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Advancing Suicide Prevention and Crisis Care at Carelon Behavioral Health · Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health

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  Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's
• 0:02
  Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to
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  the Becker's Healthcare podcast
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  series.
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  September is suicide prevention month, a vital time
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  to raise awareness, offer hope, and inspire meaningful
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  action on one of the most pressing mental
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  health challenges
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  of our time.
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  And today, I'm very excited to be joined
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  by doctor Jessica Chaudhry, medical director of National
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  Accounts, Carellon Behavioral Health, and doctor Jeffrey Hyde,
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  head of Crisis Center of Excellence, also with
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  Carellon Behavioral Health. They'll share their perspectives on
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  this critical issue and the important work they're
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  doing to support individuals and communities
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  across the country. And just a quick reminder
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  before we jump in, this podcast discusses mental
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  health issues and suicide.
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  If you or someone you know has suicidal
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  thoughts or is experiencing a mental health crisis,
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  please contact emergency services or dial or text
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  988
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  to reach the suicide and crisis
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  lifeline.
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  And with that, doctor Chaudhary and doctor Haidt,
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  thanks so much for being here today. It's
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  great to have you. Thank you. It's great
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  to be here. Thank you for having us
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  on.
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  Absolutely. I do wanna start with introductions for
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  our audience here.
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  Doctor Haidt, if you wanna start us off,
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  could you just share a little bit about
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  yourself and your work in health care?
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  Absolutely. As you mentioned at the outset, my
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  name is Jeff Heitz.
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  I am the head of our National Crisis
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  Center of Excellence here at Carillon Behavioral Health.
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  I've been a part of Carillon for just
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  over eight years and have been working in
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  crisis services for close to twenty. So,
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  I'm a psychologist
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  and clinician,
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  by background and have spent the majority of
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  my life working in crisis systems of care
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  from crisis call center work to mobile crisis
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  outreach and intervention, and I'm now more in
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  the administrative side.
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  Great to have you on. Absolutely. Doctor Choudhury,
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  over to you.
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  Well, thank you so much for having me
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  on today. I'm really excited to join this
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  podcast.
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  A little bit about me, my name is
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  Jessica Chowdhury. I'm a psychiatrist
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  by training,
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  and I am the
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  medical director for national accounts at Carillon Behavioral
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  Health. I've been with the organization
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  just around a decade, and I've been able
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  to develop
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  some exciting health programs
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  that I think had really made a difference,
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  including the suicide prevention program, which I'm really
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  looking forward to speaking more about.
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  Yeah. I'm so excited to to hear about
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  it too, and it's great to have you
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  both on.
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  Suicide remains
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  one of the leading causes of death in
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  The United States. And in 2020, Carolyn Behavioral
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  Health launched the suicide prevention program or SPP
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  to help reach people before
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  they are in crisis.
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  Doctor Chaudhry, I'd love to start off with
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  you on this one. Can you walk us
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  through how the program works and the impact
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  it's having today?
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  I'm happy to walk through the suicide prevention
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  program
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  and how it works and why we really
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  started the program.
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  We
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  launched this program
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  in 2020
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  after spending
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  almost a couple of years really thinking seriously
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  about
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  how we can make a difference
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  in this this emerging
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  and
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  pervasive
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  national crisis of suicide.
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  And what we came up with after
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  a great deal of deliberation and looking at
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  analytics was a program
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  that is based on predictive
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  modeling and predictive analysis,
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  but that also examines claims data
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  and looks at people who are really at
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  the highest risk for suicide.
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  Mhmm. Either a first suicide
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  attempt
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  or a subsequent suicide attempt.
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  And there are a number of different factors
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  that go into this analysis.
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  There can be things like
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  issues around substance use,
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  different
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  interactions
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  very importantly,
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  the program is not just behavioral health focused,
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  it's also medically focused. Meaning,
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  we really examine some issues that
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  are closely linked to suicide
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  and other behavioral health problems from a medical
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  standpoint. So things like pain and pain disorders
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  or headaches or even certain respiratory
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  conditions, for example, like asthma
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  can be a little bit more risky for
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  behavioral health.
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  And what we wanted to do with all
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  of this was create a window of time
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  where we could avert a crisis from happening.
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  And the suicide prevention program found that there
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  is a window of time. There's about
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  around five months that we can intervene and
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  we can we can really change the trajectory
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  for for someone
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  by offering proactive intervention
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  through case management and through resource connection.
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  Yeah. And I feel like enabling that proactivity
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  then can really,
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  lead to better results, which is so key,
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  especially because as we as we mentioned in
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  the onset of the conversation, it remains
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  the leading cause of death in The United
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  States.
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  Doctor Hyatt, I'd love to come to you
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  here on this next question.
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  We we've seen
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  that this affects
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  a lot of different folks from a lot
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  of different groups of people. Right? So especially,
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  adolescents, it's a substantial public health concern for
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  them when it comes to behavioral health, but
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  there are also other vulnerable vulnerable groups.
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  Which populations are most at risk today, and
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  and what factors contribute to that heightened vulnerability?
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  Yeah. Thank you. I mean, I think as
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  you mentioned, we often think about adolescents as
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  most at risk for suicide.
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  But beyond that, I mean, I think every
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  age group has that potential risk for suicide.
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  Yeah. While adolescence is most prevalent, I think
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  we also see,
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  a higher rate of prevalence in older adults
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  who may be at risk of completing suicide,
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  particularly among men, often tied to isolation,
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  chronic illness, pain,
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  or or loss of loved ones. So I
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  I think it's also important to acknowledge the
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  the high risk for for older adults.
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  Beyond that, I I also think that there's,
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  you know, factors at play regarding gender and
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  identity. So often,
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  LGBTQ
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  populations
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  may be more at risk because for similar
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  reasons that that isolation
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  or that,
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  lack of belongingness,
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  that sort of prevails.
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  Yeah. And and doctor Chaudhary, I wanted to
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  come to you here on this follow-up.
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  What are some of the specific strategies you're
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  seeing to to reach and engage some of
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  these groups?
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  Yeah. Well, like doctor Haidt mentioned, those are
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  some of the populations that are at greatest
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  risk. For example, the older adult population
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  is is a highly risky population, and loneliness
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  plays a big role
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  in that population in particular,
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  or for people that have comorbid
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  medical and behavioral health conditions or maybe facing
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  certain illnesses.
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  So, for example, connecting older adults to resources
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  is a big part of what we do,
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  supporting them through new and creative ways to
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  connect with others
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  and interact with their peer group,
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  and finding interest later in life.
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  For people that may be facing serious illness,
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  we talk about legacy planning and how to
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  leave,
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  leave that legacy behind that you're really proud
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  of. Mhmm. We we're really seeing
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  more and more of these vulnerable
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  populations,
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  not just in the older age group, but
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  also as has been mentioned, you know, really
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  in the young adolescent
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  and young adult population, especially, for example,
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  the risk to teenage girls
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  is very much on the rise.
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  And and part of how we can help
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  with that, again, is also getting the family
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  involved
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  and really thinking about this as a team
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  based approach.
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  We really want to,
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  particularly for the younger age group, we really
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  wanna identify who are the the adult
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  mentors, who's involved with that child's life,
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  how can we work with them, and how
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  can we engage with them.
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  And we really work hard to
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  build a team around some of these younger
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  children
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  and support them in the best way that
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  we can.
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  Yeah. And you mentioned something very important, which
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  is this can be a strategic approach. There
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  can be a strategic approach to be able
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  to tackle some of these issues. Right? And
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  and again, we mentioned at the onset of
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  our of our conversation, 988, and it's become
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  a critical resource
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  for people in crisis certainly since its launch.
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  Doctor Haidt,
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  how has it shaped Carillon's approach to crisis
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  care with 988 in mind?
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  And, again, what role does having that strong
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  strategic response plan in play
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  really improve outcomes from your perspective?
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  Thank you. At a national level over the
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  the last couple of years, SAMHSA has been
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  working to create national standards for crisis systems
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  of care.
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  And today that includes
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  having someone to talk to through a crisis
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  line, someone to respond through development of mobile
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  crisis, and somewhere to go. And that would
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  be a a safe environment where someone could
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  get support if needed, if circumstances are necessary.
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  What we found is that while those national
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  standards are fantastic,
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  every system at a local level is very
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  nuanced and very different.
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  So I think our intent or our goal
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  is to be able to engage at that
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  local level while understanding the national standards and
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  understand more at a local level how we
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  can engage,
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  create coordinated systems of care, and then really
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  ensure that our training, our expertise come to
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  come to play in terms of providing support.
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  Yeah. Doctor Hyde and doctor Chaudhry, it's so
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  important to shine a light on this. I
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  I really appreciate you both for for taking
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  the time. I wanna turn the floor over
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  to you, to you both. If there's anything
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  else that you'd like to to you'd like
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  to share that we haven't covered,
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  with our listeners,
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  doctor Shaudhuri, why don't we start with you?
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  Well, again, I I do appreciate this opportunity.
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  I think it's
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  so critical
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  that we provide a forum in which to
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  speak about these
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  sometimes very sensitive issues
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  and more broadly have greater conversations
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  around mental health, around suicide
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  so that people feel like they can get
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  the help that we need.
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  And with the suicide prevention program, we've really
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  seen some great success in reducing the rates
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  of suicide.
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  And I think more importantly,
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  we've really been able to offer some hope
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  to people
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  that there are alternatives
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  and there is a brighter day ahead. And
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  I think that can be very powerful for
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  people,
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  and it's it's just work that I'm really
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  proud to do.
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  Yeah. And and I, again, I appreciate you
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  so much for being on on and talking
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  about this. It's so important as you mentioned.
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  Doctor Hyde, final thoughts?
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  Yeah. I I think, again, just mentioning 988
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  and the national suicide support line. I mean,
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  I think it's incredible
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  how much it's grown over the last couple
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  of years. And I think
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  we're seeing increasingly
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  that oftentimes crisis lines like 988 can be
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  an access point to behavioral health services. And
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  so I I think it's just imperative that
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  we continue to support 988
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  and support the training of our staff.
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  Absolutely. Well, again, thank you both for taking
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  the time and sharing your expertise and your
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  insights with us today. And we also want
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  to thank our podcast sponsor, Care Along Behavioral
• 12:12
  Health. You can tune into more podcasts from
• 12:14
  Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at
• 12:17
  beckershospitalreview.com.