Individual and Organizational Resources That Give Agency and Provide Nurturing Safe Spaces and Supportive Communities
If you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available 24/7. Text 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988 or 1-800-273-8255) or Disaster Distress Hotline (1-800-985-5990).
* In response to the increased need for mental health support, please make a note of the new 988 nationwide, three-digit phone number.
“Our goal, not to lose one.” - Thomas J. Nasca, MD MACP
The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD) is leading a collaborative effort with the American College of Physicians (ACP) and other medical organizations to spread awareness through grassroots activities around National Physician Suicide Awareness (NPSA) Day, annually on September 17.
In this I.M. Thriving issue, ACP curated resources that: promote communities of well-being, normalize clinician mental health help-seeking, give advocacy tips to change inappropriate credentialing questions, share stories that shed light on physician death by suicide and suicide prevention, and offer easily accessible and confidential emotional support systems that give agency and provide nurturing safe spaces for physicians. Visit the I.M. Emotional Support Hub to learn more about advocacy, individual and organizational resources, and information to protect clinicians' emotional health. The July 15 I.M. Thriving issue on Promoting Belonging also contains information on fostering communities of well-being that complements this month's newsletter.
We look forward to hearing from you! Please e-mail acpwellbeing@acponline.org with your thoughts and suggestions for newsletter topics and features.
Check out the links below for resources you can use for yourself and others:
- Visit the I.M. Emotional Support Hub and Video Series to learn more about individual and organizational strategies and resources to protect clinicians' emotional health.
- Watch webinars on identifying and supporting a colleague in need and standing up to bias and harassment.
- Learn about “Physician Suicide Prevention and the Ethics and Role of a Healing Community: An American College of Physicians Policy Paper,” and check out resources to create and sustain positive work and learning environments and culture in medicine. Read the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention guide on “What to Do When Someone Is at Risk,” check out self-compassion tools, and access other noteworthy resources.
- Discover stories that shed light on physician death by suicide as well as prevention efforts, and revisit how to combat loneliness through “Building Community, One Connection at a Time” with a complementary action-oriented exercise from Kerri Palamara, MD, MACP.
- Learn steps that you can take to support yourself and your colleagues' mental health, understand how to proactively change inappropriate credentialing application questions, discover tools for implementing sustainable change, and easily access confidential peer- and emotional-support resources for individuals and organizations.
- Review the Patients Before Paperwork and advocacy updates that affect physician well-being and professional fulfillment.
Please join us on Twitter at #dontworryalone, #physicianwellbeing and #NPSADay. Post in your ACP Champion forum and reach out to us any time at acpwellbeing@acponline.org.
Sincerely,
Your ACP Well-being Team
Please log your Well-being Champion activities in your new and improved Well-being Champion Activities Tracker!