Move to Heal (MTH), a free wellness program on campus, is held every Thursday from 4-5 p.m. in the Jorge Bergoglio Hall Gym. It offers a unique blend of a 30-minute workout followed by an hour-long support session focusing on mental health.
MTH sessions are offered to Sacred Heart students, faculty, and staff. Individuals are encouraged to connect physically through workouts, as well as emotionally, during safe-space meetings.
Julia Barrows, a university Mental Health Counselor and Co-Facilitator of Move to Heal, said the program aims to offer a sense of community where people can connect and support others.
“Any student can join whether they are full-time, part-time, undergrad, or a grad student,” said Barrows. “I think this is important to emphasize because the main goal is to increase accessibility for students, especially since, through the counseling center, we can only provide services to our full-time undergrad students.”
Barrows said that their sessions start with an icebreaker, during which participants go around the circle and share their first name and their answer. After that, members do a bodyweight warmup and then begin their workout.
“Typically, the structure of the group exercise is about 15 minutes, and you do as many rounds as possible of whatever workouts are on the board. Move to Heal itself offers free work with a registered dietician if you attend at least two meetings a month,” said Barrows.
Barrows said meetings include conversation-based discussion questions, creating an environment encouraging participants to speak, but not forcing them to.
“Then we will get into the discussion question of the day, which could be, ‘How do you stay consistent with your small habits that bring you joy?’” said Barrows. “If they feel like they just want to listen for that day, that is totally ok.”

Source: Tracy Deer-Mirek, Sacred Heart University

Source: Salome Pizon, Staff Photographer and Staff Writer
James Geisler, Executive Director of Wellness Services, said MTH works to promote positive mental health by bridging emotional wellness with physical activity.
“Mental health has a holistic foundation, where physical wellness and social connection are just two aspects that contribute to positive mental health. Move to Heal creates those two fundamental aspects which support overall well-being,” said Geisler.
Sophomore Juliana Strippoli said she thinks working out is a great way of reducing your stress and making you feel less anxious. Strippoli said having programs such as MTH on campus can be a great resource for students or faculty.
“I’m not a part of Move to Heal but it sounds like it is a valuable program for us to have on campus,” said Strippoli.
Barrows said that they’re looking at ways to expand Move to Heal across campus by getting connected with other departments with similar values. In the future, Barrows said that they hope to go beyond discussion questions and incorporate skill-building for students, like guided meditations.
To learn more about MTH, visit http://www.movetohealct.org, or their Instagram at @movetoheal.ct.