Unfortunately, resilience does not always work for some and the unfortunate result can be the devastating impact of suicide.
I was meeting recently with the senior leaders of a health care organization and the topic of conversation came around to the stress that medical professionals, particularly physicians and nurses are experiencing. These two health caregivers possess the highest rates of any profession.
As disheartening as this is, two additional articles I saw recently give me some hope that we may finally be coming to terms with the impact of depression and mental illness.
One had to do with preventing depression and promoting mental health in the construction industry. It seems their stress level from strict timelines, often working far from home, and the inherent danger of their work has led to the recognition of the importance of building good mental health.
The other article which kind of shocked me was in Golf Digest, where the authors discussed the increasing numbers of suicides among golf course superintendents. These are the guys (mostly) who maintain golf courses. They are responsible for making sure that the greens and fairways are pristine and that their members are happy…all the time. It can be difficult taming Mother Nature and there has been enough of a concern in the industry to bring this story to light and to find out that there are support services for these professionals.
As is always the case, bringing sunlight to an injury almost always speeds the healing process, so perhaps, maybe, the importance of good mental health may be coming out of the shadows.
Your Challenge This Week: If you or anyone you know struggles with thoughts of suicide reach out to the Suicide Prevention Help Line at 1-800-273-8255
