Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, May 14, 2021
In This Issue Focused on Suicide Prevention:

Director's Corner

Perspectives/Opinions

Poetry Corner
  • Toni Gray: Dear Breonna

Your Turn


Announcements & Resources
  • Register for Upcoming Virtual Events
  • Kern National Network News & Events
If you or someone you know needs help, please consider the following resources:

EAP: LifeResources Contact Information
  • Online at guidanceresources.com (Web ID: MCW)
  • App: GuidanceResources® Now
  • Call: (866) 379-0237
  • TTY: (800) 697-0353

Additional Support Resources:
Phone: 
  • National Suicide Crisis Lifeline: (800) 273-TALK (8255)
  • Milwaukee 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline: (414) 933-2722
  • Veterans Crisis Line: (800) 273-8255 (Press 1)
  • LGBTQ Crisis Line: (866) 488-7386
  • 2-1-1 Wisconsin (or (877) 947-2211)
Text: 
  • The Center for Suicide Awareness
  • Text the word “Connect” to 741741
Web: 

Director's Corner
Read This Issue. Your or Your Colleague's Life Might Depend on It


by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH

This week, we focus on suicide and its prevention. Dr. Kalet urges you to read what is likely our most compelling issue ever of the Transformational Times, curated by Dr. Jeffery Fritz and the Kern Student Leadership group. You will learn a few things, be moved, and be better prepared to save a life …


The MCW-Milwaukee medical school graduating class of 2021 has suffered the loss of two of its cohort to suicide. This has been devastating for the families and close friends of these individuals. Their grief, profound and deeply personal must be, and has been, treated with tenderness and respect for desired privacy.
Perspective/Opinion
Coaching is Vital to Preventing Burnout in Physicians

by Brett Linzer, MD

Dr. Linzer shares how some of his peers suffered, then explains how coaching and intentional support can build resilience, improve the work environment, and restore meaning in our work …
 
My internal medicine/pediatrics friend Alex Djuricich, MD killed himself a few years ago. He was one of my resident partners and eventually became the internal medicine/pediatrics program director at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He was a mentor to many internal medicine/pediatrics physicians and a father of two teenage daughters. When he died, I promised myself that I would do what I could to help other physicians. It has taken me a long time but, with some of the work I am doing, I feel as though I am making good on that promise.

Perspective/Opinion
Many Hands, Many Voices: Suicide Prevention Work at MCW

by David J. Cipriano, PhD



Dr. Cipriano, Co-chair of MCW’s Suicide Prevention Council, describes how the council is approaching this critical topic through the development of peer support, beginning at MCW-CW …

Many hands, many voices – a common call for community collaboration – describes the progress of our Suicide Prevention Council (SPC). I reported a few months ago on our identification of two risk factors for suicide that we chose to focus on this year: isolation and stigma. And, I promised to report back on our progress. 

Perspective/Opinion
Red Flags

By Margaret (Meg) Lieb, MS



Ms. Lieb is the current medical student representative for MCW’s Suicide Prevention Council and a co-founder of the council’s inaugural program, Seeking Peer Outreach (SPO). In this issue, she reflects on how her past gives life to her vision for future of SPO …

I remember trembling in a bustling coffee shop as I numbed the buzz around me to delicately lay each word in place. I was clenching every muscle in my body to contain the explosions in my chest vibrating my fingertips. I was eighteen, and I was writing my first personal statement. As with every personal statement since I was firmly instructed to “address [my] red flags.” My caveat: it is impossible to explain my red flags without also disclosing my most painful, darkest, personal secrets.

Perspective/Opinion
Minding our Mental Health

By Toni Gray - Office of Diversity and Inclusion



Ms. Gray writes about her family’s experiences and how unconscious bias disproportionally affects communities of color …

 
I was nineteen when I got the call. My mom was in the hospital. She had swallowed several pills. She had attempted suicide. The emotions that filled my body included anger, sadness, shame, and back to anger. My mom, a mother of seven, felt that the best thing she could do to solve her anguish, her sadness, was to take her own life and leave the lives that she had help create; searching for answers and never getting them.

Perspective/Opinion
Stigma and Vulnerability: Our Experiences with Struggling in Silence

By Sofie Kjellesvig, M1, and Sadie Jackson, M1


Ms. Kejellesvig and Ms. Jackson share ways they have each struggled during their first year of medical school...

Medical students are high achievers who are often adept at hiding their shortcomings and moments of vulnerability. We, the authors, hear our peers admitting to some of their struggles: being behind on lectures or not feeling ready for an exam, for example, but these statements are almost always qualified by, “but it’s fine, I’ll be okay,” or something similarly diminishing. In fact, there are times when we have felt unsure about whether things will truly be okay. We do not openly share these feelings, no matter how many times we’ve considered doing so. Perhaps this is out of fear of what others may think, a belief that we are suffering alone, and the stigma that surrounds academic performance and mental health. 
Perspective/Opinion
What is it like to be suicidal?

By an anonymous MCW medical student


A medical student shares their personal journey with suicidal thoughts…


To me, being suicidal is a physical place in my mind. I’ve boarded the wrong train, or maybe it’s the right train going in the wrong direction. It’s a vast transit system: all the stops are underground so I can’t see where the train is going, and the doors are locked so I can’t get off. In addition, my vision is too blurry to read the map posted on the door.  

Perspective/Opinion
Why Suicide Prevention, Kerri?

By Kerri Corcoran


Kerri writes about why she has found a calling working in suicide prevention and provides resources for those who are in crisis …


 
Hello, I’m Kerri, the Student Behavioral Health and Resource Navigator in the MCW Office of Student Services. I am active in the MCW Suicide Prevention Council and in the implementation of a pilot suicide prevention program at the Central Wisconsin Campus.
Our poem this week is written by Toni Gray, Community Program Coordinator. She dedicates this poem to the black bodies being killed unjustifiably by police officers. She gives voice to Black women who specifically who lives continue to be devalued in this society.


Dear Breonna,
 
Our paths in life would never cross. 

And yet my heart feels I know you.

When I try to sleep, my head tosses; thinking how we’ve lost more than a few.

Beautiful black girl, your electric, starlit smile still gleaming. And I honor you this day.

Beautiful black girl. Your life has real meaning. 

A life tragically taken a way.

I suppose you walked tall in this world fearless and yet still very afraid.

I suppose you felt in”VISIBLE” at times but still thinking of the plans you laid.

Breonna, when I look in the mirror, there’s moments I see your glowing face.

I imagine with reluctance and transparency; I could have been in your place.

Your life meant something, means something. You are rays of a golden night.

Beautiful black girl, in this darken world, your days are not numbered in God’s sight.



Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Teresa Kelly, Faculty



The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden. It was first read to me at our local library's summer reading program when I was about 10 years old. It has many charming parts yet it was the first time I recall learning about how marginalized persons (in this case, gypsies) can be treated based on stereotypes and pre-conceived notions.
- Tammy Hosch, Staff



The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone. I remember thinking it was really silly and fun. Now, it's extra special to read it with my son.
- Kelly Horton, Staff
I have many favorite children's books, but one of them is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It is a beautiful book, lovely to look at and brings me to tears every time I have read it aloud, which has been many times.


I also have loved Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. When my children were little we would sing Wild Thing by the Troggs whenever the wild rumpus began and jump up and down on the bed... no damage was ever done.
- Adina Kalet, Faculty



Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, very Bad Day
- Nicole Dixon, Staff

Respond to next week's reflection prompt:


If you could have one super power, what would it be?
thinking_girl_idea.jpg

Residents and Fellows:

What are you looking forward to in the next academic year?  
You are cordially invited to a celebration
 for the

2020-21 KINETIC3 Graduates of the Excellence in Teaching Track



This celebration will include a welcome address, as well as an individual celebration of each of the graduates. We hope you will join us to congratulate them on their accomplishments!
June 2, 2021
Live Virtual Event
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm CT
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