03/03/2026
Today, my friend Sasha Wolff was awarded the 2026 Remarkable Women of West Michigan Award from WOOD TV8. I can not think of anyone more deserving of this recognition.
I first met Sasha Wolff not long after she started Still I Run - Runners for Mental Health Awareness Looking back through old emails, it looks like she and I met for the first time in 2017. Man…almost 10 years ago!
I don't remember who initiated the meeting, whether it was her or I. I just remember thinking how cool it was that there was a community-based organization that existed here in Grand Rapids whose primary focus it was to get people moving and running for their mental health. There was a clear link between our two organizations, The Well Being and Still I Run. We were both trying to accomplish the same goal; getting people to start exercising for their mental health. We were just approaching it from two different angles.
She was coming from a community engagement perspective. We were coming from a treatment-based perspective. But again, we had the same shared goal of getting as many people as we could to start moving for their mental health. I thought that was pretty cool. And maybe, just maybe, a bit more than happenstance.
Nothing official really happened after we met. We kept talking, fell out of contact, got into contact again, and fell out of contact again. Outside of striking up a friendship, I remember thinking the whole time that there was some real potential between our organizations if we were to ever really join up together. I believe Sasha felt the same way.
Then, one day in January 2023, Sasha approached me with the idea of hosting her first “in-person” Mental Health Runner program (formerly known as the “Starting Line Scholarship”) here in Grand Rapids. She had been doing this program virtually for a while, but in order to do it in person, she needed the physical location of The Well Being and its fitness center in order to bring her idea of an in-person mental-health focused “Couch to 5K” program into reality.
We met that January and started talking about this idea and it all just started falling into place. Along with getting together every Saturday for the run training portion of the program, led by a certified running coach, the participants would also meet every Wednesday at 5:45pm for a “bootcamp” style fitness class, led by one of The Well Being’s fitness instructors. We would try to attract clients of The Well Being to join the program, but primarily market it to individuals from the outside. Individuals who reported being essentially sedentary, inactive, and struggling with their mental health.
I think the idea that put the cherry on this quickly developing delicious ice cream sundae was the idea to hold a mental health support group, led by therapists from The Well Being, for the program participants. The support group would take place immediately after the bootcamp class ended, and would give the program members a safe place to share their struggles, challenges, and experiences with their mental health with one another. And, gain strength and support from one another, as well.
That was really the thing that we thought would really put the mental health aspect of this program directly in the forefront for the participants. After they work out and are all sweaty and catching their breath, we pull a bunch of chairs into a circle in the fitness center and say, “Let’s hear from somebody who’s struggling. Who wants to share today?”
When I go back to that first night of bootcamp, and specifically what took place in the support group after, I oftentimes get a little choked thinking about it. Hell, I did just now when I wrote that sentence. The level of openness and honesty and vulnerability that I witnessed that evening was way beyond anything I ever would have expected. The people in that group just seemed to dive right in without hesitation and share who they really were and share the struggles they’ve been having. And they did it in this really great and healthy way.
The weird thing is, it happened because they exercised first. Google “oxytocin and exercise” if you don’t believe me.
Anyway…I’ve said this many times, and I will say it many, many more…the “Mental Health Runner” program is one of the top 3 things I’ve been involved with in my 20+ years of working in mental health. The Well Being and The Well Being Foundation being the other two. It is such a special program that would not have happened if it wasn’t for Sasha Wolff.
When Sasha said in her interview that she hopes to help “millions” of people discover the benefits of running, exercising, or moving for their mental health. My response to that is, “I’m right there with you, Sistah”. Let’s you and I change the world. Or at the very least give it our best shot.
This award and the recognition you’ve received is so well deserved. Keep doing what you do best, which is leading from your heart. You have already changed many people’s lives.
Mine included.
Brendan
