rx America now, is really sort of codify the act of prescribing, the way of prescribing. I've been able to give it what I like to call some architecture, some structure to it. So that it's easy to do, easy to understand, easy to do for the physician or healthcare provider and easy to understand from the patient or client perspective.”

• [6:08] Addressing time as a barrier to physicians prescribing nature

  • “So rather than spending a minute or two talking about the importance of exercise or the importance of being outdoors, why not ask maybe one or two important questions? For example, one question that I really encourage providers to ask their patients during the visit is where do you feel safe and comfortable outside? And as your patient answers these questions, the next one would be what do you see yourself doing outside?”

• [10:16] Tools and training to support physicians in prescribing nature

  • “It affords them a really rich opportunity for them to follow up quickly in terms of how that prescription went, and for them to write another one. So the prescription itself is really not so much written by the doctor, it's really written by the patient and the doctor is there to sort of amplify it when need be and tweak, help tweak it so that it really has more of a therapeutic effect.”

• [12:55] Raising public awareness of nature prescriptions

  • “One of the things that we're working towards doing and hopefully we'll have done in a few months is this robust information that's available to patients. to the public, that we hope will trigger them to almost write that prescription before they go to their doctor.  What I envision is reaching out to the public in a way we haven't done before so that they know more about this concept of a nature prescription, and really have already thought about it before they go, and in some ways could be the person to sort of initiate this conversation, rather than depending just on the doctor to do it.”

• [15:49] Patient follow-through on nature prescriptions

  • “And so I'm in my EHR, the EMR, I double click on that unique code that's affiliated with that prescription that's been copied and pasted into the treatment plan. And I toggle back into Park Rx America's platform. And I can find that prescription in less than a second and I can see how many times it was filled.”

• [18:50] Language around prescriptions

  • “When I'm asked this question, do patients roll their eyes when I talk about a nature...I've never seen anybody roll their eyes. They're actually so thrilled that I am legitimizing their wishes and their desires to be outside, to spend time outside, to move outside, because most doctors don't do it in that way.”

• [21:35] Stages of change

  • “And, like with any new intervention or new medication or...in health care, it takes a little time to get used to it because most of us are not trained in Prochaska and Diclemente’s stages of change.  We're not as good and as familiar with talking and listening to our patients and trying to figure out where they are in that readiness stage.”

• [24:20] Health benefits of being active outdoors

  • “I think a lot of this, this conversation should be intuitive. I mean, we know, it's the right thing to do to spend some more time outdoors. And, to be more active is really important. And we, I think, know that, intuitively, that being active outdoors confers some additional mental health benefits. You just feel better than running in a gym or on a treadmill.”

• [28:12] Access to nature

  • “In some ways, I do think that what we're doing right now with these nature prescriptions is a bit subversive. I mean, really, we're sort of bypassing a lot of the barriers, and maybe even sort of structural barriers, by going directly to the physicians and I hope soon to the patients and public to say, you know, there is something you can do, right? You also have a right to this.”

Creating Welcoming, Inclusive Health & Fitness Environments for People with Obesity [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Rachele Pojednic

  • Dr. Pojednic is Assistant Professor and Program Director of Exercise Science at Norwich University.  

  • She is also a research associate at the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a certified health and wellness coach, and has been a fitness professional for over 20 years.

• [1:23] Providing programming and services to people with obesity

  • “[T]he industry sort of sees them as a target population to change, rather than thinking of them as a target population that can be a part of our community. And so, I think, as we are entering into a space of inclusivity and acceptance, I think this really presents a timely opportunity to expand our community beyond what we've traditionally been seen as.”

• [2:35] Language and framing

  • “What vocabulary are we using in order to sell programming in order to, you know, entice people to come to our facility? And until recently, it's been very much about, make your body smaller. And I think that that is a really terrible way to sell the wonderful thing we all know as exercise.”

• [5:36] Creating community

  • “And so I think that as we shift to this new language, and create an inclusive environment rather than an exclusive environment, and I mean that in every sense of the word, then we are creating these communities, which are making people happier, making people healthier, and at the end of the day, keeping them around and helping our businesses stay afloat.”

• [7:01] Creating welcoming, inclusive environments

  • “But, when you are a person that is traditionally or has traditionally not been included into a community, when you walk in, seeing people that look like you is such an important element. Having somebody walk up to you with kindness and say, hi, I'm so and so, we're so glad you're here. Rather than giving you the side eye of, oh, look at this person, you know they need to be here because they have overweight or they have obesity, right?”

• [10:21] Reaching the 80%

  • “Like we've got 80% of the population that isn't coming to the gym or isn't coming to our facility. And part of the reason is because it doesn't feel welcoming…”

• [11:49] Representation and role models

  • “And yet in our industry, if you were to walk into a yoga class or a spin class or a Zumba class and the instructor has overweight or obesity, you can see eyebrows raising in the room, right?  And immediately, in our biases, disqualifying this person from having expertise, from having fitness, from having value in the space, and I think we have got to get over that because, again, it's creating an exclusive environment and an unrealistic expectation of what exercise and fitness really is.”

• [13:23] Messaging inclusion

  • “Walk into your fitness center, walk into your studio, and if there isn't clothes that have your branding that are going to fit your clientele, you are automatically sending a silent message that people don't belong there.” 

• [15:16] Stages of change

  • “So creating that environment, whether it's clothes, whether it's representation, whether it's language, whether it's space on the floor, all of those things are going to help people move from that action stage into the sustained change stage.”

• [17:05] Industry change

  • “And if we want to truly make a change—and as I said a second ago, we want to truly do what we as fitness instructors, what we as public health professionals say that we want to do and to change—we have to change so that the other people that we are trying to include actually feel included. I think it's incumbent upon us to change not to change the people that walk through the door.”

• [20:41] Health benefits of physical activity

  • “I think people are becoming more concerned with health, but that also presents an opportunity to show how the wonderful feelings and experience that you have with physical activity, with exercise, align in a parallel fashion with health. And it doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other.”

• [23:12] Joy and physical activity

  • “And so the joy, the energy, the community, that has to be—in my opinion—one of the first things that we offer people, otherwise they're not going to come back.”

• [24:14] Health and fitness as separate from weight loss

  • “And again, I think that we, we steal that from people that have overweight and obesity because the first thing that we tell them is, you need to be exercising in order to lose weight.”

• [25:22] Meeting the needs of people with obesity

  • “So I think the first skill that every single one of us needs to have is the skill or the experience or the understanding of empathy. I think that is, without a doubt, the number one practice that we all need to have.”

Linking Movement and Brain Health - UsAgainstAlzheimer’s [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Kelly O’Brien

  • Kelly is the Executive Director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Brain Health Partnership.

  • She is also a certified personal trainer and meditation teacher.

• [1:17] Preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease

  • “And the reason I was excited about this is it’s really over the last decade that we have been learning from science about the kinds of things that we can do to actually age cognitively healthy and cognitively strong. That Alzheimer's and dementia, it's really not inevitable...”

• [5:20] Empowering people to reduce risk

  • “So I just think there's just a ton of reason to be excited and hopeful about this from a very personal agency level to health plans in the health system, thinking about this from a financial and sort of systems approach that this is an opportunity to really right a ship that is not headed in the right direction at the moment.”

• [8:37] Linking movement and brain health

  • “And so physical activity, I think, is one of the most important. It's also one of the most scientifically backed and researched interventions. Dozens and dozens and dozens of studies have confirmed over and over and over again, that consistent and increased physical activity can actually reduce your risk of dementia and improve your cognitive performance.”

  • “But the bottom line is, when you exercise, you're increasing blood flow to your brain, and particularly your hippocampus, which is where memory operates from. And so consistent physical activity is a really important element in healthy aging, including in reducing your risk of dementia. Also, obviously, in addressing diabetes and hypertension and other conditions and obesity as well.” 

• [11:43] Physical activity referrals/prescriptions

  • “And that's the sort of thing that's really, it connects what's happening in the doctor's office, or the nurses, PA’s conversation with real life. Because we all know how hard it is. We know...it's very challenging, lifestyle change. And it takes support, it cannot be...it's so difficult to do it on your own. And so these kind of referrals and connections, I think, are just starting to happen. And I think there's just an immense opportunity for that.”

• [14:58] Linking clinic and community

  • “They're not set up for that. We need to link people to the community to solve these problems. Like it can't all happen in the doctor's office. It's just not maybe the right place. Maybe it starts there. But it can't begin, middle and end there.”

• [17:20] Advocacy

  • “And to me, it just is another clarion call for how we have to all work together on these things in service of all of our boats, right? Like, I think the way that the advocacy community has been set up is kind of by no fault of its own a victim of the way the funding streams have been.  So there's the heart people and the diabetes people and the dementia people and, and the fact is, we're all doing the same thing. And we've got to start working together better, and I think that’s happening.”

• [19:39] Cross-sector collaboration

  • “So that's where I'm really excited about that bridge being made. And I'd be lying if I said I had the perfect answer to how to do it, but I am committed to moving in that direction.”

• [21:24] Across the lifespan

  • “AARP did a recent, an amazing survey on stigma, and one of the things they found is that people were more likely to make lifestyle changes—like increased physical activity and better nutrition and addressing all these conditions that we've just discussed—if they knew or if they thought that it might help them avoid dementia.”

• [25:07] Brain health screening and digital health

  • “I had to go into the, a hospital at one point for an COVID test. They sent me a link to a form I had to fill out online. I'm filling out information online that goes into my EHR. When I get there, it pops up in my record. Like, why couldn't we do a brain health screen at home? Right? I'm just sort of thinking here out of the box, like this stuff doesn't have to happen on paper and pen in the clinician’s office. Why couldn't it happen in the waiting room?”

• [27:31] Talking to physicians about risk reduction

  • “And I think, you know, call the question.  And sometimes your doctor—and this happened to me—will say, oh, you're young, don't worry, you don't have symptoms. Don't accept that. Right?  Okay, how can I reduce my risk? Right? And they may not know the answer, but they're gonna look it up.”

• [28:46] Calls to action

  • “I think we need more education and better conversations about what health payers and providers can do around this in creative and interesting ways. So I think that's also a call to action is to take a look under the hood and see where are the unique opportunities to do this.”

Fun and Games as a Catalyst for Getting Communities Moving - Intelligent Health [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. William Bird

  • Dr. Bird is the CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health.  

  • He is also a General Practitioner and the creator of Beat the Street, Green Gyms and Health Walks.  

• [1:18] A mission to create active and vibrant communities

  • “And that technology got them excited.  And that’s how we started to really get large numbers of people. Sometimes in Sheffield—we’ve just finished a few weeks ago—we got 60,000 people playing within about two weeks.  So that's huge numbers. And a lot of these people are from very deprived areas. They're very obese, they're very inactive. And we're managing to get them, and that’s what's really exciting. The Health Walks was dealing with a little bit more the middle class, not quite reaching the more deprived communities. But this one really was. So it was technology and trying to get this mass participation, place based, that got me excited about it.”

• [5:50] Success and accessibility to different population subgroups

  • “And we know that the real reasons are nothing to do with I've got no time and I've got no money.  We know those excuses are excuses. They're just barriers people put up. Because the real reason is they put it as a low priority and they put it as low priority because they usually haven't got the confidence.  It’s an unknown world. And they can't quite see it fitting into their life.”

• [9:46] Fun and physical activity

  • “And we just don't think sometimes. We make physical activity like a tablet, because that's what we're used to as doctors. But physical activity shouldn't be anything extra.  It should be part of your well-being, it should be part of your life. It should give you the vibrancy and the additional fun in life.  And if you can’t do that then you are going to fail.” 

• [12:40] Mobilizing communities

  • “And that is, I think, what you have to do to gradually get people to start to explore, give them confidence and get to know their area so they can take their children or take their parents or go themselves.”

• [16:06] Physical activity as a means to an end

  • “And that's why I feel that physical activity should always be a means to the end and the end is the experience people have. The physical activity is just a method of getting there. If it becomes the endpoint and we talk about, ‘I'm going to get you fit,’ as you know, most people run away….”

• [20:48] Cross-sector collaboration

  • “So we've got this real gradient of the people who need it less are the ones who use it the most, and the people who need it the most are the ones who use it less...But working with these groups, and we have something called asset based community development, ABCD, which turned everything on its head saying that the community are the experts, they will give you the solutions, you build up the trust, and then eventually they will come out and help you.”

• [26:28] Impact of the pandemic on access to outdoor physical activity opportunities

  • “It's been a really incredible journey, I think, since the first lockdown when you saw initially a big divide between the more affluent and tended to be more white, going out a lot more with their families. And they're on their bikes all the time. And they were going to parks and green spaces. And those from more deprived communities, and particularly those BAME communities, were hunkering down and not moving. So you saw physical activity actually increased a little bit, but that was because the divide got bigger.”

Bringing Health & Fitness Out Into the Community - 92Y [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Katera Noviello Kapoor

  • Kat is Senior Director of Health Promotion, Wellness & Athletics at 92Y.  

  • She is also a Health Coach, Group Exercise Instructor & Pre/Post Natal Certified Instructor. 

• [1:21] Creating community within the four walls of 92Y

  • “We create community, I feel, through being available, accessible, and most importantly, approachable. I feel like we really try to be welcoming to all. We're going to meet everybody where they are.”

• [3:46] Creating welcoming and inclusive programming and services

  • “I feel like that is kind of the first step, is making sure that there's an entry point. Because if somebody sees there's only a program that's offered for 18 weeks and it's at this higher level, they're going to be intimidated, chances are, they're just going to walk away from that. So we like to have lots of different mini opportunities for them to experience something before they're fully committed to it.”

• [8:16] Training staff to support welcoming and inclusive environments

  • “We always bring it back to mission. I'm very big on mission. You know, I kind of come back to these two words consistently.  You know, they say, with mission statements, keep it simple. And I always bring it back to magic moments. We're trying to make magic moments for all of our patrons for all of our children.”

• [10:34] Bringing health & fitness out into the community

  • “The mayor's office just recently built out the Office of Sports, Wellness and Recreation, where they're very committed to funding for children who are under served as far as athletics goes, and also providing opportunity for talented individuals who may not otherwise have the opportunity to step onto a competitive team. We want to give everybody that same opportunity.”

• [12:52] Building successful partnerships with community stakeholders

  • “First and foremost, making sure that you're aligned in both your mission and what is going to be offered.  The other thing I would say is ensuring that there's room for growth. I never like to see a program start to succeed and see excitement behind an initiative and then have nowhere for it to go. So when I'm partnering with somebody, I'm always looking 4, 5,10 years ahead and saying, is there room for this to grow?”

• [14:14] Providing programming and services that meet the needs of all ages and abilities

  • “So I think being really creative and not having tunnel vision and oh, this just has to be a pure fitness class. How can I collaborate with other centers and other areas to really help build the mind body connection?”

• [16:46] Best practices in building successful partnerships with community stakeholders

  • “I think with community stakeholders, it's also great to go to the table with something. So understanding what you can provide to them and what they'll provide to us and kind of, it's like working a little bit of a puzzle, almost, how can you benefit our program and our community and how can we benefit you?”

• [17:57] Partnering with healthcare

  • “And we're currently working on becoming a medically fit organization. So that in and of itself requires a lot of partnership with hospitals and physicians.”

• [18:49] Success in bringing health promotion out into the community

  • “I think the work that I'll be doing with our innovation center, as far as national campaigns go, we're currently working on a national loneliness campaign to bring to light the emotions that go behind loneliness, and to help provide resources to individuals on increasing their work life balance, and how to build deeper connections.”

• [20:50] Expanding reach to non-exercisers

  • “We're just more passionate than ever about just expanding our reach to people who were not exercising prior to COVID. Because a lot of the people that were exercising, they're back with us, they're ready to go, they were hungry to be back with us.  But it's those that were missing that were potentially severely impacted by COVID more than anybody else if they were out of shape. Those are the people that we're really trying to reach out to now and say ‘come be with us, it's never too late to start’.”

• [23:15] Establishing expertise

  • “So just really expanding our reach to individuals who absolutely could benefit from our services, but maybe you just don't know about us or don't think that it's possible for them. So really being forward with patients and with hospitals that hey, we are here and we do have the expertise to serve you.”

• [25:54] Building trust and long-term relationships with community stakeholders

  • “And I think it's really important to build a relationship with those organizations, with those hospitals and their physicians and everybody who works alongside them.  Because it really, it’s not going to be a successful program if, like you said, it's just this kind of one off, you know, it's just a transactional exchange. That's not going to build a long-term relationship, and that’s what we’re all about...”

• [28:06] Favorite programming

  • “I would also say we have stretching classes that are for all levels, all abilities. But come in and do, it’s not a yoga class, it's not a fitness or abs class, it's just stretching. And that class is really special, because you will, you'll see, maybe a 20-year-old come in who's stressed out that week and feels like they just really need to reconnect with their body. And you'll also see a senior in that class. So I think it's really special to see that crossover of generations.”

Trust as a Foundation in Addressing Whole Person Health - Humana [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Caraline Coats

  • Caraline is VP of Provider Venture Investing at Humana.  

  • She is also the Interim Leader of the Humana Foundation

• [1:02] The role of trust in connecting healthcare and communities 

  • “And if I think of the healthcare ecosystem, both clinically and social, it plays arguably the most important role. And from there, you can start to influence change and co-create solutions and measure and make mistakes together, right?  And come back and learn and develop insights. Without trust, I don't think we really get to that meaningful type of impact.”

• [2:47] Evolution of population health work

  • “So we see some pretty successful providers take their positive results and invest it in community health workers, transportation services, access to healthy food, addressing the health-related social needs, that are addressing the whole person health needs of our members much more effectively than perhaps years ago.”

• [6:39] Framing whole person health

  • “And as we started understanding how important those health-related social needs are on the long term quality of life, and the word whole person health, and now we call human care, is really a part of our mission and DNA.”

• [10:16] Collecting data on health-related social needs

  • “So while there's some noise in it, as there will be, six, seven years of data all directionally showing the power of being able to affect someone's self report on how they feel lonely or social isolation compared to how they're feeling physically or mentally.  I mean, they often say the best predictor of our health is how we feel.” 

• [17:20] Connection between physical activity and health outcomes

  • “And we do see connections between those who are, at least signed off or enrolled in these programs directionally have longer term, better quality in health outcomes and results. And it's hard to determine, is that because of the actual physical activity or were there group and community classes? is that because of the social connection? And there's an interaction there that we may never know, but I think it plays a beneficial role to people in different ways.”

• [21:26] Expanding access to physical activity opportunities

  • “There's not one answer, not even by community or population, I think. So it's a constant marriage of understanding our individual member needs, barriers in the community, building trust within the organizations in that community, and then connecting all of those dots to try to find the best solution. Whether it's physical activity, or food or transportation, or loneliness, or crime or safety, right?”

• [24:32] Best practices in addressing health-related social needs

  • “But when you're focusing on population health, you have to let your competitive guard down, right?  You have to bring in your competition and other payers. And if we're in a community, right, this isn't about improving just the health of those who have Humana insurance. This is about improving the health of the members in the community.”

• [26:03] Pandemic accelerating focus on whole person health

  • “There's an increased level of support to study different and more pilots around addressing health-related social needs. So we can deliver more and more proof points to ultimately change reimbursement and benefits and all of the business impact things we want to do to truly embed whole person health into the way we structure healthcare.”

• [27:49] Best practices for building trust

  • “Taking time to listen and understand the needs at an individual level, but also at a community level. And then consistently showing up and being present to try to bridge the gap for the right solution.”

Racial Justice, Anti-Racism and Equality in the Health & Fitness Industry - TRILLFIT® [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Meghan Venable-Thomas

  • Dr. Meghan Venable-Thomas is Cardio Dance instructor and Community Engagement Manager at TRILLFIT®. 

  • She is also Cultural Resilience Program Director at Enterprise Community Partners.  

• [1:23] Start in the health & fitness industry

  • “And the first time that I actually experienced another person looking like me, as well as an instructor that looked like me, was in a TRILLFIT®  class. And as I continued being a client there, I found out that also the owner was a Black woman. And so asTRILLFIT® began to expand, I was asked to try out to be an instructor. And that kind of started me on this journey as being not just a client, but part of a community and a really a shaper of what fitness and wellness could look like for all folks.”

• [2:46] Creating a culture of belonging and accessibility

  • “How important is it for fitness and wellness organizations and businesses to really have a culture of belonging and accessibility, I think, is critically important. And so to think about what that looks like for your organization, I think, speaks volumes, but also creates greater impact from your organization.”

• [4:11] Finding a community

  • “When I found TRILLFIT®, I was like, Oh, this is different, you know, so it wasn't…. And then it wasn't even a choice to be made anymore, because I saw and I felt completely different when there was a community where I felt like I belonged, and I kind of just let the other places go. And so I think you deal with what you have. But when you find something that actually meets all of your needs, it's just a completely different experience.”

• [5:34] Stepping in to lead in a community

  • “I really stepped in because it felt like a community that I could participate in and that I really wanted to give my skills and assets to as well.”

• [6:18] Creating access and collaboration

  • “And so our mission at TRILLFIT® is really about how do you create access? What does that look like to create access? How do you create collaboration? What does it look like to collaborate in your community, to be a part of your community as a community member and stakeholder?”

• [7:32] TRILLFIT® pledge

  • “And so one thing that we did, in August of last year was we launched a pledge for racial justice, anti-racism and equality in the wellness industry. Because we recognize that in this $4.2 trillion industry, we have a lot of power. And right now that power is not being leveraged towards equity, and change in equity.”

• [10:16] Diversity, equity, inclusion training

  • “But we're also drafting or crafting a DEI program right now, to think about how not only we train ourselves a little bit more prescriptively around diversity, equity, inclusion, but also how we support other organizations and really thinking about what equity diversity inclusion might look like for them as part of the roadmap for how we think about how the pledge, where the pledge can take you.”

• [11:12] Connecting to and serving community

  • “And we are at the same time asking other industry leaders to think about what does community work look like for you? What communities do you sit in? And how are you touching them? How are you reaching out? How are you investing and growing in trying to address health disparities?” 

• [13:08] Industry sign on

  • “Yeah, I mean, I think we've got a ton of studios, but we've also gotten bigger brands like mindbody to sign on, like ClassPass. So there are some really big industry leaders who are interested in this type of work and trying to figure out how they do that, as well as smaller studios.”

• [13:59] Member sign on

  • “And so at every angle, or every part of life, we're really trying to look at how we support our clients, and how we're thinking about health equity in those different experiences. And so I think our clients also love us because we're constantly thinking about all the areas and aspects of life where we need wellness.”

• [15:37] Accessible language

  • “And so how then do we create the type of space where we make it accessible for everyone to be able to stand up and say that I am well or trying to get well. And while I'm in the process, I can still stand up in here and bring other people along with me. And so that, that messaging is really important for us. And I think it should be really important for everybody if we actually are talking about reaching everyone, right?, being completely accessible.”

• [18:44] Opening doors

  • “But also that there are so many barriers to even showing up in the space and feeling comfortable for a lot of people that, you know, how do we start to create the type of culture where people really feel like the doors are open and this is a place where you can get well, even if you don’t feel well already.”

• [21:00] Diverse representation among instructors

  • “If you really want people of all types and styles and looks and ages and demographics and ability levels, then you have to be open to figuring out how can these folks be instructors, right?”

• [23:38] Diverse class offerings

  • “If what we're seeing is the only people that can teach this class look this way, then maybe we need a different kind of class offering where other people can teach that look this way, or like that way, or whatever it is, like how are we being creative about what our offerings are, that actually can meet people where they are who want to be a part of the community.”

• [25:06] Health & fitness as essential during COVID

  • “I think that was because people needed this destressor. People needed this community that they knew. They needed to see these faces of folks who were showing up and being with you every day in this like time of crisis. And a place where you felt like you belong, like being able to come into your home.”

• [27:54] Health & fitness for every body

  • “And like just making more people feel and know that that health and wellness is for every body, every type of body, every age of body, every mobility of body. And it's, I think, a real opportunity at the intersection of equity and health, to really be lifting up that more and more.”

Linking Movement and Mental Health [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Brendon Stubbs

  • Dr. Stubbs is Senior Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London.  

  • He is a physiotherapist and a scientist and researcher in mental health, physical activity and well-being. 

• [1:23] Inspiration for interest in physical activity and mental health

  • “And it was just being trained in physical therapy, or being able to really focus on the body and movement, exercise and how we move. And then looking at people who are coming to seek treatment for their mental health and seeing very early on as a junior physiotherapist—or physical therapist—how inactive people were, how people were not moving around very much at all…”

• [3:34] Connecting a healthy mind and a healthy body

  • “The inaugural medical director of the World Health Organization outright said in their first speech that there is no health without mental health, clearly making the stance that having true health is really about having a healthy mind and a healthy body. And the two are completely interconnected.”

• [8:03] Integrating mental and physical health in practice

  • “And I think my experience has shown me that, because people see me coming in from sort of physical health help, and I'm not coming in to look at their psychiatric medication or give any diagnosis, it really opens a very natural, trusting, open dialogue, which is a great privilege for people to be able to talk about their mental health symptoms, which you would ordinarily never have the privilege and the honor to listen, to hear, to help, and for people to confide in me in the context of their care as well.”

• [12:05] Destigmatizing mental health conditions

  • “And it's really important, because I don't need to tell you or any of your listeners that we all have mental health, and there's times where our mental health is out of sync, and many of us will have mental health symptoms or conditions at one point in our lives. And we all almost certainly know somebody right now who is struggling with a mental health diagnosis. So it's only right that we're openly talking about mental health, and how we can help people.”

• [15:52] Addressing the physical inactivity and mental health crises

  • “Now the links between mental health in the context of the crisis were not always implicitly made. But more and more people are talking about the impact of not being able to connect with our friends being indoors. But physical activity proves a real, profound opportunity to help us move, feel better, connect outdoors safely with other people, and feel a sense of joy and movement. And I think it's a real win-win situation for our physical and our mental health and just our overall connection with each other and also the outside world and the planet.” 

• [18:35] Physical activity as a coping strategy

  • “People were asked in the context of the pandemic, out of a whole plethora of options, what is the number one coping strategy which you're using to help get by and help you cope during this pandemic.  Number one spot was people put physical activity and exercise.” 

• [22:02] Building the evidence base linking mental health and physical activity

  • “So I think, more broadly in the context of mental health and physical activity, I think there's been some really exciting developments over the last 5,10,15 years where we’ve moved from physical activity, structured exercises as being something which would be like a nice to have...”

• [25:00] Translating research for a lay audience

  • “There's a lot of noise out there, there's a lot of views, there's a lot of views, there's a lot of opinions. And often the people who are most listened to in the context of lifestyle, movement, nutrition, are not the ones who are undertaking, leading, or doing the science. So we've got, we've got a mismatch between the people who are being listened to and heard and the people who are doing the science and the rigor and know the evidence and trying to connect those two dots.”

• [26:44] Call to action

  • “And really know that helping people move is going to help people's physical health.  And if we help them with physical health, we're going to help people with mental health.  In its own right, there's really robust evidence that helping people move more can help prevent and manage mental health symptoms, make us feel happier and help with people with mental health diagnosis.”

15 Minutes of Daily Physical Activity for Fitter, More Focused Children - The Daily Mile [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Elaine Wyllie

  • Elaine is the founder of the Daily Mile.

  • She started the Daily Mile while head teacher at St. Ninian’s Primary School, and was named Teacher of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards. 

• [1:19] Starting the Daily Mile

  • “And so I had often thought, you know, you hear on the news, and you hear about children's fitness and fatness, and so on. And I had often thought, why don't children just run round the field once a day? You know, wouldn't that do them some good?”

• [4:13] Engaging children in the process

  • “Those things all happened with no planning—zero planning—but the children invented it. So in a sense, it turned everything on its head and became the children's thing. And that has been replicated across school cultures across climates across the world. And I think it's because the Daily Mile meets the needs of childhoodę—fun, fresh air, friends, freedom— and these needs are the same wherever you go.”

• [6:31] Discovering your inner fit child

  • “So, those children, who were just simply a bit unsporty or a bit unfit, discovered their kind of inner fit child, and that it was for them too. So they discovered that they were really all actually an athlete. And that was really interesting for us.”

• [10:24] Demonstrating the benefits of the Daily Mile

  • “We now have convincing research that says to head teachers and principals and teachers, the benefits are so great for almost no time—focus, concentration, happiness, behavior.  Children learn when their needs are met.  And if children are sitting too much, you know they get antsy, they get fidgety, they're not learning.  They need to run around.”

• [15:39] Making a difference with child obesity and overweight

  • “After three years at St Ninian's there was a remarkable difference between obesity and overweight in St. Ninian's and Scottish schoolchildren as a whole. Our children were lean and fit compared with the national average, and it cost nothing.”

• [17:26] Scaling

  • “So we got, quite quickly, a lot of support from the medical and public health community. The fact that it fits and works meant that schools would see and give it a go. And it works from day one. And it's easy, it's easy to do.  The fact that it's free, you don't need resources of any sort, you basically open the door and take the children out.”

• [20:55] Health partnering with schools

  • “The Daily Mile is a solution. It's not a message. It's a practical solution in the school day. It's on a plate. parceled up. There you are. And if you do the Daily Mile, you will change the health and well-being of your children.  Now, and for the future.”

• [23:20] Building resilience

  • “But essentially, almost all weathers, we say.  And children respond.  And, as you say, it builds resilience.  They respond to nature and the seasons.”

• [25:33] The Daily Mile and COVID

  • “And, interestingly, the Daily Mile signup increased during COVID in schools, because it was the one thing that worked. So you're not touching equipment, you're not indoors, you can do it in your bubble, it just worked. It was outdoors and so schools kept it going, and more schools signed up. And that was really important to us that those schools who kept going with The Daily Mile and were open, kept their children fit.”

• [28:01] Fit for Life

  • And so we need help to take it to adults, but that realization that they can, they can have responsibility for self care, and shift, you know, that thing where there's inactive, somewhat active, and active. And that shift from inactive to somewhat active is the thing that saves the health service and saves the people.  The Daily Mile can help people to make that shift.”

• [29:47] Engaging with the Daily Mile

  • “I often say, you know, we have a huge, massive, complex, expensive problem, and lack of fitness, and obesity levels, and mental health, and loneliness. And, you know, actually, you can have a fairly simple partial solution. It's certainly not the whole solution. But the Daily Mile is a simple and free partial solution to these things.”

Improving Access to Physical Activity Opportunities for People with Disabilities [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Joel Dembe

  • Joel is an Advocate for Disability and Inclusion, PR Professional, and Paralympian. 

• [1:10] Journey to being an advocate for disability and inclusion

  • “I wasn't a fan of being separated from the rest of my able bodied classmates when it came to any type of activity. You know, and obviously for me, identified really at a young age, the empowering feeling that physical activity gave me in spite of being in a wheelchair. And for me, it was my very first gym teacher, really working hard to include me with the rest of my classmates, through all gym activities.”

• [3:10] Identifying as an athlete

  • “And, you know, having the chance to look at Paralympians and look at confident athletes at a really young age, I felt that was the embodiment of disability that I wanted to be known as. I didn't want to be ‘hospital Joel.’ I didn't want to be Joel ‘special needs Joel’ relegated to a different class. I wanted to be a Paralympian. I wanted to be beyond my disability.”

• [4:50] Inclusive physical education

  • “And I think for any person, no matter what your abilities are, whether you use a wheelchair like I do or whatever, you look at what are the core skills that you're seeing here.  Okay, let's find a way to pivot around them or integrate them. And I think exposing other children to disabilities, and ensuring that people with disabilities are given skills to live independently at a young age, are super important.”

• [7:07] De-stigmatizing differences

  • “And so I feel really empowered to tell kids that differences are actually normal. I think we stigmatize differences at such a young age. And that I hope you see the end version of someone who's lived through those differences, but came out the other side in a very positive way.”

• [9:32] Making our own communities more accessible for people with disabilities

  • “And if there's certain pockets in our communities that are cut off from people with disabilities, then that's the easy embodiment for me to sort of discuss those issues of fairness. Because they're in our backyard, they're in our community. Not every playground, not every track is accessible. Not every hockey arena or baseball field is accessible. And that's the sort of idea that I want to put ahead here is, it's happening in our communities. We don't have to think so broadly around the world, there's change that can occur within our community.”

• [11:30] Reimagining physical education

  • “I feel like if you have a disability and you're really young or you have some sort of perceived difference, that gym should really be a way to do things independently. For me it was, I need to learn how to fail.  And I think we should be okay with gym being, any type of physical activity as an opportunity for kids to learn what it means to not succeed, but learning how to work hard to get over that obstacle.”

• [15:33] Connecting community partners

  • “And I often wonder if we expose children to...instead of seeing what the end user looks like in a wheelchair...but showcase the journey of someone learning to be independent, and I'm sure they'd, kids, would learn so much, and also perhaps even want a career in the health field…”

• [18:02] Advice to Paralympians

  • “I would say to athletes that the Paralympics, it goes beyond that. You're training for this singular goal that happens every four years. And you might have one shot to get there in your specific sport. But I'd also encourage athletes to pick up other sports along the way.  Your journey doesn't have to end at the age of 30.”

• [19:59] Lifelong journey in sport

  • “Try to stay around a little bit longer. Get involved in NSO—national sports organizations—get involved in Change for Good Health.  There’s so many ways to have a lifelong journey with sport that maybe isn't as demanding as a high performance athlete, but can certainly provide that same sense of value.”

• [21:37] Health equity for people with disabilities

  • “Fifteen percent of the entire world's population has a disability. And many of them live with health issues every day. And we need to do a better job, not only protecting the health, but ensuring that we're giving the proper tools and opportunities for people with disabilities to not only stay healthy, but stay protected during a pandemic.”

• [24:59] Expanding physical activity opportunities for people with disabilities

  • “We need to better integrate people with disabilities into all aspects of society. And I would start with health being the first thing, recreation opportunities, making fitness equitable. It's simple, I just want all people with disabilities to have the same opportunity to stay fit that able bodied people do.”

• [27:40] Becoming involved in advocacy

  • “And so I would say to students and everyone listening today, discover your own community and find those gaps. And make sure you're identifying how people with disabilities can get involved in whatever you're up to. And, and I would say to everyone, that COVID-19 has really exposed some of these gaps. And I think if we work together, we can make sure that we're not leaving people behind, no matter their abilities.”