Communicare Focuses on Both Mind and Body to Improve Overall Health
Communicare offers a whole-health continuum for patients in the Central Mississippi community.
Sponsored by: Communicare
Many services for one body. That’s the way Communicare approaches the treatment options it provides to the Central Mississippi community in order to create an overall healthy foundation.
“Our society tries to say that physical health is over here, and mental health is over there. But mental health and physical health are combined for whole health,” Communicare Executive Director Melody Madaris says. “It’s all connected because it’s all part of the body. We want to destigmatize mental health and make it more mainstream like physical health.”
As a result, whenever patients come to Communicare for any type of treatment (substance use, depression/anxiety, behavioral issues, etc.) they receive a physical-health assessment to check for such conditions as high blood pressure, diabetes and even basic allergies.
“We offer a whole health continuum,” Madaris says. “There is a lot of research that connects appropriate nutrition, exercise and good physical health with positive mental health. Because when you feel good physically, the chemicals in your brain that make you feel better mentally are released.”
Communicare is there to help guide patients along this path to overall good health. Along with utilizing trained therapists, Communicare also provides peer-support specialists who have dealt with their own mental-health or substance-abuse disorders, creating a bridge of trust between the new patients and the clinicians.
In addition, Communicare lives up to its name by going into the local community to provide care and services.
“We have people who will go to the homes and into these very rural areas and work with clients and experience what their life is like,” Communicare Clinical Director Rachel Alcorn says. “That gives us an intimate look at what is taking place in a person’s life, which is a lot different than just coming into the clinic and telling the doctor or the therapist. It gives us an advantage in being able to really assess and address people’s needs and provide treatment.”
And in the process, by focusing on both mind and body, Communicare helps give the spirit a lift, too. For more information about Communicare, visit communicarems.org.