Perth is home to Scotland All-Strong – a not-for-profit gym with a focus on mental health.
Andy Douglas and his wife Jess founded the operation as a community-interest company in 2018.
Andy, a director and instructor at Scotland All-Strong, loves training and a wide variety of wellbeing activities.
After a decade of living abroad teaching English, Andy and his wife returned to Scotland when their son was due to be born.
The pair then gained fitness qualifications with the intention of opening Scotland All-Strong.
He said: “I am passionate about supporting others to start and stick to their wellness journey.
“The mission was to support people to improve and better self-manage their mental health and wellbeing through all-ability fitness, relaxation techniques and peer connection.
“With lived experience of mental-health struggles and addiction issues, we wanted to highlight the benefits of physical activity as a self-management tool.
“We set out to create a unique environment and format of programmes to provide positive experience of this.”
Training with mental health as a priority
Andy said they had identified a gap in the fitness industry in general, which was training with mental health as a priority.
“Physical and aesthetic goals, such as weight loss, muscle gain, strength and endurance, will be achieved in time, whereas exercise can provide a boost to mood and sense of wellbeing within each session.”
When the doors of Scotland All-Strong opened, there were just two staff – Andy as fitness instructor and personal trainer, and Jess as pilates teacher.
He added: “Over the years, we have built long-term partnerships with many other not-for-profit and public-sector organisations in order to provide fully-private programmes for their service users.
“Now we work with over 10 local organisations on a regular basis.
“We deliver programmes to carers in partnership with PKAVS and Change Mental Health, to service users of Perth Autism Support, students of Perth College, refugees, patients from the Murray Royal Hospital, people in addiction recovery, the LGBT+ community, and more.
“We also run a small public gym, with the majority of our customers training with mental health as a priority, and many who train with a support worker present.
Shifting attitudes and future plans
Scotland All-Strong now has four instructors and two volunteers at Drummond House in Scott Street.
Andy added: “As the number and success of our programmes grows, we are communicating with new organisations in order to deliver programmes for their service users.
“We are also seeing increased demand for gym memberships. We feel this represents a slight shift in the perception of why people go to the gym.
“It highlights the benefits of exercise for mental wellbeing in addition to physical goals.”
The co-founder has big plans for the future.
“In five years, our goal is to become a multi-regional charity with several locations,” he said.
Andy added he wants to work working with local partners to deliver programmes to users with a wide variety of additional support needs.
He also wants to create a strong community spirit and ensure mental health and recovery are seen as a priority in training.
Conversation