The Well Being, Counseling and Fitness Center

02/05/2026

Here's a post from September 9th, 2011. In this post we clearly state our belief that exercise is the "3rd valid treatment option" for treating commonly-occurring mental health concerns (e.g. depression). Meaning, we believed it was on par with counseling and medication in terms of its efficacy.

Again, this was 15 years ago.

Fast forward to today, and the The Cochrane Library, which is one of the most highly reputable sources of scientific research on the planet, releases their review of existing research on exercise and its impact on depression. Based on their review of research, Cochrane states, "We found that exercise was as effective as pharmacological treatments and psychological therapies as well".

Even though we believed it 15 years ago, it is a proven fact today. The question to our community stakeholders and our healthcare industry is, why isn't exercise being given the attention it deserves?

In a study of people with serious depression that wasn't responding to an antidepressant, vigorous exercise was as effective as or more effective than adding a second medication for achieving remission.

02/02/2026

On Sunday, August 1st of 2011, we were featured on the front page of the "Health" section of the Sunday edition of The Grand Rapids Press. Needless to say, this was a REALLY big deal.

Paul Kopenkosky wrote a great article about our practice and our concept, and it really helped boost the profile of our practice in our community. We receive a lot of calls and a lot of emails after that article came out.

I remember how excited we were when all this was happening. It is certainly one of our highlights of the past 15 years.

The Grand Rapids Press Timothy Pieri

The Well Being LLC in Northwest Grand Rapids includes an on-site fitness center.

01/30/2026

In this post from July 31st, 2011, we linked an article from the NY Times that discussed how regular exercise was proving to be an effective way to improve and maintain the health of our brain, and even found to be effective in warding off memory loss as we age.

In this article, the author's did state that "scientists have yet to prove that exercise can ward off serious problems like Alzheimer's"

Well, here we are, 15 years later, and according to the Alzheimer's Society of the UK, regular physical activity is "one of the best things you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia".

Of all the organs that benefit from regular physical activity, the brain appears to be the organ that benefits most.

For those of us hoping to keep our brains fit and healthy well into middle age and beyond, the latest science offers some reassurance.

01/27/2026

I am proud to say that, way, way back in our early days, we had the foresight regarding a need to provide expert level fitness services to clients that came to The Well Being. We understood that many people who were sedentary might require some guidance and assistance towards helping them learn how to exercise and move their bodies in a way that was safe, and felt good to them.

We knew that, as therapists, we did not have the training or expertise to provide this to our clients. We needed an expert.

In July of 2011 we hired our first fitness expert, Brandi Angelosanto, MS in Exercise Physiology, for this role and have remained committed to this standard ever since.

Our most recent addition...Brandi Angelosanto. Brandi has an MS in Exercise Physiology, and will be providing each of our clients with a free, 1 hour fitness consultation! She will also be providing personal training services, for those who are interested. Great to have you on board, Brandi!

01/26/2026

We are thrilled to announce that applications for the Spring 2026 Starting Line Scholarship program are officially open!

For those who do not know, the SLS program is a free, mental health focused "couch to 5k" program that is geared towards individuals who are struggling with their mental health, and are interested in experiencing first-hand the mental health benefits of exercise and physical activity.

This will be our 6th cohort for this program, and what we can safely say at this point is that it has really changed a lot of peoples lives. It is one of the best things we have happening here at The Well Being, and we are proud to be partners with Still I Run - Runners for Mental Health Awareness in this offering.

So if you or someone you know and love are struggling with mental health, and are looking to get moving to feel better, please check out the brochure. And do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

01/23/2026

Here is a post from June 23rd, 2011. The pics were taken right before we officially opened the doors to what was, and still is, a revolutionary new concept in behavioral healthcare.

Looking at these pictures today really helps me understand just how far we've come. And, we still have a ways to go.

Fitness Center (or the beginnings, at least!)

01/21/2026

A post from June 6th, 2011. As we continued to work on putting the final pieces of The Well Being together, we remained focused on doing things the "right way". While we knew our fitness center was going to be a bit on the smaller side, we wanted to make sure our clients had access to high quality cardio equipment.

So we found a good deal on a couple of commercial grade Precor treadmills and one commercial grade Precor elliptical.

Funny thing is...those machines are still in use today. Looks like we made the right choice.


Timothy Pieri

01/19/2026

Here is a post from June 4th, 2011 that includes the first pictures we ever took at our first location on Front Ave., along with some pictures we took for our early marketing efforts. Timothy Pieri Joylynn Kelly

Front of the Building

01/16/2026

Here's a post from June 3rd, 2011, shortly before we opened our doors. The significance of this post is NOT the carpet cleaning (while still important). This post really represents the first instance of me learning a very hard but very important lesson that I learned in our first few/several years of business. And that lesson is...

Just because I think something is true, or believe something is going to happen, doesn't mean that it WILL happen.

Case in point...the "marketing materials". I don't recall specifically what they were. I'm sure it was some sort of letter and maybe our first brochure that we sent out to local primary care physicians. I remember being pretty much convinced that when we send the information about The Well Being and what we were doing by incorporating exercise as a primary means of treatment into our counseling practice, Primary Care Physicians were going to be sending us their patients in waves. I was, to put it bluntly, extremely optimistic.

So we send out these marketing materials to probably around 30 to 50 or so primary care physicians, and do you know what happened as a result?

Zero. Zilch. Nada. Bupkis. I don't think we got a single referral.

And if I recall correctly, that's when a sense of panic really started to sink in.

01/14/2026

Because we were the first outpatient mental health counseling practice anywhere in existence to include its own fitness center and directly incorporate exercise/physical activity is a primary treatment modality, it took us a long time to conceptualize and design our program, while continuing to gather research to support our claim regarding the efficacy of exercise.

It took about a year and a half, to be exact. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it as well as we possibly could.


Timothy Pieri

01/12/2026

"...So I think exercise is a fundamental pillar we really need to counsel patients on," - Dr. Nicholas Fabiano, University of Ottawa

What was I just saying about being ahead of the curve? :)

New research shows exercise is as effective as medication at reducing symptoms of depression. And you don't need to run a marathon to see benefits. So how much is enough?

01/12/2026

This might just be my favorite post that's ever been posted on this page. The reason why is because this was the first post we ever did. All the way back to May 19th, 2011. Unfortunately, it is so old that the link no longer works. :) But, you can see what the post was about, and what we were about, all the way back then.

The reason I'm sharing this old post is that this year we are celebrating our 15th YEAR ANNIVERSARY here at The Well Being, Counseling and Fitness Center. It is mind-boggling to me to think that that amount of time has passed since Tim Pieri and I launched what was then, and still is today, a radical new approach to traditional outpatient mental health services. While I can't say that it seems only like yesterday, it sure as hell does not feel like it's been 15 years.

To commemorate this anniversary, I will be going back through and sharing old posts from our page. I'm not going to be doing this just to take a trip down Memory Lane. I will also be doing this in order to demonstrate just how far ahead of the curve we really were back then.

We remain far, far ahead of the curve today.

We knew back then that regular physical activity/exercise was a valid and effective form of treatment for most commonly-occurring mental health issues, and over the past 15 years our conviction has only grown. For us, combining a traditional outpatient counseling practice with a fitness center always has and always will “just make sense”.

I could not be more proud of all that we have accomplished over the past 15 years. We have learned so much, met so many great people, and have had so many great experiences along the way.

I can not wait to see what the next 15 years brings.

It's no secret that exercise lifts mood, but some researchers believe it may even be powerful enough to treat depression