Nutrition for mental health: NourishedRx supports dietary behavioral change with personalized meal service

20 Mar 2024 --- Digital health and nutrition company NourishedRx is partnering with Alliance Health, a North Carolina, US-based behavioral health care organization, to support members of the Transitions to Community Living (TCL) program. The partnership sets out to assist them in their journey from institutional care settings into more independent community living through home-delivered food and nutritional support services. 

The TLC program offers help to adults living with serious mental illness, including mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injuries.

“NourishedRx works with the most vulnerable populations and gets to know its enrollees first,” Lauren Driscoll, founder and CEO of NourishedRx, tells Nutrition Insight. “We collect information directly from each enrollee during a member intake as well as from Alliance Health, allowing an understanding of the enrollees’ personal circumstances.”

“This process enables our team of registered dietitians to create tailored nutrition programs for each enrollee and provide targeted education that meets them where they are with respect to their understanding of nutrition, healthy meal preparation and how it relates to overall well-being,” she explains. 

The partnership’s goals are to help participants with tenancy, independent living, nutrition security, health equity and improve self-reported health outcomes. 

Personalized approach
Alliance Health is a publicly funded healthcare service for residents of seven counties of North Carolina. At present, the service supports over 1,000 households through the TCL program, which combines affordable housing provisions with intensive, coordinated services, including case management, peer and community integration assistance.

Driscoll highlights the importance of access to quality nutrition as part of this equation for success: “We come to understand the members’ health, diet, cultural, social and environmental circumstances. We then leverage our vast network of food vendor partners to provide the enrollees with highly personalized meals and groceries. Customizing an enrollee’s food journey increases engagement in the program, leading to a long-lasting impact.”NourishedRx leverages its network of food vendor partners to provide the enrollees with personalized meals and groceries. 

She explains that food and nutrition are an “indispensable component ” of well-being and, physical and mental health. NourishedRx has taken measures to ensure the home-delivered food meets the dietary requirements and preferences of TCL program participants. 

“Our team of registered dietitians utilizes the data we collect to oversee the creation of individualized food care plans and ensure they support each member’s circumstances and preferences,” she elaborates.

“We collect ongoing feedback from members throughout the program to ensure high levels of food satisfaction and gauge their learned understanding of nutrition. Based on enrollee feedback, we iterate and adjust. This highly personalized approach is unique to NourishedRx and promotes an enrollee’s self-efficacy and satisfaction.”

Food as medicine 
According to Driscoll, the combination of nutritious food delivery, coaching, education and social support will promote successful independent living for TCL program members.

“NourishedRx’s ‘food as medicine’ solution goes well beyond delivering healthy food and has demonstrated a measurable impact not only on physical health but also on mental health, including loneliness and depression,” she details.

“When food is combined with coaching, education and social support, such services catalyze confidence in self-care, which is foundational to successful independent living and well-being.” 

As a digital health and nutrition company aimed at supporting healthcare organizations in nourishing patients and fostering dietary behavior change, NourishedRx highlights the role of technology in facilitating the delivery of nutritional support services to TCL program participants.

“NourishedRx leverages technology to integrate with food partners and healthcare payers and engage enrollees in an omnichannel manner based on their preferences. Members can opt to learn, participate and engage, access our resource library and share feedback on the program through the web, text and a member app,” Driscoll outlines.

“By making the program accessible to enrollees in their preferred communication method, enrollees stay engaged and realize the full benefits of participating in the program.”

Last December, NourishedRx partnered with fintech platform ProHealth Connect to allow US citizens to use their over-the-counter medication and Medicare flex cards to access personalized home-delivered meals to improve nutrition security in food desserts and for people with mobility constraints and digital literacy barriers.

By Milana Nikolova