ABOUT US
Our Story:
Our work with clients wanting to improve their quality of life started about a decade ago, when Tony Langtimm created his first adaptive fitness space in Milwaukee. The mission statement of the gym was to create accessible services for the Milwaukee community, based on the ASCENT method. This business became known as ASCENT GYM, headquartered in Milwaukee Turners.
Tony's business was created while having in mind the values of minimalism and community (connection). It was also created, specifically, to meet the wellness needs of clients who rarely feel represented in a wellness space: clients with disabilities and with chronic physical and mental health diagnoses.
The adaptive exercise focus began to uncover a new need in Milwaukee, which resulted in Tony and Cátia Figueiredo (husband and wife) joining forces to start up a space for recovery-oriented wellness services. Cátia, after a hiatus in her doctoral program in Counseling Psychology, decided to gear away from the research and academia (a world she had been a part of very passionately), to fully be involved in the community in a different capacity. Together, they created a vision of a fully accessible wellness space that would stand out from overly performance-based, standardized and non-inclusive wellness services.
The AWP (Ascent Wellness Program) is the result of this vision. With Tony's education in Business and Adaptive Exercise, and Cátia's education in Developmental and Counseling Psychology as well as experience in creating community-centered programs, the program became a literal marriage of ideas.
This program is currently partnering with the Milwaukee Behavioral Health Division and other institutions in the community. Cátia and Tony are excited that it has grown to 29 employees serving the community in different manners and capacities. The campus also collaborates/impacts 13 other renters and contractors that provide services to maintain the building and continue the community programming.