Our Story
Staying Active (formerly Active Seniors) was founded in 2006 by Dr Taylor Harrison after a close family friend suffered a serious fall—an experience that revealed just how life-changing such incidents can be.
Originally established as a falls prevention program, the centre has grown into a supportive community that has helped thousands of older adults improve their strength, confidence, and overall quality of life.
Today, we deliver personalised health and exercise programs tailored to each individual. These programs can be completed at one of our centres or online, all under the guidance of our university-trained professionals.
Our mission is to help people stay active doing the things they love
Delay surgeries
Reduce medications
Improve strength & balance
Prevent problems before they occur
Staying Active Members
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Conditions we manage
Hover your mouse on the conditions below for more information about how exercise can assist in their management.
Osteoporosis
A successful exercise program includes resistance exercises to strengthen the bones and surrounding muscles, impact exercises at a level that is safe for you, and balance exercises to reduce your falls risk.
Heart health
Aerobic exercise is extremely important to include in the management of cardiovascular conditions, with interval training being preferred where it is safe. Resistance exercises are also important but need to be carefully selected.
Arthritis
A combination of aerobic and resistance exercises are needed to strengthen the muscles around the joints to support them and to manage any additional weight that may stress the joints.
Diabetes
Research indicates that the combination of aerobic and resistance exercises has the greatest effect on blood sugar control when compared to either in isolation.
Balance
Balance exercises should not only focus on training you to become steady, but should also ensure that you have enough flexibility in your ankle and hip joints and strength in the surrounding muscles to support your balance.
Joint surgery
Before surgery, it’s important to build strength in the muscles surrounding the joint, as they can be affected during the procedure. After surgery, strengthening is still important, with an increased focus on improving balance.
Our team
Taylor Harrison
Managing Director/ Chiropractor
Taylor is the founder and director of Active Seniors which started in 2006. Since that time he has written multiple books and helped over 10, 000 seniors. Taylor is married with two beautiful children and stays active playing soccer and completing triathlons
Kevin Luu
Exercise Physiologist
Kevin's favourite ways to stay active is to commute between locations on foot. After suffering a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to understand, talk, or walk; his family and support network helped him work through his rehabilitation to be able to complete his university studies, and now run marathons (42.2 km) for fun!
Taylor Bridges
Exercise Physiologist
Taylor's favourite ways to stay active are through weight lifting and yoga. Having grown up as a dancer, she also loves keeping active in any way that involves music. She is a big fan of country music - if there’s a live band or a line dancing class, that’s where you’ll find her!
Lewis Pedder
Exercise Physiologist
Lewis remains active by undertaking weight training multiple times a week, focusing on whole-body, high effort movements, with a fondness for Romanian deadlifts! Whilst you will definitely hear him chatting throughout the day, it may be interesting to know that he speaks in an accent that isn’t his own!
Suzy Oglesby
Chiropractor & Exercise Physiologist
Suzy stays active by running, strength training (especially calf raises) and getting outside with her family. Like her dog Sunny, she will chase any ball in just about any direction! Suzy took a special interest in feet that almost led her down the path to studying podiatry after she finished her Exercise Physiology studies.
Leena Yang
Exercise Physiologist
Leena is an ESSA Accredited Exercise Physiologist working at our Gordon Centre. She is passionate about advocating for an active lifestyle for people from all walks of life. Leena enjoys running, swimming, basketball, hiking, beach trips and outdoor adventures.
Avi Goodman
Exercise Physiologist
Avi stays active by surfing, strength training, running, playing football and walking his three Cavalier's. Avi has a passion for exercise of any type which has taken him around the world both surfing and fishing!
Emily Keg
Exercise Physiologist
Emily's favourite way to stay active is getting outdoors whenever she can — you’ll usually find her sailing, hiking, running, or hanging off a bouldering wall! Did you know that Emily has sailed in over 10 different countries?!
Carla Riccobon
Exercise Physiologist
Carla starts her day with a quick mobility session. Between her kids and her dog, she’s constantly on the move, and she still makes time for strength training in the evening. She once took a year off to travel around South America, completing a 21km Patagonian mountain trek back to back because the key to her accomodation was left at the top of the mountain.
Emma Cooper-Southam
Exercise Physiologist
Emma stays active through the gym, running and swimming but loves to try new activities. Her current favourite is pickleball! Emma is a keen blood and plasma donor with her goal being to reach 50 donations but the end of the year!
Bree Sommer
Exercise Physiologist
As a Mum of two young sons, Bree is kept on her toes and stays active by exploring new parks, bike riding, spending time at the beach and swimming. Bree spent 15yrs competing as an ice speed skater, where she met her now husband, Nick on her first day at the rink!
Aaron Kardash
Exercise Physiologist
Aaron stays active by strength training, surfing, or having a hit of tennis with his wife or friends. In his spare time, Aaron enjoys playing his guitar. Aaron took an interest in studying Exercise physiology after learning about the benefits of resistance training for older adults in his undergraduate degree.
Shantelle King
Exercise Physiologist
Shantelle enjoys staying active through CrossFit (functional fitness) and Olympic weightlifting, and regularly competes in both sports. Her passion for sport and exercise began at a young age through competitive water ski racing, where she progressed to represent Australia at the World Championships and placed third.
Tom Maddren
Exercise Physiologist
Tom's favourite ways to stay active include playing soccer, both socially and competitively and playing golf. He enjoys both practicing at the driving range and playing with friends at the local course. Tom has a big love of coffee. Wherever he travels he like to go to the cafes to test out their brew. His favourite coffee so far was from a café in Osaka named Hoshino Coffee.
Maria Matuszek
Exercise Physiologist
Maria stays active by bike riding and resistance (strength) training. She is also interested in nutrition for exercise, and has taught in this area to university students. She can walk on stilts and has climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, but not both at the same time!