Behavioral Activation Group

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The eight -week Behavioral Activation (BA) program was created in January 2017, by the staff of the Brief Adult Mental Health Outpatient Program at Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services (HAMHDS). The group was developed to engage adult consumers who had limited success in traditional therapy for chronic depressed mood. Feedback from consumers indicated that competing life priorities and obligations were barriers to committing to extended group and individual therapy. Using evidence-based practice, staff developed the Behavioral Activation (BA) group to provide consumers with easily understood and acquired skills that resulted in rapid improvement in depressive symptoms. This is an approach that discourages consumers from waiting until they feel better to be active. Rather, consumers are encouraged to “act on a plan and not on a mood with the understanding that mood improvements will follow activity. The curriculum focuses on using behavioral logs to track consumer variances in activity and mood. The effectiveness of the group is evaluated through pre and post-tests utilizing the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 Depression Assessment that is a widely used and accepted measurement of depressive symptoms and response to treatment (Kroenke, Spitzer, Williams, 2001).