Wellness center uses exercise, faith to combat addiction

In the fight against addiction, abuse and sex trafficking, 148 Ministries has found powerful weapons in fitness and faith.

The Greenwood-based organization spends every Friday at the Volunteers of America’s headquarters in downtown Indianapolis. Over the course of five hours, they offer exercise classes, biblical counseling and other support, working with the women who have been trapped in addiction or sex trafficking as they try to steer their lives back on track.

The workouts help serve as an ice-breaker, easing the tension and nervousness that some of the women come into the sessions with. Aggressive movements allow them to relieve their stress and pent-up anger.

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“A lot of them have been abused or raped, pretty much since early childhood,” said Amber Storvick, vice president of 148 Ministries. “They slam balls, they hit ropes. They really loosen up and relax, and get a lot of of that aggression and sadness and trapped energy out.”

Storvick and her husband, David, have seen the transformative power of their ministry. They want to bring that impact to the greater Johnson County community with a new venture, 148 Wellness.

The facility brings together physical, behavioral and spiritual wellness in its approach to addiction, abuse and other mental health issues. Clients can take advantage of a fully equipped gym and exercise center 24 hours per day. They can sign up for services such as semi-private training, group fitness classes, rehabilitation exercise and movement centered therapy.

Those who need it can receive faith-based counseling for behavioral health issues such as addiction, as well as join small Bible study groups.

“If people want, they can spend time with a trainer, they can spend time with a physical therapist. If their marriage is falling apart, they can spend time with a pastor. It’s where that wellness and holistic approach comes in,” said David Storvick, pastor and president of 148 Ministries.

The center is an attempt to fill a void in the recovery and mental health services in the region, as well as offering a refuge for people struggling in their lives.

“It’s a missing piece here. The opioid epidemic in this city in particular demands that you have to break ties with old friends, and a lot of times, family. That’s difficult to impossible to do,” Amber Storvick said. “We wanted to create a space where they can come, talk to us, work out, in a place that’s safe. They can work on healing their body and healing their mind.”

The idea behind 148 Wellness stemmed from a nonprofit outreach that David and Amber Storvick founded to use physical fitness and faith to improve people’s lives called 148 Ministries.

The couple started their ministry after Amber Storvick took a mission trip to Cambodia. The longtime personal trainer participated in a program helping women pulled out of sex trafficking, and wanted to do something for people in need locally.

She and her husband fell on a concept of using fitness and faith to help those in need.

The name 148 Ministries stems from a Bible verse that the Storvicks found spoke to their mission. The verse is 1 Timothy 4:8, and it reads, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

“The underlying mission is to share the love of Christ with people. We have a lot of different people walking through the door. We’re not going to be hitting anyone upside the with a Bible or anything, but we will love on them as Christ loved us,” David Storvick said. “Fitness is kind of the vehicle, Jesus is the message.”

The ministry provides programming for a number of residential centers for people struggling with addiction, abuse and other issues. In addition to working with Volunteers of America, they’ve done programs at the Hope Center, which focuses on helping sex-trafficked victims, and Teen Challenge in Lebanon, working with teen girls dealing with addiction and other problems.

As they’ve been providing these sessions for the past year, they’ve found that people who go through their program often want more help after they leave the residential programs.

“They wanted to continue working with us, whatever that looked like: training, counseling, or those kind of things,” David Storvick said. “That’s what kind of motivated us to do all of this.”

148 Wellness encompasses two different entities. The first is 148 Ministries. On the other side, the Storvicks partnered with Chris Walker, who formed 148 LLC to handle rehabilitation.

Walker, a certified personal trainer, will provide physical rehabilitation to clients and those in need. He approached the Storvicks in late 2018 with the idea to have a place that promoted physical fitness but was more than just a gym, he said.

“I wanted a space where people could improve their health but not focus on weight loss or make it about looks,” he said. “Essentially, that’s what 148 Ministries is about. I loved what they were doing, and their mission. Our goal was the same.”

The Greenwood home of 148 Wellness includes a full-service gym, with rowing machines, free weights and equipment focused on functional fitness.

An area is also set aside for counseling, with its own separate entrance to ensure privacy. A conference room is available for small groups, workshops and activities such as parenting seminars. At the front of the facility, a lounge and coffeeshop is where people can meet, do work or just relax. Brickhouse Coffee is partnering with the wellness center to provide its locally roasted coffee, David Storvick said.

“We wanted to create an environment where people feel welcome, where they’re not just walking into a bunch of barbells and dumbbells,” he said.

Gym memberships and services are open to the general public, and access is granted to people whenever they want to come work out with a key fob entry system.

Three different membership levels are available, ranging from basic gym memberships to packages that include group classes, semi-private training and an app that provides workouts and helps people stay accountable to their exercise routine. The top level includes rehabilitation, behavioral health services and counseling.

Family and corporate memberships are also available.

“The objective of the gym is to just give our members and clients a space to have margin and create community, so they can get to know the people they are working out with and have like interest with,” Amber Storvick said. “With the women and men we work with in the addiction and rehab facilities, they can come here as well and have a safe place.”

In addition to membership fees to use the gym and receive other services, 148 Wellness is also starting a sponsorship program. People can help sponsor the men and women who go through their residential programs for addiction or other issues.

In doing so, they then have access to the different services available at 148 Wellness, David Storvick said.

“It’s different than sponsoring a child somewhere across the world, for example. You can actually have a relationship with this person. you can come here and meet them for coffee, you can work out with them, and start doing life with them. That’s what they really need when they get out of these residential programs,” he said.

148 Wellness will host an open house Saturday to let the community learn about what they do and how they can get involved. For the Storvicks and Walker, the opportunity to work in the Greenwood community, providing a service that is desperately needed, is overwhelming.

“It’s something that is missing. You have your big gyms, your small studios, physical therapy and counseling. But there’s not a place where you can get everything at once in one place,” Walker said. “We each had our own talents, and we brought them all together.”

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What: A wellness center that has grown out of a local organization, 148 Ministries, to help addicted and trafficked men and women. The facility helps people with their physical, mental and spiritual health using a holistic approach.

Where: 500 S. Polk St., Suite 40, Greenwood

Who: The venture was created by David and Amber Storvick, who founded 148 Ministries, and physical therapist Chris Walker.

Services: 24/7 gym membership, corrective exercise, rehabilitation, fitness programs, movement-centered therapy, group fitness classes, semi-private training, nutrition counseling, individual counseling, biblical counseling, small group Bible studies.

Who can join: The services of 148 Wellness are open to the public.

Information and pricing: 148ministries.com

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148 Wellness open house and grand opening

When: 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: 500 S. Polk St., Suite 40, Greenwood

What: The public is invited to come learn more about the wellness facility and the work the ministry does to help people struggling with addiction or who have been trafficked.

Speakers:

  • Pastor Hubert Nolen from the Hope Center will talk about the programming 148 Ministries provides at the Hope Center.
  • U.S. Representative Mike Speedy is scheduled to discuss addiction issues in Indy.
  • Marion County Superior Court judge Marilyn Moores will talk about how 148 Ministries is helping with the addiction problem in central Indiana.

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