{"id":37553,"date":"2026-01-29T15:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37553"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:59:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:59:34","slug":"cmha-issues-2000-push-up-challenge-to-support-local-mental-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/cmha-issues-2000-push-up-challenge-to-support-local-mental-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"CMHA issues 2,000 push-up challenge to support local mental health care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Staying active during the winter season is crucial for mind, body, and soul \u2013 but if you\u2019re looking for a good excuse to keep moving, consider the Canadian Mental Health Association\u2019s Push-Up Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in its third year, the Push-Up Challenge is a way to \u201chave fun and push for better mental health.\u201d Participants are invited to take on 2,000 push-ups between February 5 and February 27, a number chosen in memory of the estimated 2,000 lives lost to suicide each day around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Push-Up Challenge is a powerful reminder that small daily actions can create meaningful change,\u201d said Catherine Matzig, Senior Director of Philanthropy for the Canadian Mental Health Association of York Region and South Simcoe (CMHA-YRSS), in a statement. \u201cWhen our community shows up for this Challenge, they\u2019re not only honouring lives lost \u2013 they\u2019re helping ensure that people in York Region and South Simcoe can access mental health supports when they need them most, especially during those isolating winter months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matzig tells The Auroran they think of the Push-Up Challenge as a \u201ccross-country movement with a local heart,\u201d and money raised locally will benefit all of the CMHA-YRSS\u2019 programs, including programs supporting those experiencing depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople understand the importance of recognizing mental health and mental illness, talking about it, and this gives people a really easy way to introduce that conversation and to keep coming back to support mental health,\u201d she says. \u201cI think we all know somebody close to us who in some way has been impacted by mental health, mental illness, and it\u2019s a great way to support programs and services that support those who are struggling with their mental health and to really raise the level of conversation locally, but absolutely across the country to destigmatize, demystify it, and give us an opportunity to learn more and to come together as a community of people who really care about the mental wellness of those who are close to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding the Push-Up Challenge during the winter months is a conscious decision of the CMHA because it\u2019s a time when people are \u201cstruggling with the effects of low light, with the cold, the dark, and the temperatures, and staying active while all this is happening is key for mental health,\u201d says Ansara Ali, Peer Support Worker with the CMHA-YRSS\u2019 Community Connections team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis encourages the social piece since that is something we definitely struggle with during this time of year,\u201d says Ali. \u201cWe tend to be a bit more secluded naturally for that reason,\u201d she adds, noting that \u201cany form of movement\u201d can help make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can be very flexible with that in terms of whether it\u2019s a walk in the community or, if you\u2019re at home, you can just designate five to 10 minutes to do a mindful meditation, or just dancing to your favourite song,\u201d she says. \u201cAny form of movement is very important in terms of just maintaining where we are during this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if push-ups aren\u2019t your thing, other activities can help you stay active while supporting the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnybody can join the Push-Up Challenge and you can join solo, but you can also join as a team,\u201d says Matzig. \u201cYou can rally your workplace or your gym. The structure of the event is really built for communities and companies to step in, start a friendly competition, and keep each other accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think keeping friends and neighbors accountable throughout this winter season is really important to keep our mental health high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccessibility really matters to us for this push up challenge. So, you don’t have to just do push-ups. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea. So, you can squat, do sit-ups, bench presses, resistance band moves, jumping jacks, lunges, anything that just gets you moving and gets you motivated, and alternatives to push ups, wall push ups, chair push ups, that sort of thing, so that everybody can participate safely and to the best of their ability. Also, please keep it local. When you are choosing your recipient CMHA, please choose York and South Simcoe during your registration. Your efforts really do help support and expand mental health programs and services right here in our Region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the 2026 Push-Up Challenge, including how to register or support a participant, visit thepushupchallenge.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staying active during the winter season is crucial for mind, body, and soul \u2013 but if you\u2019re looking for a good excuse to keep moving, consider the Canadian Mental Health Association\u2019s Push-Up Challenge. Now in its third year, the Push-Up Challenge is a way to \u201chave fun and push for better mental health.\u201d Participants are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9LH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 04:02:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37554,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37553\/revisions\/37554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}