EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
In the past five years, the Texas Medical Association Insurance Trust has lost eight member physicians to suicide. In the wake of such loss, the trust has established a grant to make Anticipate Joy, a counseling service, free for Texas physicians.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention cites research that physicians are at outsized risk of suicide compared to the public. Those losses cut across geography and practice settings, leaving few discernible commonalities to address. For physicians facing that risk as well as for those who simply need a supportive outlet, TMAIT Executive Director Guy Patterson hopes the grant can improve access to appropriate care.
“There’s still a stigma associated with suicide and mental health issues, and we have got to remove that stigma, and that is why TMAIT is making this investment in [partnering with] Anticipate Joy,” Mr. Patterson said.
Anticipate Joy is now free for all Texas physicians – irrespective of TMA membership status. Through the service, a distinct entity TMA has contracted with to ensure privacy, physicians and their immediate family members can access unlimited individual counseling visits by phone, video, or text with a therapist of their choosing from Anticipate Joy’s platform.
The service differs from traditional employee assistance programs in two crucial ways: There is no limit on the number of sessions an individual user can receive, and the program is distinctly separate from TMA – or a physician’s employer. From TMA’s Wellness First webpage, physicians navigate to a different website (albeit with TMA’s logo), into which the association has no visibility, to initiate the HIPAA-compliant sessions.
Casey Harrison, associate vice president of physician education services, emphasizes TMA’s role as a liaison between physicians and Anticipate Joy, rather than an administrator of the program.
“If [physicians] were to click on a link from our Wellness First page, we don’t know if they’re going to do sessions once they get to Anticipate Joy’s page, because they’d have to sign up directly through them. It’s more just getting them the link, the resource, to get there.”
The Anticipate Joy website’s Choose a Plan step includes an obsolete reference to purchasing a session or a monthly subscription – this no longer applies and should be disregarded.
Physicians in several Texas counties may also find assistance in their county medical societies: Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Harris, McLennan, and Travis county societies all have independent programs for mental health assistance, ranging from courses to confidential talks with psychiatrists.
As Texas Medicine has previously reported: No single thing drives a physician to feel unwell. Once a physician feels unwell or is in crisis, stigma, concerns about confidentiality, a professional culture that encourages self-reliance, and simple overwhelm can coalesce into hesitation to seek help.
Misgivings about seeking help might additionally stem from conflation of TMA with the Texas Medical Board, a misconception Sue Mullen, the association’s manager of educational development services, wants to dispel.
“I think some physicians have confused TMA as part of the Texas Medical Board, and, of course, we are not.”
If you or a physician you know could benefit from counseling, begin the journey at TMA’s Wellness First webpage.
Jessica Ridge
Reporter, Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1395