WELLNESS COMMITTEE
Introducing the Mental Health Action Plan Theresa Adams, MS4,* Kelly Kossen, MS4,† Neha Bhatnagar, MD FAAEM,‡ Al’ai Alvarez, MD FAAEM,§ and Robyn Hitchcock MD FAAEM
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he mental health of health care workers remains a constant challenge, exacerbated not only by the demanding nature of our work but also by the stigma and limitations we face when seeking mental health care. Emergency physicians faced mental health challenges even before the pandemic due to constant exposure to vicarious trauma and moral injury.1 Additionally, physicians encounter added barriers and potential licensing ramifications when they seek mental health care. When Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency physician in New York City, tragically died by suicide during the height of the pandemic, it sparked multiple advocacy efforts towards receiving mental health care that have had a promising impact in raising awareness and legislation. The resulting Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act aims to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health assistance among health care professionals.2 The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and the #StopTheStigmaEM campaign have also worked diligently to increase awareness of the stigma surrounding mental health care.3,4 Though such admirable efforts have been made on a broader community scale, we need to pay more attention to our own individual mental health needs. Indeed, a significant obstacle that continues to hinder progress in supporting physicians’ mental health is the mistaken notion that mental health care is exclusively meant for individuals with mental health disorders. Overcoming this misconception is crucial to providing better support for medical professionals. While we have well-studied and evidence-based algorithms, protocols, and contingency plans for our patients and their conditions, we often fall short when it comes to taking care of ourselves. In fact, a shift towards proactive and preventative mental health maintenance is essential, rather than solely focusing on addressing crises after they have already begun. Encouraging regular check-ins and implementing such measures can help physicians cope with the challenges we face in our demanding roles. To that end, we propose a Mental Health Action Plan, comprising two components: promotion of self-awareness of your mental health state and pre-planned proactive measures executed according to that state. Considering the busy schedules of medical professionals and trainees, we must be mindful that additional wellness modules, tasks, and workshops may impinge upon much-needed self-care time. Recognizing that different strategies work for different people, we aim to provide manageable resources and ideas to avoid overwhelming individuals.
“[A] significant obstacle that continues to hinder progress in supporting physicians’ mental health is the mistaken notion that mental health care is exclusively meant for individuals with mental health disorders.”
Think for a moment when someone asks you what you do to relax or reset. What ideas come to you first? How would your answers change if you had a particularly challenging day? What happens to your relaxation ideas when you notice yourself feeling angry, frustrated, and in need of a break? Do you currently have a plan in place to actively navigate through those states of mind and get yourself back to a place of peace? It is immensely more difficult to find your bearings in the middle of the storm; let us instead devise the plan before the storm even hits us. Similar to planning for surge crises like mass casualty events or natural disasters in the emergency department, our proposal addresses mental health needs at different urgency levels. In interacting with the mental health sector, fourth-year medical student Kelly Kossen noticed a gap in mental health care planning: it seemed to be focused on suicide and
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COMMON SENSE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
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