Reps4Recovery: Using Fitness to Fight Substance Abuse
Krissy Mae Cagney (unofficially) started what later became known as Reps4Recovery in 2015.
Cagney was in recovery herself and owned Black Iron Gym in Reno, NV. On a whim, she began offering classes to anyone in the community who was recovering from any kind of substance abuse.
The classes were packed, and this program soon took off.
Cagney knew she had something.
Early on, Cagney entirely funded the program, but its popularity soon made this impossible.
In the spring of 2017, the informal program Cagney started was christened Reps4Recovery. Through crowdfunding and the release of a documentary, the organization raised enough money to hire more coaches and build the program.
The program quickly transitioned into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
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Cagney sold her gym just before the pandemic, and the management of the organization went primarily to Sophie Moeller, a program director who had been bringing clients from a sober program into the gym to utilize Reps4Recovery.
The fit was perfect. The timing, however, was not.
- “It was the time of COVID, and I didn’t know what to do,” Moeller said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “We didn’t have a gym and had nowhere to meet as a group because the pandemic was looming and all the gyms shut down. So we marched ahead, put our classes online, and somehow hung on by a thread with people checking in online.”
The pandemic was brutal for everyone, but when it came to the sober population, it was even more precarious.
- “There were so many layers. It wasn’t just the logistics of having a nonprofit that relied on gym space, one of the last venues to open back up, but you also had the fact that most recovery platforms are group-based,” she said.
“There was such a prevalence of relapses occurring because most support systems had vanished overnight.”
- She continued: “People were trying to meet on Zoom, but then you think of those who don’t have access to a tablet, a laptop, or the internet. We had so much that we were up against to try to keep this surviving, let alone thriving.”
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Adapting was key. Moeller led group meetings in parking lots to check in on each other, often exercising with equipment sitting on the backs of trucks or out of car trunks.
Moeller knew a pivot had to happen, so the organization came up with the concept of not having a solid full-time brick-and-mortar location. They established a relationship with North Valleys Fitness in Northern Reno and discussed the possibility of Reps4Recovery utilizing the space for a few hours a week to run their groups.
It turned out to be a perfect arrangement.
- “They offered up the Sunday at 10:30 a.m. time slot, and Sundays have always been our most popular time for our class — you always have a lot of sober people who are looking to fill time on the weekend,” Moeller shared.
Reps4Recovery provides the coaches and the programming; the gym provides the space.
- “We operate in the opposite schedule of a typical gym because most of our members want to work out on the weekend,” she said. “Saturday and Sunday are by far the busiest classes. The gym doesn’t have to worry about anything! They give us a key, and that’s that.”
Success for Reps4Recovery members looks different for everyone.
One of the most significant incentives for continued attendance is the Reps4Recovery Debas-Strickland Scholarship Program. If a member commits to training for a year, they can apply for a scholarship, and Reps4Recovery will pay for the fitness certification of their choice.
- “We incentivize this scholarship program, and now we have seven coaches in our organization who have come out of it. They are all still, at minimum, two years sober,” Moeller said.
It is important to the staff at Reps4Recovery that they pay their coaches, especially those on scholarship.
If a member receives a scholarship, they sign a contract where they volunteer for six months so they can get experience under their belts and get their certification.
Once certified, they give another six months to the program to further learn to coach.
- “After that,” Moeller said, “they get paid just as if they were teaching out of any other gym. We always want goals to work towards, and here it is workforce development. The coaches get paid and have employment experience on their resume.”
While CrossFit forms the foundation of Reps4Recovery, they also offer yoga and indoor rock climbing, and host a kickball team.
Moeller explains why she thinks Reps4Recovery has had the impact it has:
- “[W]e are really about breaking the cycle of addiction within families,” she said. “So, if that means you need to bring your sister or spouse to a class, we don’t want it to be secretive. We have a gaggle of kids who come in on Sunday mornings because we also want them to get familiar with that space. It is a healthy space for families.”
“It’s science,” Moeller said, describing why fitness can be such a powerful tool in the fight against addiction.
- “When we’re exercising, you have a lot of happy chemicals being released. But not just when you are doing the movements; they are also released when you’re connecting with people. We are social creatures who need to connect, and there’s a lot of isolation when you’re in the midst of your use of substances.”
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“Reps4Recovery is not just changing your physical self but also your mental health. We are training the neurons in your brain to make healthier connections,” Moeller concluded.
Reps4Recovery is always accepting donations and fundraising to keep their programs running. On August 22, Reps4Recovery is holding a “Reps Goes to the Reno Aces” event at Greater Reno Field in Reno, NV (the Aces are a Triple-A club in the Arizona Diamondbacks system).
- Details: The game starts at 6:35 p.m., and $10 of every ticket sold goes directly to Reps4Recovery. Learn more.
Featured image: @reps4recovery / Instagram