Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Normalizing Mental Health Help-Seeking In Health Care

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation noted that despite more than half of front-line health care workers saying that worry and stress from COVID-19 have led to adverse health effects, only 13% had received mental health services and 20% thought they needed mental health services, but didn’t use them. While there are systemic reasons for this gap between need and service utilization, such as time and money, many people remain afraid or embarrassed to seek care. They worry that it will affect how colleagues, supervisors and patients feel about them, and even how it might affect their ability to practice medicine. This on-demand recording covers the latter out loud and highlights ways that we can change the medical culture to make help-seeking normal.