Exercise in the treatment and management of mental health and illness.
Exercise is beneficial for people across multiple areas of health and wellbeing, but how to support individuals to be active, improve health outcomes and build exercise opportunities within health and community care pathways is still being established.
We work with individuals who are living with, or at risk of, mental ill health in order to:
- Explore the role of exercise to support physical and mental health
- Establish evidence-based practices for the promotion and delivery of physical activity programs for mental health
- Develop innovative strategies to support and sustain health outcomes of individuals and communities
Announcements + News
Congratulations to our friends at Thriving in Motion on the AusActive National Awards for Most Inclusive and/or Diverse Program for Youth Moves. We are a proud evaluation partner and look forward to sharing more program outcomes soon.
A recent project explored strategies to triage patients into exercise therapy within hospital based mental health care and as part of the expert consensus a number of tools were developed for use by exercise professionals and mental health services.
Current Projects
We conduct projects across a range of populations, presentations and alongside a variety of community partners – including health services, support organisations, Universities, and funding agencies.
Led by clinically-aligned exercise and health researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and University of New South Wales (UNSW), with the aim to ensure that all knowledge is created in partnership with community and for the benefit of communities.
Projects Include:
- Move your mind: exercise to support the physical and mental health outcomes of individuals in a transdiagnostic mental health service
- Sport-based mental health intervention for children at risk of mental illness
- Stride: A referral-based exercise program from students with mental health problems
- Exercise and Eating Behaviours, and Health in Trans & Gender Diverse Folk
- Human Thriving in Recurring Potentially Traumatic, Elevated Threat and High Stress Work Environments
- Exercise interventions to support youth with mental illness transitioning between child, adolescent, and adult mental health services.
- Disordered Eating and Exercise Behaviours in Mental Health Care
- Auditory Cued Exercise Therapy for Children with Listening Difficulties
- Girls in Motion: barriers to physical activity in at-risk young girls
- Physical Literacy, Physical Activity and Wellbeing in Children and Adolescents with Hypothalamic Dysfunction Induced Weight Changes
Recent Publications
McMahen, C., Wright, K., Jackson, B., Stanton, R., Lederman, O., McKeon, G., Rosenbaum, S., & Furzer, B. (2024). The implementation of exercise therapy within hospital-based mental healthcare: Delphi study. BJPsych Open, 10(5), Article e147.
Full text: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.717
Austin, F., Wright, K., Jackson, B., Lin, A., Schweizer, K., & Furzer, B. (2024). A scoping review of trans and gender diverse children and adolescents’ experiences of physical activity, sport, and exercise participation. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 26.
Full text: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100576
Simpson, A., Teague, S., Kramer, B., Lin, A., Thornton, A. L., Budden, T., Furzer, B., Jeftic, I., Dimmock, J., Rosenberg, M., & Jackson, B. (2024). Physical activity interventions for the promotion of mental health outcomes in at-risk children and adolescents: a systematic review. Health Psychology Review. Advance online publication.
Schweizer, K., Austin, F., Wright, K., Lin, A., Bickendorf, X., Jackson, B., Strauss, P., Gurevich, H., Granger, C., Luke, J., & Furzer, B. (2023). Physical activity behaviors in trans and gender diverse adults: a scoping review. International Journal of Transgender Health.
Recent Grant + Funding Success
Recent grants that MHEX members are leading or contributing to include:
- 2024 – 2028, Medical Research Futures Fund, ‘Improving health outcomes via the Australian Research Consortium for Trans Youth and Children’($4.9mil)
- 2023-2026, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (WA) + Stan Perron Foundation ‘Youth Moves: inclusive, community-based active recreation program for disengaged and/or vulnerable WA adolescents and young people (12-25yrs)‘ ($600,000)
- 2023 Medibank Strategic Support Fund – UNSW – ‘Feasibility evidence and program expansion of an on-campus exercise program for students with mental health problems’ ($140,000)
Research Team Leaders
Associate Professor Bonnie Furzer (she/her)
Accredited Exercise Physiologist/Exercise Scientist
Associate Professor – University of Western Australia (School of Human Sciences)
CEO – Thriving in Motion
Senior Exercise Physiologist and Service Coordinator – Fremantle Hospital Mental Health Service
Honorary Research Associate – The Kids Research Institute
Accredited Exercise Physiologist/Exercise Scientist
Senior Lecturer + Program Authority (Exercise Physiology) – University of New South Wales (School of Health Sciences)
COO – Thriving in Motion
Adjunct Senior Lecturer – University of Western Australia
Team Members
Clinical + Research Team
- Professor Ben Jackson (he/him) - Lead Researcher (UWA + The Kids Research Institute)
- Dr Aaron Simpson (he/him) - Associate Lecturer (UWA)
- Brett Buist (he/him) - Sport + Exercise Physiotherapist, Research Associate
- Ashley Almarjawi (she/her) - Accredited Exercise Physiologist
- Dr Marion Mundt (she/her) - Research Associate
Research Students:
- Felicity Austin (she/her) - PhD Candidate
- Kai Schweizer (he/they) - PhD Candidate
- Sally Edmondson (she/her) - PhD Candidate
- Ben Kramer (he/him) - PhD Candidate
- Caleb McMahen (he/him) - PhD Candidate
- Anna Hilyard (she/her) - PhD Candidate
Completed PhD Students:
Research Partners + Collaborators
Research Partners
- University of Western Australia (School of Human Sciences)
- University of New South Wales (School of Health Sciences)
- Fremantle Hospital Mental Health Service
- The Kids Research Institute, Australia
Community Partners
- Thriving In Motion
- Perth Children's Hospital
- Psychology of Active, Healthy Living Group
- Next Step Drug and Alcohol Youth Service
Contact Us
The MHEX Team acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
We are committed to embracing diversity and eliminating all forms of discrimination through education and inclusive communities. We welcome all people and are respectful of individual identities.