SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 | 31

A

bbie Jankelovitz says 
she’s lucky to have two 
jobs.
This way, she can pursue both 
of her passions in life: mental 
health and fitness.
Jankelovitz, 28, of Royal Oak, 
works part-time as a clinical 
mental health counselor for 
Venture Counseling, a private 
practice. In the mornings and at 
night, she teaches group fitness 
classes at Beverly Hills Club and 
also offers home personal fitness 
training.
As a champion of the mind-
body connection, or how 
physical health influences emo-
tional health and vice-versa, 
Jankelovitz has made it her mis-
sion to help people feel healthy 
inside and out.
“Physical and mental health 
go so hand-in-hand,
” Jankelovitz 
says. “It’s very rare in today’s 
world that people will say, ‘Let’s 
try to focus on your physical 
health to [positively] affect your 
mental health.
’”
Instead, she says, many people 
immediately turn to medica-
tion for mental health concerns 
without first looking at lifestyle 
influences or changes that can 
be made.
Her long-term vision for her 
work, she explains, is to show 
the positive value that increasing 
physical activity can have on 
a person’s mental health. She 
hopes to one day create a busi-
ness that shines a light on the 
mind-body connection.
The key: to offer personal 

training and mental health ther-
apy side-by-side, as Jankelovitz 
does across her two jobs. 
 “Exercise can be a huge anti-
depressant,
” she explains. “It 
does wonders for people with 
PTSD and OCD.
”
By getting more active, people 
can increase their endorphins, 
which play an important role in 
happiness and stress manage-
ment. There’s nothing more ful-
filling, Jankelovitz explains, than 
seeing a client combat anxiety or 
depression and gain confidence 
by finding a physical activity that 
they truly love, such as walking, 
dancing or swimming.

A REWARDING CAREER
It was an inspiration that 
stemmed from her own experi-
ence. Jankelovitz, who grew up 
in West Bloomfield and attended 
Hillel Day School, navigated 
her own mental health journey, 
which encouraged her to want 
to work within the field.
“Now that I’m out on the 
other end, I want to be the 
source of help for people going 
through similar things that I 
did,
” she says, “or something 
completely different.
”
Fitness, on the other hand, 
was a love Jankelovitz devel-
oped in college while attending 
Michigan State University and 
later Oakland University for 
graduate school. She began her 
fitness career by teaching group 
fitness classes at campus gyms.
“I fell in love right away,
” she 
says. Jankelovitz knew from 
the start it was something she 
wanted to pursue. That’s because 
teaching fitness gave her the 
same rewarding feeling as work-
ing in mental health; she could 
help people and push them to 
discover their best selves, just 
through a different format. Plus, 
fitness aligned with her interests.
“I’m really big into high ener-
gy and being in front of crowds,
” 
she says. “I just love the energy 
of teaching.
”
Over the years, Jankelovitz 
has worked at several gyms that 

ranged from boxing gyms to 
small boutique gyms to larger 
gyms with multiple locations 
throughout Michigan. She also 
trains four or five couples in 
their homes. “I love being able to 
go to people’s homes,
” she says. 
“I think it makes it more com-
fortable and easier for people.
”

DISCOVERING BALANCE
Two jobs often mean long hours, 
but it’s something Jankelovitz 
enjoys. She typically starts her 
days at the gym teaching classes, 
then heads to a client’s home for 
a home-training session.
Later, in the afternoon, she’ll 
meet her therapy clients virtually 
and return to the gym at night 
for any evening classes. “It’s a 
good balance,
” she says. 
Jankelovitz calls fitness her 
fun job and mental health thera-
py her low-key job. While men-

tal health was her main course 
of study in school, breaking into 
the fitness industry was much 
harder.
“When I first started, I was a 
young female and it was hard 
to gain the respect that big-time 
trainers had,
” she explains. “I 
was always looked at as the 
young girl.
”
Now that she’s grown older, 
Jankelovitz says it’s been easier 
to build up her clientele — and 
she’s seen many people make 
extraordinary changes in their 
lives thanks to the help of fitness, 
mental health therapy or a com-
bination of both.
“The most rewarding part is 
to see someone celebrate or be 
proud of themselves for a change 
they made,
” she describes. 
“Seeing someone’s excitement 
over that is my favorite part [of 
the job].
” 

Therapist and fitness pro Abbie 
Jankelovitz helps her clients’ 
physical and mental health.

The Mind-Body 
Connection

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

NEXT DOR
VOICE OF A 
NEW GENERATION

Abbie 
Jankelovitz

