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A Doctor's Battle with Anxiety and Depression

This webinar is part of the NYSPHA Mental Health Webinar Series sponsored by The JED Foundation, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Capital Region Chapter, the University of Albany College of Integrated Health Sciences, and the New York State Office of Mental Health.

In my talk on the stigma of mental health in medicine, I address the pervasive challenges healthcare professionals face in seeking support while navigating a culture that often prioritizes resilience over well-being. Drawing from my personal struggles with mental health after serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, I highlight the emotional toll of the crisis and the barriers that prevent many from seeking help. Through candid storytelling and evidence-based insights, I advocate for a shift in medical culture—one that normalizes mental health discussions, encourages peer support, and fosters systemic change to protect the well-being of healthcare workers.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Define the root causes of the stigma of mental health.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how one can help destigmatize mental health.
3. Advocate for systemic change with regards to mental health.

Dr. Michael Foti, DO, is a physician, educator, and mental health advocate dedicated to advancing medical education and student wellness. As a faculty member at Touro, he plays a pivotal role in training future physicians, emphasizing active learning, mentorship, and wellness. His commitment to education extends beyond the classroom through Mind Split Cafe: Med School Edition, an innovative platform supporting medical students' mental health, and The Upward Spiral podcast, where he engages with experts on professional growth and well-being.

Thank you to our Mental Health Webinar Series sponsors:

                                  

Protecting the Mental Health of Hairstylists

This webinar is part of the NYSPHA Mental Health Webinar Series sponsored by The JED Foundation, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Capital Region Chapter, the University of Albany College of Integrated Health Sciences, and the New York State Office of Mental Health.

L’Oréal Professionnel, created a philanthropic program called “Head Up, For Hairstylists’ Mental Health” to support hairstylists with their #1 challenge: mental health. Learn about the program, the impact it has had and its key learnings.

Learning Objectives: 

Following this session, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the mental health realities of service providers (hairstylists)

2. Learn about 1 strategy that L’Oreal Professionnel is putting in place to help them: mental health training.

3. Social impact measurement: how it can be done.

Speaker 

Trevor is a Masters-qualified sustainability & marketing professional with over 13 years of international experience.  

Since joining L’Oréal in 2017, Trevor worked on the brand purpose programs for over 20 brands including L'Oréal Paris' program, “Stand Up Against Street Harassment”, which has trained 3 million bystanders to date on how to safely intervene to end stress harassment and Maybelline’s “Brave Together” program which has provided millions with free access to 1-1 mental health support.
Trevor is currently leading the ambitious environmental transformation of L'Oréal Professionnel, building short-term and long-term action plans to achieve 10 environmental and social objectives. In this capacity, he has rolled out environmental labelling, launched breakthrough sustainable innovations, like the first high performance natural hair color product and Water Saver: a showerhead that uses water fragmentation technology to reduce water use by 69% in salons.

Outside of his work with L’Oréal, Trevor teaches a sustainability course at Sciences Po University in Paris and works with a local non-profit called “Respire” to implement programs to improve air quality in Paris.

Thank you to our Mental Health Webinar Series sponsors:

                                  

Holistic Support and Consultation for Farmers

NY FarmNet Outreach Director Adam Howell will give attendees insight into one of the most unique farmer assistance programs in the country.

Based at Cornell University and funded by the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets and the NYS Office of Mental Health, NY FarmNet helps farmers, farm families, and agricultural professionals navigate times of crisis, growth, and opportunity.

NY FarmNet’s unique support system provides farmers in need with both a family and financial consultant to help address any number of issues they may be facing. All of NY FarmNet’s services are provided free of charge and all cases are completely confidential. NY FarmNet was founded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in response to the national farm crisis of the 1980s.

NY FarmNet still operates at Cornell as part of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management. The Dyson School is part of both Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the SC Johnson College of Business.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Attendees will learn how a holistic approach to farmer support provides the best outcomes by combining aspects of both financial planning and mental health support.
2. Attendees will gain insights into the operational model of NY FarmNet including the program's intake process, confidentiality standards, and farmer-driven support approach.
3. Attendees will learn about the common stressors and pressures facing agricultural producers.

Speaker Bio: 

Adam Howell is an experienced writer, marketer, media relations, and communications professional with over 15 years of experience. Currently, Adam serves at the Outreach Director for NY FarmNet where he travels the state promoting the program’s work to farmers, partners with supporters, and manages all program communications.

Adam previously served as the Director of External Affairs for Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to educating the public on autonomous vehicle technology. At PAVE, Adam oversaw public sector outreach and development. Additionally, he led the organization’s media relations, external communications, marketing, and content creation efforts which included the creation and of a national scholarship program, hosting a weekly podcast series, and organizing a national digital forum for policy collaboration on AV technology.

Adam also spent 5 years as the Manager of Marketing and Communications for the Cornell Local Roads Program and, prior to that role, worked for nearly a decade in Illinois State Government.

Adam lives in Lansing, NY with his wife and children.

      

AI for Good? Expanding Our Understanding of Opinion Leaders in A Changing Digital Landscape

This webinar is part of the NYSPHA Mental Health Webinar Series sponsored by The JED Foundation, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Capital Region Chapter, the University of Albany College of Integrated Health Sciences, and the New York State Office of Mental Health.

There is strong evidence of the impact of opinion leaders in health promotion programs. Moreover, early work by Burke-Garcia suggests that social media influencers are the “opinion leaders” of the digital age as they come from the communities they influence and have built trust with them. Additional work done by Burke-Garcia suggests that they may be useful in disseminating credible and timely health information and prompting consideration of health behaviors.

Currently, there is a lot of bad news right now about the emergence of AI, LLMs, generative AI, and emotive AI – and how it is driving the spread of health misinformation and impacting people’s ability to know what is true and what is not. But this technology also can also be used for good. AI can be a tool to inform and educate on specific issues in the moment – and can do it at a scale that can compete against all the other messages out there. But health experts must be present in the conversation – or leverage others to be part of the conversation – and the messages have to be personalized and empathetic. This mimics what we know about influencers and how they approach communicating with their communities.

Emerging research indicates that individuals often prefer AI-generated responses over human ones, particularly empathetic AI interactions. By blending what we know about social media influencers as opinion leaders – the relationships with their following, how they build trust, and how they message health topics – with the power and scale of AI – can enable us tackle the big challenges we are facing.

This session will merge what we know about social media influencers as digital opinion leaders with these emerging technologies to propose the development of something we are calling Health Communication AI – perhaps the newest form of “opinion leader” – to do just this.

Learning Objectives: 

Following this session, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss health theories that support use of AI in health communication

2. Summarize AI qualities that make it work for health communication

3. Describe opportunities for using AI in public health and mental health programs

Speaker 

Dr. Amelia Burke-Garcia is a seasoned health communications professional with 20 years of experience in health communication program planning, implementation, and evaluation. At NORC at the University of Chicago, she leads the Center for Health Communication Science and the Digital Strategy and Outreach Program Area. In these roles, she designs and implements strategies that leverage communication science to influence behavior effectively.

Throughout her career, Dr. Burke-Garcia has spearheaded numerous innovative communication programs and studies on a variety of health topics. Since 2020, she has directed the award-winning How Right Now/Qué Hacer Ahora campaign, which aims to enhance people's ability to cope and build resilience. Her work has also included collaborations with MeetUp groups to promote flu vaccination and with the Waze mobile application to encourage HIV testing. Additionally, she has spent over a decade examining the role of influencers in health communication and has recently expanded her focus to explore how AI can transform health communication.

Dr. Burke-Garcia is the author of two books: Influencing Health: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Social Media Influencers and Communicating Through a Pandemic: A Chronicle of Experiences, Lessons Learned, and a Vision for the Future. Her contributions have earned recognition from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy during Women’s History Month, as well as inclusion in VeryWellHealth.com’s list of "10 Modern Female Innovators Shaking Up Health Care."

She is a founding member of the Society for Health Communication and serves on the Board of Directors for Vaccinate Your Family. Dr. Burke-Garcia holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies and Humanistic Studies from McGill University, a master’s degree in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University, and a PhD in Communication from George Mason University.

Thank you to our Mental Health Webinar Series sponsors: