The first step on Susan Sehmel’s journey was to realize that if she didn’t make a change, she was going to die much sooner than she wanted to. 

A couple of steps down the line, she finds herself preparing to row a paddle in the Montana Dragon Boat Festival in September on Flathead Lake.

Sehmel had given up smoking and had swapped out one life-threatening vice for another.

“I had gained 60 or 70 pounds,” she said. “The benefits of quitting smoking were canceled out by being this much overweight.”

Luckily for Sehmel, she went to see a doctor before her life got out of hand.

The doctor told Sehmel it was time to start exercising. She recommended the Journey to Wellness program, a three-month holistic program to guide adults with chronic health issues into shape.

Sehmel joined Journey to Wellness in August 2012 and has lost 50 pounds since then.

“I needed to lose that weight,” she said. “To live and be with my kids. Isn’t it every mom’s goal to annoy her kids as long as she can?”

Sehmel is one of the most enthusiastic members on one of two Journey to Wellness dragon boat teams intending to race in September’s festival. The dragon boat races are just one event that Journey to Wellness helps current and former participants take part in. 

Her team, “Journey Onward,” and the other Summit Medical Fitness Center team, the “C-Slayers,” each will take 20 Journey to Wellness participants on Flathead Lake to take on dragon-boat competitors.

Members of the program, suffering from obesity, chronic pain or even recovering from cancer, are a high-spirited group who have come to the dragon boats in search of camaraderie and a fun reason to be outside.

“I’m feeling free and empowered to have a full and vibrant life,” said Nancy Flint, who just finished intense treatment for an aggressive case of breast cancer in April. “The challenge for me is really the strength, but the strength and mobility of actually doing the paddling is a bonus.”

Flint, Sehmel and dozens like them gathered recently at the Summit Medical Fitness Center for a Dragon Boat Boot Camp. The varying fitness levels of the participants can make it a challenge, but there are well-trained supervisors to keep everyone on point.

Cathy Lisowski, who founded Journey to Wellness in 2009, said normal exercise plans were not going to work for her “warriors.”

“We take a more holistic point of view,” she said. “We focus more on wellness, on the unique goals of a person. We want to find out what motivates them, what their goals are.”

For some, it could be losing weight; for others gaining muscle, stability or lung power. No matter what they want to accomplish, Lisowski said there are trained staffers willing to mentor the motivated.

It is a physician-, physical trainer- or counselor-recommended program that costs the participant $250. For that price, the patient gets three months at the Summit Medical Fitness Center with some mentoring hours, as well as a fourth month without the mentoring. 

There also is financial help available.

“If someone wants to do this program but they can’t afford it, there are scholarships,” said Dr. Pamela Roberts, a mentor at Journey to Wellness. “About 10 percent of Summit members are scholarshipped.”

To join the Summit dragon boat teams, a person has to be currently enrolled (or have been enrolled in the past) in the Journey to Wellness program. The race teams are no additional cost and the teams are looking for as many members as they can get.

For further information on Journey to Wellness, contact Roberts at 751-5374 or Michele Maher at 751-4106.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.