Two years ago I suffered a devastating mental health crisis which led me (back) to therapy. At the time (and obviously to this day) I used my blog to journal my healing journey and I was astounded by the number of student dentists who shared with me their struggles with mental health issues. And I vociferously encouraged and empowered those students struggling with mental health issues to seek help. And then the world turned upside down due to COVID-19. So many students living in isolation (some not in the best and/or safest conditions) and we had a crisis. And that crisis didn’t end when we returned to some semblance of an in-person educational experience.
Through it all I wanted to be and do more for my struggling student dentists. So in the summer of 2020 I earned a certificate in Psychological First Aid from Johns Hopkins University. At the same time there were murmurings of a student run mental health and wellness committee forming which needed a faculty adviser. And soon after that a key student in the nascent mental health and wellness committee approached me and solicited my opinion regarding the potential structure of a mental health and wellness committee. The following is what I proposed to that student and published within my blog on October 17th, 2020:
* I believe we need to empower and maintain a student run mental health and wellness committee that can be in constant communication with their student dentist colleagues.
* I believe we constantly need to nurture a community-wide belief within our dental schools that suffering with mental health issues is OK and NOT a sign of weakness.
* I believe we constantly need to educate/re-educate student dentists regarding the signs and symptoms of mental illness.
* I believe we need to empower student dentists to recognize mental health issues within themselves AND/OR within their student colleagues.
* I believe we need to constantly provide student dentists with up-to-date mental health information/resources. This can include but not be limited to: web addresses that provide relevant and pertinent information and help; phone numbers that student dentists can call for help; utilization of on-campus organizations that work to promote mental health (such as Active Minds); utilization of on-campus counseling centers; pamphlets; flyers; etc.
* I believe we need to train several student dentists to be able to intervene in a mental health crisis (Johns Hopkins University offers a certification in Psychological First Aid which allows practitioners to help triage and stabilize patients who are in the grips of a psychological crisis).
* I believe we need to empower faculty and staff to recognize mental health issues within our student dentists.
* I believe we need to train several faculty and staff to be able to intervene in a mental health crisis (Johns Hopkins University’s Psychological First Aid).
* I believe we need to train and empower student dentists to contact designated, trained, and trusted student colleagues, staff, or faculty during a mental health crisis.
* I believe student dentists need a safe forum to gather to discuss mental health issues especially with fellow student colleagues. This forum should empower students to believe that they are not alone, that they are not suffering in silence, and that others are suffering alongside them. This forum should be a community where suffering students can learn to share and trust each other and work together to overcome the challenges of mental illness. This forum can also include outside-of-school activities that nurture mental health such as group nature hikes, outings, etc.
Fast forward to the present, a community/group effort, empowered by highly motivated students, staff, and faculty, has produced a functioning and thriving mental health and wellness committee: MUSOD’S Mental Health and Wellness Committee. And monthly we have speakers giving mental health and wellness presentations to the entire dental school. And those presentations have been very successful.
So why the hell am I saying all this? Cuz I implore any and all who are suffering from anxiety, depression, panic, or trauma to reach out for help. Please don’t suffer alone in silence and isolation. Anxiety, depression, panic, and trauma are insidious foes. They make you feel defeated and this is only heightened in over-achievers also known as student dentists. REACH OUT FOR HELP! Mental illness is an illness like any other illness that knocks us away from living life to its fullest. I go to my MD get my asthma treated when it knocks me on my ass. And now I have the strength to go to my MD and my therapist to have my panic attacks/PTSD treated when they knock me on my ass. I should not be and am not afraid/embarrassed to admit that I am suffering from a mental illness. And I wish that folks would not feel stigmatized by our society’s views regarding mental health. I am Danish and Denmark is empirically the happiest country on the planet. Denmark’s happiness comes from many different sources but Denmark doesn’t stigmatize mental illness: Denmark embraces mental illness and treats it effectively and its people are empowered to live wonderful stigma free lives. We Danish Americans are arguably one of the smallest ethnic minorities in the USA because ya gotta be nutz to leave Denmark.
So, we all got shit going on. Sometimes we can handle it. Sometimes we can’t handle it (and that’s OK). Sometimes things happen that tip the scales toward not being able to handle it (and that’s OK too). Sometimes our actions toward others can take someone’s precarious situation and turn things in a bad direction. Maybe we just need to remember to be nice to people. Or maybe we just need to be respectful toward others. We don’t know the burdens that people carry. And our actions can make or break someone’s day. Kind words and a smile are healing gestures (or are at least comforting). Even our body language can make or break someone’s day.
It’s OK to have shit going on. And it’s OK if the shit overwhelms us. There are really good people out there who can help us when the shit gets too deep. Reach out for help. Life is worth living well and we all can work together to achieve a life lived well. I can’t say it enough: I encourage anyone who’s suffering from anxiety, depression, panic, or trauma to seek help. I know how stressful dental school (and life) can be. And I have had to live through losing student dentists and colleagues to suicide. There’s a lot of life worth living. And it’s good and right to seek help and live to see beautiful todays and tomorrows.
WAGA and WAHEO: We All Get Along and We All Help Each Other. Namaste.
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