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Re-shaping the status quo: a mental health agency motivates consumers to take charge of their health.

Article Excerpt
Mental health workers across the nation are no strangers to funerals. In fact, it is hard to find people in the field who haven't attended a client's funeral. Some even have accepted this as a "normal" part of working in mental healthcare.

But for Ken Jue, CEO of Monadnock Family Services (MFS) in Keene, New Hampshire, "normal" and the status quo were not good enough. Jue decided when attending a client's funeral that something needed to be done to make more of a difference in the lives of the mentally ill.

People with severe mental illness in the public system die an average 25 years earlier than the general population because of "lifestyle-related" chronic conditions. "For mental healthcare providers, it is morally indefensible to accept the status quo and do nothing to alter this situation," Jue says.

Jue and MFS staffers put their heads together a few years ago to develop an innovative program called In SHAPE that is now receiving national attention and, more importantly, seeing results.

In SHAPE is designed to reverse or remove the factors that can contribute to early death among the mentally ill. The program brings together a broad range of community organizations concerned with health, exercise, and nutrition to teach participants that physical health is central to their overall quality of life.

In SHAPE now serves more than 150 participants and offers individuals with mental illness:

* personal health mentors to accompany them up to...

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