Individual and Systems 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 Disress Hotline (1-800-985-5990).
* In response to the increased need for mental health support, please make a note of the 988 nationwide, three-digit phone number.
“Our goal, not to lose one.” - Thomas J. Nasca, MD MACP
ACP honors National Physician Suicide Awareness Day (NPSA Day) annually on September 17 to help shift the health care system from one where physicians think burnout, depression, or suicidal thoughts are something they must overcome by themselves to one where they see, experience, and know about the supportive community around them. As a NPSA Day Supporting Organization, ACP is normalizing mental health help-seeking and creating positive learning and working environments for physicians and their teams.
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 licensing and 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 21 I.M. Thriving issue on Promoting Belonging and Psychological Safety 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:
- Share and save the Physician Support Line (1-888-409-0141) for free and confidential just-in-time peer support. Visit their resource page for tools to maintain and enhance your well-being.
- 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, standing up to bias and harassment, and complement resources on promoting psychological safe spaces.
- 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.
- Read about "Tackling burnout as an occupational phenomenon" by Eileen D. Barrett, MD, MPH, MACP to learn about actionable systems solutions.
- Discover how to combat loneliness through “Building Community, One Connection at a Time” with a complementary action-oriented exercise from Kerri Palamara, MD, MACP. Find out how our WBC, Shradha Gupta MD, leveraged the power of one theory.
- 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 X (Formerly 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
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