Podcasts about behavioral health system baltimore

(This conversation was originally broadcast on September 29, 2023.) Today on this encore edition of Midday, we're going to talk about suicide with mental health professionals and advocates who are educating the public to help save lives. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 48,000 people died by suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention estimates that around 1.7 million people attempted suicide that year. Tom turns to three experts to give us a better understanding of suicide and the thousands of individuals affected in our state. Tammi Ginsberg is the former President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Ethan Mereish is an Associate Professor and Director of the Lavender Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park which focuses on people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Chauna Brocht is the Director of Crisis Services for Behavioral Health System Baltimore which coordinates the 988-help line in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County and Carroll County.Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday, we're going to talk about suicide with mental health professionals and advocates who are educating the public to help save lives. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 48,000 people died by suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention estimates that around 1.7 million people attempted suicide that year. Tom turns to three experts to give us a better understanding of suicide and the millions of individuals affected in our state. Tammi Ginsberg is the former President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Ethan Mereish is an Associate Professor and Director of the Lavender Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park which focuses on people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Chauna Brocht is the Director of Crisis Services for Behavioral Health System Baltimore which coordinates the 988-help line in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County and Carroll County.Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline launched nationwide a year ago. How do counselors in Central Maryland handle calls? What assistance can they offer? We speak with Dan Rabbitt, policy director for Behavioral Health System Baltimore, and senior hotline counselor Chris Niles about de-stigmatizing mental illness and saving lives. You can call, text, or chat 988 24 hours a day.  Links:MD Department of Health - 988Find a local same-day support clinicSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Public health is not just about the care people receive in the hospital. It's about the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they have access to, the environment in which they live-- that all can determine if they are healthy." Support Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk. Renowned public health official Leana Wen is here, discussing her path from Chinese immigrant to admired physician. In her new book Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health, she speaks about her upbringing in Shanghai, her dreams since childhood to become a doctor, and her great mentors in the USA, including former Representative Elijah Cummings. Leana and Daniel of course also journey into the world of music, about with they share a passion. Dr. Wen also offers some candid advice for the public as they try to navigate the complex, changing landscape of COVID-19. Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. A nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, writing on health policy and public health, and an on-air commentator for CNN as a medical analyst. The author of the critically-acclaimed book on patient advocacy, When Doctors Don't Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests (St. Martin's Press, 2013), she has a forthcoming memoir to be published July 27th, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health (Metropolitan Books, 2021). Previously, she served as health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, where she led the nation's oldest continuously operating health department to combat the opioid epidemic and improve maternal and child health. She has also worked as director of patient-centered care research in the department of emergency medicine at George Washington University; president of Planned Parenthood; global health fellow at the World Health Organization; consultant to the China Medical Board; and distinguished fellow at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity.Currently, Dr. Wen serves on the board of directors of Glaukos Corporation and as the chair of the advisory board of the Behavioral Health Group. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Baltimore Community Foundation. Her previous board experience includes being board chair of Behavioral Health System Baltimore for four years and serving on boards and advisory of boards to more than ten nonprofit and venture-backed health innovation companies. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Wen has received recognition as one of Governing's Public Officials of the Year, Modern Healthcare's Top 50 Physician-Executives, World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders, and TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People. Dr. Wen lives with her husband and their two young children in Baltimore.

Adrienne Breidenstine is Vice President of Policy and Communications. She directs the development of communications and policy and advocacy activities for Behavioral Health System Baltimore, coordinates BHSB’s policy priorities with non-profit and governmental partners, implements media, public education and advocacy campaigns to create positive behavior and policy change, and oversees the implementation of the Greater Baltimore Regional Integrated Crisis System (GBRICS) Partnership.

Every day, scores of people in mental or emotional distress call for help. If they dial 9-1-1, what happens? As many argue for curtailing the role of police, what are other options in Baltimore for such emergency calls? Adrienne Breidenstine of Behavioral Health System Baltimore describes where gaps in the system let people down, and how they might be filled. And we ask Edgar Wiggins, founder of Baltimore Crisis Response, which is funded by BHS, how it works.

Despite increased awareness of the opioid epidemic, the public health crisis continues to ravage communities across the nation each year. This holds true especially in states such as Maryland, where the number of opioid overdose deaths per year has escalated into the thousands. Gov. Larry Hogan even declared a state of emergency in March 2017, becoming the first governor in the nation to take such a step.A new book published by two Baltimore-based experts in addiction medicine and public health suggests that a connection may exist between opioids’ continued havoc and a general misunderstanding of the pandemic — from the language utilized to describe those afflicted with substance-use disorders to the distribution of funds meant to decrease the death toll.Together, married couple Yngvild Olson and Joshua Sharfstein wrote “The Opioid Epidemic: What Everyone Needs to Know,” to discuss the misconceptions about the opioid crisis and what lawmakers, physicians and citizens can do to address it. They sit down with Baltimore Sun investigative reporter Doug Donovan to review key takeaways from the book.Call the Behavioral Health System Baltimore at 410-433-5175 if you are in crisis.

In a recent Baltimore Sun story, Erin Cox and Michael Dresser reported that 41 percent of Maryland residents said the escalating opioid epidemic has directly affected them or someone they know over the past five years. That number comes from a Gonzales poll, and among Baltimore city residents, the percentage affected was even higher, at 68 percent. One of the nonprofits attempting to halt this epidemic, along with addressing other mental health and addiction issues, is Behavioral Health System Baltimore, and at the head is Kathy Westcoat. Kathy, the organization’s president, got her start in Baltimore as a dietitian, and she talked about what prompted her to interrogate and address the larger factors that contribute to public health. Behavioral Health System Baltimore acts as the city’s behavioral health authority, and Kathy joined the organization in 2015, after serving as president of HealthCare Access Maryland. Kathy talked about how her upbringing has informed her work, preparing for the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act and fighting the stigma around addiction and mental illness.

Since February, Baltimore has been testing a program that offers individuals stopped for minor drug offenses social services, including mental health and drug treatment, in place of arrest. Baltimore Police Captain James Rhoden of the Central District and Crista Taylor , president of the nonprofit Behavioral Health System Baltimore, describe the preliminary impact of LEAD, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion.