Nonprofit’s gym helps those in addiction recovery stay sober and healthy

When Shelley Poerio founded Living Free Health and Fitness in 2013, her dream had always been to open a gym as part of her nonprofit’s addiction recovery support solutions. Circumstances may have led her in other directions but now, over a decade later, her dream has come full circle and Living Free Gym has become an official part of the Pahrump community.

Opening day for the valley’s newest fitness outlet was Monday, Nov. 27, and Poerio already has a fully staffed team ready to greet customers and answer any questions patrons may have. Those with gym experience will have all kinds of familiar options to utilize and newbies need not worry about starting their fitness journey, as the staff will be able to help with learning the correct techniques for using the wide range of equipment that’s available.

Living Free Gym offers a full array of strength-training equipment, a fleet of cardio equipment including treadmills, elliptical trainers and a ski exerciser, free weights, dumbbells, a squat rack, Smith rack, kettle bells, battle ropes, medicine balls, slam balls, balance equipment and even a football sled and kickboxing trainer, with more to be added in the coming weeks.

“I look at this as more of a club environment versus a big-box type of gym, like your PlanetFitnesses, etcetera. It’s a smaller space, it’s 3,700 square feet, and there are no showers, but we have everything you need and it’s much more personalized. It’s also super clean and fully staffed,” Poerio told the Pahrump Valley Times during a tour of the newly opened facility.

Living Free Gym is another offshoot of Living Free Health and Fitness, one that Poerio was able to open with the help of funding through the Nye County ARPA grant program. The gym plays a valuable role in the nonprofit’s mission of helping those in recovery stay clean and sober, both by offering a place to exercise and by providing employment opportunities.

“This is our second therapeutic workplace, with our first being Living Free Cafe. Obviously it’s a real gym, with real equipment and real members. But we are also looking to primarily employ people who are in recovery from addiction, who are suffering other related or co-occurring challenges, physical and mental, which may have prevented them from getting a job elsewhere but we’re able to give them an opportunity here. And that’s what Living Free is really all about,” Poerio explained.

“Over the last six years, Living Free Health and Fitness has evolved from just outpatient treatment and housing. With grant funding, we’ve been able to add to our services and programs, which added to our credibility and to our financial position. So when the opportunity came, we were able to open Living Free Cafe,” Poerio continued. “That allowed the ‘regular public’, if you will, to see that recovery works. They usually only see the troubled side but with the cafe, and now with the gym, they can see that given the right support constructs, the right supervision, the right structure, people can change, they can have success in recovery. We need more of that.”

The cost of membership is $32 per month on a month-to-month basis, with a “joining fee” of $32 that Poerio noted is treated as a last month of membership. Longer term memberships come at a lower cost, with a six-month membership for $168 and a full year for $315.

“The key here is this — there is no admin fee, there is no cancellation fee, there is no card-key, there are none of those ancillary fees you often see in gyms. We’ve gotten rid of that, we just want it to be super simple,” Poerio detailed. “And an important point to add is that Living Free Gym is under the umbrella of Living Free Health, a nonprofit, so all the money stays here. It’s all Pahrump.”

Living Free Gym is located at 301 Oxbow Avenue, suites 1 and 2, across from Saitta Trudeau.

Hours of operation are 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com.