Personal Action Towards Health (PATH) is a whole health program that can assist you in your recovery journey. The workshops are 2 1/2 hours long and run for six weeks.
In October 2006 the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) brought out a report, “Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness.” On page 11 (at the beginning of section III) it was stated that people with Serious Mental Illness (SMI), and further down the page, that people who are in the public mental health system, have some of the worst figures.
On page 15 the NASMHPD Morbidity and Mortality Report states, “the increased death rates in the population with SMI are often associated with modifiable medical risk factors.” Most of the people with SMI who died early died from natural causes. Leading causes of death were things that we find in the general population, and were things like heart disease, cancer, respiratory and lung diseases. Heart disease was the leading cause of death in both the general population and the population who had a serious mental illness.
When people, both staff and consumers (people with a diagnosis of serious mental illness), in the State of Michigan realized that we were losing people 25 Years Early, action was taken. After looking at different options, Personal Action Towards Health (PATH) was rolled out to help people with a serious mental illness understand that there was something that could be done.
Personal Action Towards Health was already being used in the state of Michigan, but there has been a concentrated effort to bring it out among peers using Peer Support Specialists.
The PATH program is not strictly for persons who happen to have a serious mental illness. PATH is also known as the
Chronic Disease Self-Management Program,which was brought out to help people who have a chronic disease (arthritis, heart disease, chronic pain, diabetes, etc) to improve their level of wellness.
PATH modules include:
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Ways to deal with frustration, feeling alone, fatigue and pain.
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Exercise that will help people maintain what muscle they have, and increase flexibility and strength.
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Medications, ways to remember to take them and how to take them.
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Nutrition, what it is and how to make some simple changes in your life that can improve your overall health.
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How to figure out if a new treatment is right for you.
PATH may be offered by people who are not Peer Support Specialists. PATH classes often address a combination of different mental and physical diagnoses. You come out your PATH group with a plan that you can work with, which you have total control over developing. You choose what you want to change to become more healthy. You choose what changes to make.