Review: "What Happens If You Try to Prevent Every Single Suicide?" – NPR
This article was posted by Joanne Silberner on NPR today. Finally, someone presents a story of what really happens in the mental health field on a daily basis. The Henry Ford Health System's suicide prevention program is a lofty goal, and I'm super excited that they are sticking to meeting that goal. After all, trying is not failure.
The psychiatrist in the story, Dr. Doree Ann Espiritu, did a fantastic job of just stating what we know, how we practice medicine in less than ideal situations, and how our very own doubts can be our undoing. I'm glad that someone also did the financial footwork to show that preventative and proactive stances on addressing health care actually save the system lots of money, and more importantly, empower quality patient care.
P.S.Y.C.H. provides universal access to quality mental health care for everyone, and mental health will finally be equal in parity to medical and surgical care.
P.S.Y.C.H. works to prevent every single suicide by bringing mental health care into our daily discourse, from the moment of our birth and throughout our lifetime. Preventative screenings will occur each year that a patient goes in for their well-person check. They will get a general physical, lab work, and mental health screening/booster session. I envision the booster session being the "anticipatory guidance"-type approach where therapists can help the individual recognize strengths and weaknesses at their current age and developmental level.
I enjoy reading journalism like this; there are more and more stories about how terrible the system is; we know that ad nauseum. Let's talk about what works and, in time, we can implement P.S.Y.C.H. to bring those ideas to every American.