Tech Giants Respond to the Global Demand for Mental Health Content
Dear Community of Hope,
Few things speak louder than 25 billion annual views on YouTube! Ladies and gentlemen, the focus on mental health issues for which we have all been waiting has arrived. The global demand for mental health content is hard to fathom. In last week’s special tech edition Crisis Jam, mental healthcare leaders from Google and YouTube presented on their efforts to meet the rising need. Special thanks to Dr. Megan Jones Bell and Dr. Jessica DiVento for sharing all their innovations.
Aiming to support people throughout their mental health journeys, these tech giants have focused on both providing authoritative information and also recognizing the human side with the “personal stories shelf.” Highlighting both a state of well-being and a traditional medical model, their use of a dual continuum as a guide for mental health product development was indeed impressive. According to Megan, “[this approach] shows the potential for realizing a state of well-being even while living with or recovering from a chronic mental health disorder.”
We also took the Crisis Trivia Hotseat all the way down under to Gold Coast, Australia, where an air-traffic control coordination hub drives real-time valve management to hospital operations. Professor Martin Connor, CEO and Founder of Healthcare Logic, shares the secret to data that moves healthcare leaders from ignorance and myths to action.
If you didn’t join us for this terrific technology feature, please watch, like and subscribe on YouTube (February 1st Special Edition Crisis Jam). And, you can always follow the SAMHSA and NASMHPD Crisis Jam Learning Community at Talk.CrisisNow.com/LearningCommunity.
David W. Covington, LPC, MBA
CEO & President, RI International
Visit me at DavidwCovington.com/storyteller.
Click here to donate to support the RI International mission: Empowering people to recover, succeed in accomplishing their goals, find meaning and purpose in life and reconnect with themselves and others.
Crisis Jam Highest Participation
Over 70 national organizations and behavioral healthcare leaders from all 50 states make up the Crisis Jam learning community and join us weekly on Zoom. But, we’re seeing an increasing number watch later on YouTube. The special youth edition on January 4, 2023 holds the overall record. If you’re new to this passionate group of collective impact, check out our playlist to experience over 80 hours of past Crisis Jam content!
Accidental Death & Disability Policy Paper
In 1996, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration re-published the paper responsible for the modern emergency medical system, where coordination with 911, ambulances and hospital emergency departments make a profound difference in an untold number of lives. The director at the time wrote, “”Accidental Death and Disability… revolutionized the way we view and manage injury in America. For many of us, it helped to define our careers.”
On Wednesday, February 8, Dr. Eric Rafla-Yuan will be featured in the Crisis Jam, “We’ve Been Here Before,” to review this important history and analogue.
Lather, Rinse and Repeat
In 2020, SAMHSA published the National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care: A Best Practice Toolkit. American College of Emergency Physicians Past President Dr. Sandy Schneider has likened the pre-988 crisis continuum to the fragmented emergency medical system of the 1960s. She believes the arrival of 988 and focus on mobile crisis and crisis receiving facility capacity presents the opportunity to transform an emergency behavioral health system of care.On Wednesday, February 15, Erica Chestnut-Ramirez will be featured in the Crisis Jam, “Lather, Rinse, and Repeat,” to review the minimum standards and best practice goals of this key document.
Strong Talk Guest Tonja Myles
On the first day of Black History Month, Tonja Myles shared with the Crisis Jam learning community how the killing of Tyre Nichols hit different. “Time does not heal all wounds,” shared Tonja as she spoke on the impact of trauma and the need for equity and resources in communities of color.
February 1 Special Edition Crisis Jam (begins at minute 54)
The Promise of 988 Video
During last week’s Special Tech Edition Crisis Jam, we showed “The Promise of 988: Crisis Care for Everyone, Everywhere, Every Time,” which has been viewed more than 12,000 times on YouTube. The video was crafted by the 2019 IIMHL Leadership Exchange Crisis Now 2 summit in partnership with EDC, Inc. Please watch, like and subscribe to our channel.
MASoSfilm YouTube Playlist
Episode 8: On Your Own in University is now available telling the story of Misha Kessler who grew up gay and closeted in Ohio, where he didn’t feel safe to come out. Believing he wasn’t worthy wore on him. In college, he thought he found his solution, an escape from the pain, when he crawled out a windowsill of his dorm room, six stories above the ground, and willed himself to jump. His subsequent effort to seek help resulted in a forced withdrawal and more isolation than before.
Moving America’s Soul on Suicide (MASoSfilm.com)
Crisis Trivia Hotseat (Special Tech Edition)
Dr. John Draper led the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from its inception until 2022 with the launch of 988 and joined Behavioral Health Link as President, Research and Development. He took on the special tech edition Crisis Jam tackling the kind of data that moves healthcare executives from ignorance and myths to action.
February 1 Special Edition Crisis Jam (begins at minute 35)
BHL’s Statewide Crisis Software Platform
In 2006, I led the Behavioral Health Link team that designed the first statewide crisis software system that would set the “care traffic control” standard, with GPS-enabled mobile crisis dispatch, electronic bed inventory, intensive service tracking and more. It was built on a Windows.NET app with SQL backend and installed on individual computers.
In 2021, Henry Wengier and team started afresh to catapult Virginia forward to the SAAS Enterprise Product which would shape Crisis Now systems in the future. Hosted in a Microsoft Azure data center, with a back end SQL database and a front end Angular and middle layer API .NET using C sharp, they exponentially enhanced the security coding with a browser based application. But, what’s more, Dr. Chuck Browning and Dr. John Draper are driving a clinical model aligning with 988 and the SAMHSA National Guidelines for BH Crisis Care. Contact Deepa Avula to learn more.
Is Suicide Really a Choice?
Each of us held on the same – as long as our strength and endurance to pain could possibly stand. In 2013, I experienced the Universal Studios Fear Factor competition attraction and it inspired a TED-style Talk focused on reducing the stigma and shame of suicide. “Is Suicide Really a Choice?” has been viewed over 80,000 times.
Watch, like and subscribe on YouTube.
988 Crisis Jam T-Shirts
Four SAMHSA logo colors. Six quotes. English or Spanish. Short or long sleeve. Wear your behavioral health passion by visiting our shop!
Crisis Jam Shop.
Moving America’s Soul on Suicide (MASoSfilm.com)
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FiveLanesCrisis.com & DavidWCovington
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