Many Hands, Many Voices: Suicide Prevention Work at MCW

 From the 5/14/2021 newsletter

Perspective/Opinion

 

 Many Hands, Many Voices: Suicide Prevention Work at MCW

 

 David J. Cipriano, Ph.D. - Director of Student and Resident Behavioral Health and Co-Chair, MCW Suicide Prevention Council

 

 Dr. Cipriano, Co-chair of MCW’s Suicide Prevention Council, describes how the council is approaching this critical topic through the development of peer support, beginning at MCW-CW …

 

 Many hands, many voices – a common call for community collaboration – describes the progress of our Suicide Prevention Council (SPC).  I reported a few months ago on our identification of two risk factors for suicide that we chose to focus on this year:  isolation and stigma.  And, I promised to report back on our progress. 

Last time, I spoke about the culture change needed to reduce these risk factors.  We began to plan for a public health model to promote such culture change.  There are three categories of prevention: Primary prevention focuses on various determinants in the whole population. Secondary prevention comprises early detection and intervention. Tertiary prevention targets for advanced recovery and reduction of relapse risk. Our model utilizes trained peer supporters as the main change agents in the secondary prevention component. 

 We looked to Drs. Alicia Pilarski and Timothy Klatt’s Supporting Our Staff (SOS) program to address “second victim” - or vicarious trauma - amongst clinicians, and our program is closely modelled on theirs. The primary prevention component seeks to raise awareness, educate, and begin the conversation through events, media, and other means.  These are the seeds of the culture change needed beginning with stigma which keeps mental health in the shadows and isolation, perpetuated by shame and pride which keep us from reaching out to peers and colleagues.  Tertiary prevention involves removing barriers to access to care for those who need it.  We have made good progress on this over the past few years, but there is more we can do.

 

A student-led suicide prevention initiative at MCW-CW

So, whose hands and whose voices?  Dr. Jon Lehrmann, Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and co-founder of our Suicide Prevention Council, kept directing us back to the Pilarski/Klatt SOS program.  He saw the benefits of the public health approach and of the peer support component. MCW-Central Wisconsin medical student, Margaret (Meg) Lieb, pointed out the difference between peer support programs that encourage the active outreach of peer supporters, versus passive models where it is the responsibility of those in distress to reach out.  Then, our terrific community member of SPC, Dr. Barbara Moser, jumped in with her wealth of knowledge of training tools and experiences needed to prepare these peer supporters.  

So, what’s coming next?  Meg Lieb has assembled a group of fellow students with a passion for the mental health and wellbeing at MCW-CW.  They will launch a pilot program next month. You will be hearing from several of them in this issue of Transformational Times.  Meg and her team have been putting together the training materials, recruiting peer supporters and have even secured funding through Dr. Lisa Dodson, Dean of MCW-Central Wisconsin from a grant she received.  All this, while Meg is preparing for the Step 1 exam! 

I’ll stop here and let these amazing students tell their story.  I will make another promise here – while they are running their pilot, we on the SPC will continue to make plans for extending this program to our MCW-Milwaukee and MCW-Green Bay, as well.

 

 

David J. Cipriano, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at MCW and Director of Student and Resident Behavioral Health. He is a member of the Community Engagement Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.