Welcome to Our Inclusion Resource Hub
On this page, we offer resources for health club and studio operators committed to creating accessible, welcoming environments for all. Here, you will find guides and best practices to support outreach and engagement with individuals living with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental health challenges.
Tools to Support Mental Health and Well-Being
The need to address mental health and well-being with your members and visitors has never been more important. Thanks to a generous grant from the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, the HFA Foundation is providing tools to help health club and studio operators address mental health and well-being of members and visitors.
This project includes results of a survey of fitness professionals to understand their perspectives on the role of fitness centers in optimizing mental health and well-being, readiness to address mental health, and current practices addressing mental health and well-being.
- Supporting Mental Health & Well-Being: A Toolkit for Health & Fitness Centers – Download
- Perspectives on Supporting Mental Health & Well-Being in Health & Fitness Facilities: A Survey of Fitness Professionals – Download
Together, these resources include:
- Opportunities for the industry to address mental health and well-being.
- Evidence on the benefits of exercise for general mental health and well-being and clinical and subclinical mental illnesses.
- Examples of fitness industry leaders addressing mental health and well-being and clinical and subclinical mental health conditions.
- Current knowledge, attitudes, and awareness among fitness industry professionals about mental health and the benefits of exercise.
Tools to Support People With Physical Disabilities
The HFA Foundation has developed and piloted a number of resources to support facilities with meeting the needs of members and visitors with physical disabilities.
Tools to Support People With Intellectual Disabilities
With funding from the Special Olympics Inclusive Health Innovation Grant, supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the HFA Foundation has developed the following free resources to help fitness centers expand inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
