For Stacy Reuille-Dupont, Studio B is the culmination of a career that began in exercise physiology and later branched into psychology as she became fascinated with how her clients’ physical health affected their behavior and their mental health.
Ultimately, the goal for clients at Studio B is peak wellness.
Reuille-Dupont is convinced – from her background beginning work as a personal trainer focusing on fitness and later in her career working with patients as a clinical and somatic psychologist – that the interplay of fitness, nutrition and psychological well-being are key not only to overcoming addictions, destructive behaviors and mental illness but to achieving wellness.
Studio B integrates a clinical psychological approach to deal with mental health along with a fitness clinic, giving it a hybrid feel of both a psychologist’s office and a fitness studio.
“Now, I’m a nutrition coach, and certified personal trainer, too,” Reuille-Dupont said. “But I don’t do it in a gym anymore. Usually, I am here because I work with people who maybe have disordered eating patterns or body dysmorphia issues, or they are dealing with obesity, depression or trauma. And I’m using physical exercise and nutrition alongside the traditional psychology interventions, and treatments to look at it from that holistic perspective.”
After spending nine years at Axis Health System, she left to develop Studio B – a place where she could focus on integrated health care model combining aspects of psychology, nutrition and fitness.
She said: “I did my dissertation research on psychological trauma and physical exercise participation and perceptions. And it became really clear that people who worked out, who were exposed to movement, understood the benefits of movement on their mental health.
“People who didn’t have that exposure, they felt more barriers, they participated less often in physical activity, they felt anxiety and were more susceptible to panic disorder. If you could get them to work out at high enough levels, it would help impact a metabolic change.”
Studio B seeks to create that atmosphere where people who are fearful of gyms or feel they don’t fit in at a gym can come to a safe setting to begin integrating a fitness and nutrition regimen into treatment of psychological issues, from addictions and destructive behaviors to depression.
On the businesses end, Studio B partners with other psychotherapists, personal trainers, group exercise instructors, yoga teachers, nutritionists and other health practitioners to meet their clients’ goals.
Studio B’s clients can receive services from the array of partners who work out of the office. The practitioners who use Studio B help pay for its business costs, including support services from Jessica Stockton, Studio B’s office manager. Stockton serves to keep appointments straight, deal with insurance billings as well as the handling other administrative and managerial needs.
Reuille-Dupont said many health practitioners, especially in the fitness and mental health area, find it difficult to run a full-fledged office, and Studio B creates a co-working environment where they can share administrative and business costs.
Studio B has 1,200 square-feet of space broken into six treatment rooms and a telehealth room, where clients can receive sessions with out-of-region health practitioners. In addition, a 400-square-foot fitness center is available for clients to workout.
The fitness center features Keiser Infinity Performance Trainers that allow weight settings to within one-tenth of a pound.
“The fitness center can serve a lot of different people, a lot of different bodies, a lot of different issues that show up – from somebody who’s atrophied because of cancer, or surgery to somebody who’s got obesity-related issues and is very deconditioned to somebody who’s got a chronic pain or chronic illness to some who wants to ride the Iron Horse well,” Reuille-Dupont said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
