SPARKLE — The Carla Gallup Foundation — was founded in 2023 by Derek Gallup. In this Q&A, Gallup talks about turning pain into purpose, mental health and what makes SPARKLE unique as an organization.
Below is a partial transcript, edited for clarity.
Rachel Zabonick-Chonko: Derek, thank you for joining me today to talk about the SPARKLE foundation. I really appreciate it.
Derek Gallup: Yeah, I’m excited to be here and get a chance to talk with you about it.
RZC: I know the background, but for those who don’t, can you tell us about what led to the founding of SPARKLE and what you hope to achieve through this organization?
DG: For me, it’s turning pain into purpose. Through the pandemic — I don’t know whether it’s associated or not — but my wife went into really deep clinical depression and anxiety. And she had a suicide attempt in 2020. And we were working with her to try and do all different kinds of treatments. And unfortunately, she lost her battle with mental illness last year. For me, I went to some great charity events that were for survivors of suicide loss and suicide prevention. They’re awesome, a lot of therapies where there, but nothing really led with activity. And I just knew what that did for me. And then I started to see the studies come out — the mega study from Australia — about how activity versus therapy versus medications — activity was 50% more effective in reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety than therapy medication. Of course, you want a program that incorporates all of those, but it just made me feel like there was something missing. And then from my background of 30 years in the fitness industry, I really felt there was an opportunity for us to not only be around physical health, but also to help with mental health as well.
RZC: So that’s where SPARKLE is really unique in that the organization has activity, fitness and nutrition as the key pillars to help survivors and in prevention, right?
DG: Absolutely. And SPARKLE is actually an acronym that stands for suicide prevention through activity, relaxation, kindness, laughter and education. The activity part is really where we’re going to get people doing at least a little bit of movement. And then we need education on it, like you just talked about, the nutrition aspect of it. It’s just so important. Other things that you can do — breathing techniques, relaxation. I just thought about things that we are incorporating in fitness — cryotherapy, and compression and HydroMassage and red light therapy. All of those therapies they are finding are not only great for your physical health, but they’re so important for your mental health as well.
Watch the video to hear the full Q&A with Gallup on the SPARKLE Foundation.
