Jennifer Christman: Mental Health Awareness Month critical for covid-19 front-line workers

Prior to covid-19, our nation was silently witnessing another growing epidemic — suicide. Specifically, among first responders.

Many members of this at-risk population are now on the front lines of the pandemic, working in high-stress professions where the nature of their work leads to experiencing trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder. Even in a normal world, EMTs, police officers, firefighters, nurses, physicians and others frequently are exposed to life-changing or life-threatening events. They, like many others in our society, may feel stigmatized or isolated when thinking about reaching out for support and intervention.

As an advocate for mental health counseling and past president of the National Association for Rural Mental Health, I recently gave a virtual presentation at the 53rd Annual American Association of Suicidology (AAS) Conference, sharing statistics on at-risk populations.

The numbers clearly show the results of this thinking:

• A survey of more than 4,000 first responders reported that 6.6% of them have attempted suicide — over 10 times the rate of the general population.

• On average, there are more first responders taking their own lives than being killed in the line of duty each year. A recent study found there were at least 140 police officer suicides and 103 firefighter suicides in the U.S. during 2017 alone, compared to the still-tragic statistic of 129 police officer deaths and 93 firefighter deaths that occurred in the line of duty that year. The spread may be even wider, with evidence suggesting the number of suicides could be undercounted by nearly 60%.

• Some first responders turn to substance abuse as a way to alleviate their pain, with up to 40% of EMTs, 37.6% of police officers and 29% of firefighters engaged in substance abuse in the U.S. Additionally, studies in both the U.S. and Canada indicate that first responders have increased rates of anxiety, depression, PTSD and alcohol abuse compared to the general population.

• Reports also show that men and women physicians are, respectively, 79.8% and 42.5% more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

It all paints a dire picture. But there’s still hope.

While telehealth has been growing over the past few years, we started a program called VetAdvisor in 2006 to serve post-9/11 veterans who were also experiencing high rates of suicide. In 2019, we expanded our program to serve all uniformed personnel and civilians living in rural areas with limited access to health resources, now known as MyAdvisor. Our team is an AAS-certified crisis center, answering about 40,000 calls and more than 800 texts and emails each month.

As a subsidiary of a technology company, we are unique because we design our own technology solutions to effectively connect licensed medical professionals, social workers, nutritionists and financial experts to anyone across the country in the comfort of their own home. Through a variety of private communication options such as phone, text, email and even avatars, we can eliminate the stigmas that many feel when they ask for help.

Our program’s success shows we can remove the barriers to care by combining technology and people. These same solutions can be applied to covid-19 front-line workers and first responders everywhere, especially as this pandemic forces us to rely on digital solutions and services.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, join me in not only thanking our nurses, physicians and first responders for their service, but also in ensuring they have access to the mental health resources they need during these stressful and unprecedented times.

Jennifer Christman, president of MyAdvisor, has more than 15 years of experience implementing and directing programs that improve access to services in the areas of wellness, behavioral health, navigational advocacy, financial literacy and career transition.