Webinar: Benefits of Mentoring Fitness Professionals to Serve Neurological and Complex Care Clientele
The Sheltering Arms (SA) continuum of care includes the provision of adaptive and medical fitness services to Sheltering Arms Institute patients who have a wide variety of diagnoses. Currently standards of practice do not exist for fitness professionals such as exercise physiologists (EPs) to serve neurological or complex care clientele. The absence of standards limits the fitness team’s ability to recruit and retain qualified professionals, align services with the Sheltering Arms Institute’s expertise and patient-centered approach, and increase accessibility of these services.
To address these challenges, we implemented a standardized mentorship program in 2020 that focused on hard skill development related to exercise prescription and programming for common diagnoses treated at SA, advanced technology training and certification. Soft skill development included interpersonal, customer focus, teamwork, and problem-solving strategies conducted by department managers and experienced EPs.
The results suggest a positive influence of the mentorship program on fitness staff turnover and associated costs as well as time to 25% schedule fill for new hire exercise physiologists. The 15% increase in program visits post-mentorship implementation reflects the resulting increase in service accessibility.
Learning Objectives
1. Learn how mentoring impacted Sheltering Arms Adaptive and Medical Fitness staff and clientele.
2. Learn the importance of serving neurological and complex care clientele.
3. Learn tips for implementing a standardized mentoring program in your medical fitness facility.
Speakers: Niki Johnson, Senior Exercise Physiologist and Logan-Ann Bruce, Senior Manager of Adaptive Fitness and Wellness Services, of Sheltering Arms
Niki Johnson (left) is an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist and an ACSM/NCHPAD Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer with more than 22 years of experience in the fitness industry. She holds a Master of Science degree in Health Promotion Management from Marymount University and has dedicated her career to improving health and wellness through inclusive, evidence-based practices. Niki’s professional role includes onboarding and mentoring new hire exercise physiologists. Her teaching experience includes delivering the YMCA of the USA Personal Training Course to fitness staff throughout the National Capital Region and most recently developed and implemented a standardized mentoring program for Exercise Physiologists to serve adaptive and medical fitness clientele with neurological conditions. Niki believes knowledge is meant to be shared for the greater good.
Logan-Ann Bruce (right) has twelve years of experience as an exercise physiologist with Sheltering Arms. She graduated from Lynchburg College in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology. Logan-Ann is certified through the American College of Sports Medicine as a Certified Exercise Physiologist, a Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer, Certified Indego Specialist, and was an EMT with the State of Virginia. She also is certified in Functional Electrical Stimulation Cycle through Restorative Therapies. She presented “Integrating Fitness Programs to Improve the Continuum of Care for Neurologic Rehabilitation” (2018) at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine in Dallas, Texas, “The Power to Overcome: Long Term Brain Recovery Through Adaptive Fitness” (2023) at the National Strength and Conditioning Association conference in Winchester, Virginia, and “The Effects of Body Heat on BOD POD Estimated Body Composition” in her undergraduate studies.