The Keeping the Body in Mind – Primary Care service (KBIM-Primary) is an innovative service providing lifestyle support to people living with complex mental disorders and accessing primary care within the Central Eastern Sydney PHN (CESPHN) region. It is the only service of its kind in Australia.  

Through collaboration with UNSW, Sydney, KBIM-Primary operates out of the UNSW Medicine and Health Lifestyle Clinic at Randwick with an exercise physiologist, dietitian, smoking cessation nurse and peer worker who specialise in working with and supporting people with complex mental health disorders.  

Services are provided free-of-charge to people referred from their GP or other primary health care provider.   

Learn more about the Keeping the Body in Mind Exercise program here: Keeping the Body in Mind: All About Exercise (youtube.com) 

About the project

Exercise and diet are recognised as core components of mental health care, given the impact on both the physical and mental health of people living with complex disorders. Supervised and structured exercise and diet interventions have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychosis, prevent weight gain associated with antipsychotic medication, reduce cardiometabolic risk and facilitate access to traditional mental health services.  

Despite being recognised in numerous treatment guidelines, access to individualised, face-to-face lifestyle programs for those with complex mental health disorders remains limited.  

Historically, in the south eastern Sydney region, only people whose care was managed by South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) mental health services could access the Keeping the Body in Mind program. Individuals who received mental health support from their GP were not eligible and there were no other similar services. 

Responding to this gap, Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network (CESPHN) funded Keeping the Body in Mind Primary Care, which allows GPs and other primary health care workers to refer people with complex mental health conditions to the service. 

Keeping the Body in Mind Primary Care includes: 

• a detailed assessment of exercise, diet and medical history 

• goal setting and barrier identification 

• education around the physical and mental health benefits of eating well, exercising regularly and quitting smoking 

• development of personalised physical activity, diet and smoking cessation programs 

• referral pathways into existing community resources to promote long-term benefits 

Eligibility criteria: 

• diagnosis of a severe mental illness (eg. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder) 

• not currently having care managed by a public mental health service 

• living within the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN region 

• aged 18-65 years 

Model of care

The service offers up to 10 free individual sessions with an exercise physiologist, a dietitian, a smoking cessation nurse and a peer worker.   It operates from the UNSW Medicine and Health Lifestyle Clinic, Randwick, and via secure telehealth (Zoom, Teams etc.)  

How to join the program:

Referrals can be made using the following link: https://redcap.link/KBIM_primary

Referral must be made by a GP, primary-care clinician or relevant NGO. This service is currently available only in the Central & Eastern Sydney PHN region.