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- ❤ National Suicide Prevention Month, an update on 988, and LA’s first street psychiatrist
❤ National Suicide Prevention Month, an update on 988, and LA’s first street psychiatrist
It’s National Suicide Prevention Month
September is National Suicide Prevention Month <3. Mental health advocates, prevention organizations, survivors, allies, and community members are uniting to promote suicide prevention awareness.
You can participate by raising awareness of 988 and the Lifeline’s mission to change the conversation from suicide to suicide prevention, to actions that can promote healing, help and hope. Check out their website for info, resources, and share graphics for social media.
You can also read personal stories and find upcoming community events hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention here.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Work
CVS CEO Karen Lynch says it is time that business leaders get serious about mental health. While mental health struggles like anxiety, stress and burnout are certainly not new, the ways in which we address them both individually and collectively are ever changing. Are business leaders doing enough? Is there a role for workplace leadership to play in mental health and well-being? We think so and it can be as simple as encouraging, destigmatizing, and increasing access to health care.
If you are looking to learn more about what you or your business leaders can do today to support mental health at work, give us a shout.
Treatment
Dr. Shayan Rab, a psychiatrist with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, is leading a small but growing initiative in street-based treatment that is beginning to make inroads with the population of people experiencing homeless in L.A.
The mission of street psychiatry is to treat clients where you find them and to use innovative techniques to manage those who are often averse to treatment. As stated in the L.A. Times, this is a radical departure from practicing in a traditional setting. Rab and other psychiatrists are growing alternate paths to mental health intervention, bringing as much of the process as possible to the streets, including court hearings.
Rab’s team has received additional funding and will eventually staff 8 full-time psychiatrists to hopefully become the most robust street psychiatry program in the country. In terms of progress now, here are some stats:
For each of the 3,418 people who became clients last year, the team made an average of eight calls, five times for case management and three times for mental health services.
The teams responded to crises 625 times to execute an involuntary commitment or calm someone in a crisis.
Dr. Rab’s caseload is typically 40-50 clients, 5-6 new clients per month.
Around 10% of the people living on the street have a clinical diagnosis of severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. That number would rise significantly under a broader view of mental illness that includes things like substance use disorders and depression.
Policy + Advocacy
New data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that in August – the first full month that 988 was operational — the Lifeline saw a 45% increase in overall volume of calls, texts and chats compared to August 2021, however disparities in state-by-state roll out and staffing shortages continue to be a challenge for the nationwide program.
Some say if states don’t aggressively pursue solutions in funding, recruiting and retaining there will be challenges down the road.
Curious how your state stacks up? Check out this map.
With midterm election less than two months away, NAMI has recently relaunched it’s #Vote4MentalHealth campaign as part of their efforts to help voters and candidates understand the impact that voting has on mental health care.
The #Vote4MentalHealth campaign provides resources for people to learn more about the intersection of key policy issues and mental health, find ways to engage candidates and directly register to vote. Find more here.
And while we’re on the topic of how elections impact mental health care…
Mindsite recently reported on how legislators across the country are working to improve mental health systems and coming together in a bipartisan way to eliminate the treatment gap, create comprehensive prevention and early intervention systems and stop the criminalization of mental illness.
Do you have a plan to vote in your state?
In More News
Since it’s been a little more than a week since our last email, here is a round up of other stories we couldn’t resist.
The Economic Burden of Mental Health Inequities report is here.
Heat waves have been sweeping the west and may be impacting mental health
California’s surgeon general opens up about bipolar disorder
Indiana leaders seek to reduce recidivism through mental health services
New study examines effects of nighttime eating on mood and depression
All the ‘ings
And last but not least, here is what we’re watch/read/do/listen/explor/consum’ing this week.
Doing
Tuning in today to Path Forward: Addressing The Mental Health Crisis; a webinar with Accenture North America CEO Jimmy Etheredge and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark.
Reading
If one thing is certain, it’s that uncertainty is…uh, certain which is why we are so grateful forThe Upside of Uncertainty where co-authors Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr provide a tool kit for navigating the growing uncertainty we face in our lives.
Watching
Michael Pollan’s docu-series, How to Change Your Mind on Netflix
That’s all for now. If you love what you read, do us a favor and share it around!
See you next week(ish)!
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