Recovery Center: A rehabilitation program designed to promote health and wellness through education and coaching

People experiencing serious mental illnesses experience a critical nexus of chronic stress, poverty, unemployment, loneliness coupled with poor physical and mental health. This nexus contributes to poor health that is complicated by isolation and a lack experience with the connection between stress, health behaviors, and their mental health.  A sedentary life and inability to access healthy food compounds their risk profile for poor health. 

This presentation will describe an innovative service model that addresses the physical health issues of individuals with severe mental illnesses. The Recovery Center is designed to promote health and wellness through supported education, coaching, and wellness educational interventions, which together promote skill development, readiness to change, and health promotion strategies.

We will present program evaluation data from three  interventions within the Recovery Center: mindful eating; supported physical activity; and Illness Management and Recovery.  All three interventions focused on awareness education, the skills of mindfulness, and coached skill practice in nutrition, coping strategies and physical activity. In combination they are being used to promote awareness, health and resiliency.

Results suggest that the mindful eating intervention resulted in increased ability to discern emotional and physical hunger and to resist using food to regulate negative emotions.  The physical activity intervention resulted in increased daily activity while the Illness Management and Recovery course resulted in greater well being and an increased ability to cope with daily stressors.   Together, results demonstrate that health interventions which incorporate mindfulness, education and coaching can assist people with severe mental illness to achieve improved overall health.