NAPLES, Fla. — Most know the benefits exercise can do for your mental health, but one local nonprofit is taking it to the next level.
“It's really a transformational program it, I've seen it, change lives," said Colby Robertson, Wellfit Girls co-founder. "I've seen it save lives.”
Wellfit Girls is a local nonprofit based in Collier County and this year they are teaching local teenage girls life skills in a not-so-typical way.
Soon 15 teenagers from Collier County will start their training to embark on an 8-day hiking expedition that Robertson says will change their lives forever.
“The girls go through a curriculum where they learn life skills, they learn how to have difficult conversations, they learn body image, they learn how to set boundaries," said Robertson. "It's really all about getting these girls out of their comfort zone.”
Robertson notes it is teaching the young women things they can not learn in school before they go off to college.
“Give them the tools that they can, you know, have those difficult conversations, they can set boundaries, they can say no when everyone else is saying yes, that is what they're not learning in school right now," said Robertson.
Sofia Vargas and Macy Tolson, tell Fox 4's Bella Line the program has helped them break barriers of today's cultural norms in their day-to-day lives.
“Body image was a lot to me in the past and I would always define myself based off what I did, and that was a lot of sports and a lot of physical activity to get myself where I thought I wanted to be," said Sofia Vargas, Summit Girls expedition participant. "This program has really helped me in that sense, where I'm not alone.”
“It's made me realize like we're a lot more similar than we are different which is something that's kind of hard to realize like in like a high school environment," said Macy Tolson, Wellfit Girls Mentor. "We sometimes isolate ourselves and think we're a lot different, but in reality, it's not like that at all.”
The program was created by a licensed mental health therapist to help local teens like Vargas and Tolson reach their highest potential.
"You reach the summit, but that's not it," said Robertson. "Life is full of peaks and valleys, and it's really what happens on the side of the mountain that's so transformational.”
For more information visit their website here.
