Improving Mental and Physical Health through an Integrative Health and Health Literacy Program: The Canyon Ranch Institute Life Enhancement Program

Adults who struggle with depression, stress, and other mental health issues, also struggle with adopting and adhering to healthy behaviors that improve or prevent chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Results from the Canyon Ranch Institute Life Enhancement Program (CRI LEP), a program aimed at low-income communities currently in the South Bronx, NY, Cleveland, OH, Sullivan County, MO, Tucson, AZ, Berkshire County, MA, and Savannah, GA, demonstrate that an integrative health approach based on the best practices of health literacy creates statistically and clinically significant improvements in overall health but also improves mental health. The successful outcomes of this program are rooted in participants’ feelings of acceptance, motivation, and social support through group sessions, individualized attention and planning, and follow-on support activities. In each community, local health care professionals in behavioral health, integrative health, nutrition, fitness, pharmacy, and spirituality provide at least 36 hours of community-based participatory and hands-on group sessions, fitness instruction, live cooking demonstrations, social support, and a nutritionist-guided grocery store trip. Participants also access a unique aspect of the CRI LEP, which include one-on-one consultations with a behavioral health professional and with the team of health professionals. Evaluation from multiple cohorts indicate healthy reductions in depression (-32.8%), stress (-22.4%), the number of mentally and physically unhealthy days in the previous month (-24.6%), and systolic blood pressure (-7.3%); and improvements in exercise and nutrition self-efficacy (+12.5%) and other improvements in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and physical and mental health indicators.