The Mind-Body Well-being Initiative: a better lifestyle for people with severe mental illness

Objective: This article aims to describe ‘The Mind-Body Well-being Initiative’, a residential mental health treatment model based on the Lifestyle Medicine paradigm, which comprises a mind and body well-being programme. In people with severe mental illness (SMI), particularly for those experiencing psychotic illness, the physical health and mortality gap is significant with greater presence of chronic disease and a 15–20-year life expectancy gap. Conclusions: Our AIM Self-Capacity model of care attempts to address the physical and mental health care needs for the promotion of our patients’ recovery.