Whole Health Action Management (WHAM) is a peer-led intervention to facilitate self-management to reach whole health goals through peer coaching and support groups. [1] [2] It is a method of using peer support to support healthcare delivery, [3] and to counter high rates of chronic physical health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity among those with behavioral health diagnoses. [2] [4] The SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions (CIHS) developed the WHAM program to "encourage increased resiliency, wellness, and self-management of health and behavioral health among people with mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and chronic physical health conditions." [1] [5] WHAM is based on a collaboration between peers and health professionals. Peers encourage clients to get routine health exams and comply with physician recommendations. They frequently discuss common health behaviors such as smoking cessation, physical exercise, stress reduction, and healthy food choices. [6] WHAM is very similar to Peer Support Whole Health and Resiliency [7] [8]
WHAM facilitators participate in a 2-day training, which then enables them to train others in WHAM. [4] [9] Participants receive six hours of instruction spread over up to three weeks, followed by an 8-week WHAM-focused support group as they work toward, achieve, and maintain whole health goals. [1]
The WHAM model is based on a pilot program led by Larry Fricks when in 2013 Georgia received federal approval to bill Medicaid for peer support specialists to provide health coaching., [6] as well as the earlier the chronic disease self-management Health and Recovery Peer (HARP) Program. [3] [4] Since then, Fricks and his colleagues have trained peers across the country on the model under the name Whole Health Action Management. [6] In 2014, Spanish-language resources were produced to implement the program in the Latino community. [10] [11] [12] Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico has trained over 600 of their staff in WHAM. [4] Between 2012 and 2016, over 3000 people have been trained in the WHAM model. [2]
WHAM facilitators are trained in teaching skills to promote health factors utilizing a "whole health perspective". [4] These skills target the following health factors:
Peer specialists are trained to help clients:
Medical psychology or medico-psychology is the application of psychological principles to the practice of medicine, primarily drug-oriented, for both physical and mental disorders.
Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's ability to fulfill their daily routines and roles. OTs have training in the physical, psychological, and social aspects of human functioning deriving from an education grounded in anatomical and physiological concepts, and psychological perspectives. They enable individuals across the lifespan by optimizing their abilities to perform activities that are meaningful to them ("occupations"). Human occupations include activities of daily living, work/vocation, play, education, leisure, rest and sleep, and social participation.
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and the cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses. The Administrator of SAMHSA reports directly to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA's headquarters building is located outside of Rockville, Maryland.
Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening, or counseling. Peer support is also used to refer to initiatives where colleagues, members of self-help organizations and others meet, in person or online, as equals to give each other connection and support on a reciprocal basis.
Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.
Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and hygiene. Self-care is not only a solo activity, as the community—a group that supports the person performing self-care—overall plays a role in access to, implementation of, and success of self-care activities.
A mental health professional is a health care practitioner or social and human services provider who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental disorders. This broad category was developed as a name for community personnel who worked in the new community mental health agencies begun in the 1970s to assist individuals moving from state hospitals, to prevent admissions, and to provide support in homes, jobs, education, and community. These individuals were the forefront brigade to develop the community programs, which today may be referred to by names such as supported housing, psychiatric rehabilitation, supported or transitional employment, sheltered workshops, supported education, daily living skills, affirmative industries, dual diagnosis treatment, individual and family psychoeducation, adult day care, foster care, family services and mental health counseling.
Assertive community treatment (ACT) is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT teams serve individuals who have been diagnosed with serious and persistent forms of mental illness, predominantly but not exclusively the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. ACT service recipients may also have diagnostic profiles that include features typically found in other DSM-5 categories. Many have histories of frequent psychiatric hospitalization, substance abuse, victimization and trauma, arrests and incarceration, homelessness, and additional significant challenges. The symptoms and complications of their mental illnesses have led to serious functioning difficulties in several areas of life, often including work, social relationships, residential independence, money management, and physical health and wellness. By the time they start receiving ACT services, they are likely to have experienced failure, discrimination, and stigmatization, and their hope for the future is likely to be quite low.
The National Center for Trauma-Informed Care is a United States based medical charity, funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). Created in 2005, it assists publicly funded agencies, programs, and services in making a cultural shift to a more trauma-informed environment — an environment intended to be more supportive, comprehensively integrated, and empowering for trauma survivors.
Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on the individual or their surroundings. A concept that is known as "environmental prevention" focuses on changing community conditions or policies so that the availability of substances is reduced as well as the demand. Individual Substance Abuse Prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention involves numerous different sessions depending on the individual to help cease or reduce the use of substances. The time period to help a specific individual can vary based upon many aspects of an individual. The type of Prevention efforts should be based upon the individual's necessities which can also vary. Substance use prevention efforts typically focus on minors and young adults – especially between 12–35 years of age. Substances typically targeted by preventive efforts include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, coke, methamphetamine, steroids, club drugs, and opioids. Community advocacy against substance use is imperative due to the significant increase in opioid overdoses in the United States alone. It has been estimated that about one hundred and thirty individuals continue to lose their lives daily due to opioid overdoses alone.
Lifestyle medicine (LM) is a branch of medicine focused on preventive healthcare and self-care dealing with prevention, research, education, and treatment of disorders caused by lifestyle factors and preventable causes of death such as nutrition, physical inactivity, chronic stress, and self-destructive behaviors including the consumption of tobacco products and drug or alcohol abuse. The goal of LM is to improve individuals' health and wellbeing by applying the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine (nutrition, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection) to prevent chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity. By focusing on these 6 areas to improve health, LM can prevent 80% of chronic illnesses and non-communicable diseases (NCD).
Services for mental health disorders provide treatment, support, or advocacy to people who have psychiatric illnesses. These may include medical, behavioral, social, and legal services.
Basic Training in the United States Army is the initial training for new military personnel typified by intense physical activity, psychological stress and the development of social cohesion. The United States Army Center for Initial Military Training (USACIMT) was created in 2009 under the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command to oversee training related issues.
The PRECEDE–PROCEED model is a cost–benefit evaluation framework proposed in 1974 by Lawrence W. Green that can help health program planners, policy makers and other evaluators, analyze situations and design health programs efficiently. It provides a comprehensive structure for assessing health and quality of life needs, and for designing, implementing and evaluating health promotion and other public health programs to meet those needs. One purpose and guiding principle of the PRECEDE–PROCEED model is to direct initial attention to outcomes, rather than inputs. It guides planners through a process that starts with desired outcomes and then works backwards in the causal chain to identify a mix of strategies for achieving those objectives. A fundamental assumption of the model is the active participation of its intended audience — that is, that the participants ("consumers") will take an active part in defining their own problems, establishing their goals and developing their solutions.
The primary care behavioral health (PCBH) consultation model is a psychological approach to population-based clinical health care that is simultaneously co-located, collaborative, and integrated within the primary care clinic. The goal of PCBH is to improve and promote overall health within the general population. This approach is important because approximately half of all patients in primary care present with psychiatric comorbidities, and 60% of psychiatric illness is treated in primary care.
Clinical mental health counseling is a healthcare profession addressing issues such as substance abuse, addiction, relational problems, stress management, as well as more serious conditions such as suicidal ideation and acute behavioral disorders. Practitioners may also assist with occupational growth in neurodivergent populations and behavioral and educational development. Clinical mental health (CMH) counselors include psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health technicians, marriage counselors, social workers, and family therapists.
The Bureau of Health Workforce is a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA programs train health care professionals and place them where they are needed most. Grants support scholarship and loan repayment programs at colleges and universities to meet critical workforce shortages and promote diversity within the health professions.
The TAMAR Education Project is a manualized 10-week mental health intervention for justice-involved women and men with histories of psychological trauma which combines psycho-educational approaches and expressive therapies. It is designed for clients who have a recent treatment history for a mental health condition, a substance use disorder, and a history of physical and/or sexual abuse. TAMAR Groups have been implemented inside detention centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and in the community.
The American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP) is a professional organization representing pharmacists and other health care professionals in the specialized areas of psychiatric and neurologic pharmacy practice within the United States.