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An innovative initiative to help people improve their mental wellness in non-clinical settings

A few years back, Patricia Deldin, Ph.D., professor of psychology and associate director of the U-M Depression Center went to a Weight Watchers meeting with a friend. Initially skeptical, she saw how effective the program was and got hooked. She instantly wanted to apply similar strategies to improve mental health care, knowing that such an approach could greatly improve accessibility, cost and effectiveness problems.

“I immediately noticed that Weight Watchers was very psychologically sophisticated; it was such a positive and supportive environment,” Deldin said. “Later I saw the organizers changing the structure of the program and realized they were responding to ongoing data. As soon as I realized that their method was scientifically backed, I was interested in their model.”

Deldin received initial funding from the U-M Depression Center to get her idea off the ground.

The team began piloting the program that Deldin coined as ‘Mood Lifters’ in 2016. Participants attend weekly group meetings and discuss various aspects of mental wellness from biological, psychological and social perspectives. These are the core of the educational component. After meetings, participants are given the assignment of using the ‘tools’ they have learned from meetings and are advised to put them to use in their everyday routines. They are asked to track progress through a points system.

Accountability is a key. At each Mood Lifters meeting, participants check in with one of two program leads. They complete a questionnaire, discuss their joy and depression levels, and talk about what went well and what didn’t during the prior week. They also compile a points tracker—the higher the number, the better—and discuss how to improve results. One participant who has been involved with Mood Lifters since 2016 said that the points tracker is extremely motivational.

“You actually use stickers to track your points,” he said. “At first it seems silly, but once you watch your points grow it becomes incentivizing.”

“I come from an athletic background, and Mood Lifters feels like training,” he added. “Everyone is comfortable going to the gym, or trying different diets. But nobody is talking about their mood and how they are working to improve it. This program is like brain training – training for your mind. Just like with physical exercise sometimes you do strength; cardio; or stretching. With Mood Lifters we switch topics to cover sleep; mood; or diet. I think of it as a coaching program for well-rounded mental health.”

Something else unique about the program is that while program materials are developed by professionals, the sessions themselves are led by non-clinicians in a non-clinical setting. “There is comfort to be found in the ‘he or she is one of us’ environment.”

“Another benefit with Mood Lifters is that it helps to address the nationwide issue of physician shortages by promoting health for more people without having to see a psychiatrist or psychologist one on one,” Deldin said.

So far, nearly a hundred people have completed the program with more underway. The data have shown that the program is highly effective in reducing depression and anxiety and increasing happiness, activity levels and improving sleep. Participants have ranged in gender and age all the way from people in their twenties to their eighties.

It is important to note that Mood Lifters is not currently equipped to serve those with severe mental illness such as those who are highly suicidal or who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but Deldin hopes to get there someday.

The future for Mood Lifters includes building a company, setting up basic infrastructure, and piloting other ideas such as having online groups. The goal with hosting online groups is to provide access to those living in rural areas.

“In Mood Lifters we cover a variety of topics, and you leave equipped with tools and life skills that you can use on a daily basis,” one participant noted. “I use techniques I learned in the program to remind myself of things throughout the day and I have learned to recognize when I might be falling into a psychological trap. With Mood Lifters, I know how to challenge myself to combat it.”

Mood Lifters and the Ann Arbor YMCA are partnering to offer the program to members for a reduced rate ($75 for four months), or for regular price for non-members ($200 for four months) beginning on April 1. For more information, please visit https://www.annarborymca.org/portfolio/mood-lifter-workshop/ or https://www.mood-lifters.com/ .