Pitching in: Bringing fitness to young mental-health patients at Sunnybrook Hospital

The organizers: John Bain and Evan Wallman

The pitch: Raising $93,000 and climbing

The cause: A fitness program for young mental-health patients

When John Bain’s daughter took up competitive swimming in high school she experienced so much anxiety that she eventually had to be admitted to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.

“It was Grade 11 when she basically had what we used to call a breakdown,” Mr. Bain, 60, recalled from his home in Toronto where he works as a tax partner at KPMG. His daughter was diagnosed with bipolar II, a less intense form of bipolar I which involves recurring mood swings. It’s treatable, Mr. Bain added, and his daughter is now thriving.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Bain was working out with a personal trainer, Evan Wallman, when they began talking about the importance of exercise to mental health. Mr. Bain’s daughter had mentioned that she’d found exercising helpful at the hospital but there was no structured program.

Mr. Wallman had already reached out to some psychiatrists to see if their patients might benefit from physical activity. “And then John said, “They’re not doing anything on the ward at Sunnybrook. How about I start a fund, a program there, and you go and try to get them moving?” Mr. Wallman recalled.

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Mr. Bain started raising money and they came up with a concept in 2023. They took it to the hospital and after months of hashing out the details, Mr. Wallman started a fitness program on the 10-bed youth mental-health ward in 2024. He spends a couple of hours twice a week on the ward, working with patients on activities as varied as boxing, yoga, weight training and incline hiking.

They’ve raised $93,000 to cover equipment costs and Mr. Wallman’s training sessions, which have become an integral part of the hospital’s treatment along with art therapy and music. They hope the hospital will takeover the funding one day, but for now they’re committed to raising as much as possible.

Mr. Bain still marvels at the role fitness played in his daughter’s recovery. “I can’t say enough about how she’s been able to leverage physical activity and set herself goals. It’s been amazing,” he said.

Mr. Wallman said he was skeptical about the program at first, but now finds it fulfilling. “When you see them smiling and having fun, singing and laughing, and when they say how this is impactful for them, I’m like, ‘Okay, I can keep doing this’.”