Speaker 1: Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. What if I told you
Speaker 1: that there's a free mental health resource that you can
Speaker 1: text whenever you feel like you need help with your anxiety, depression,
Speaker 1: or even loneliness. Well, I'll be sharing that in more
Speaker 1: coming up next on Checking In. I'm really really thrilled
Speaker 1: about today's episode checking In. It really is about the
Speaker 1: foundation of checking in everything as it relates to mental health. Today,
Speaker 1: we have someone amazing and interness and pediatrician with expertise
Speaker 1: and trauma informed practices and mental health and she is
Speaker 1: currently the chief health officer of the Crisis text line.
Speaker 1: You guys give it up and please welcome doctor Shayy
Speaker 1: returner to Checking In.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Michelle.
Speaker 3: It's an honor to be here have this conversation with you.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely. Do you still have your podcast? Did I
Speaker 1: hear correctly?
Speaker 2: So? I did a podcast.
Speaker 3: We have a partnership with Nike, and we did the
Speaker 3: No Off Season podcast which was about nine episodes talking
Speaker 3: to different athletes and lead athletes about their mental health journey.
Speaker 3: And I was able to honor to do some of
Speaker 3: those interviews. Just hear the incredible stories that they've shared.
Speaker 1: That is so amazing. I'm so glad that a company
Speaker 1: like Nike has something like this because mental health and
Speaker 1: mental illness can affect everybody. Just because somebody might have
Speaker 1: had a perfect score, you know, probably does not mean
Speaker 1: that they have not been dealing with probably the anxiety
Speaker 1: that it takes to you know, uh.
Speaker 3: An a lead athlete, so tremendous stress, strain expectations, right,
Speaker 3: and then you also deal with the you know, the
Speaker 3: outward appearance right of having to always be at the
Speaker 3: top of your game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, well, thank you so much for sharing
Speaker 1: you guys. Let me tell you the power of social media.
Speaker 1: I love that it can connect and if you use
Speaker 1: it right, relationships can be formed and opportunities can really
Speaker 1: be in the palm of your hand. I'm sure y'all
Speaker 1: have heard of the crisis text line and we have
Speaker 1: SHAIRI as the chief help officer. Can you just give
Speaker 1: us my mind is blown? First of all, intern is pediatrician.
Speaker 1: Let's pivot back there first.
Speaker 2: It makes it.
Speaker 3: The whole story is so I grew up in the
Speaker 3: Bronx and wanted to be actually the first physician in
Speaker 3: my family. I went to Stanford as an undergrad and
Speaker 3: then Case Western really with the aspiration Case Western for
Speaker 3: medical school, and then I went to Harvard for the
Speaker 3: Medicine Pediatrics Combined program, really aspiring to treat underserved populations
Speaker 3: as a primary care physician. And then an experience with
Speaker 3: a close family friend who died by suicide in prison,
Speaker 3: someone who I considered family.
Speaker 2: You know, back then it.
Speaker 3: Was really an obvious cycle of trauma that existed within
Speaker 3: the family before we really acknowledge the impact of trauma.
Speaker 3: So that occurred during my first year resident and see
Speaker 3: and kind of sat in the back of my mind
Speaker 3: as I went through and finished my residency and then
Speaker 3: had the opportunity to do a practicum and get my
Speaker 3: Masters of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Speaker 3: And it was a minority health policy fellowship, so we
Speaker 3: were expected and asked to work with organizations around public health.
Speaker 3: And I chose actually the Department of Youth Services in
Speaker 3: Massachusetts and looked at the impact of their substance abuse
Speaker 3: policies on the many black and brown children who were there,
Speaker 3: and I'll never forget the administrator said to me, if
Speaker 3: you could treat hopelessness, you would solve a lot of
Speaker 3: the issues for these kids, and it didn't. Again, it
Speaker 3: was like a seed that Land did that didn't really
Speaker 3: speak to trauma because we weren't talking about childhood.
Speaker 2: Trauma back then.
Speaker 3: But I then had the opportunity to be the first
Speaker 3: chief medical director at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice,
Speaker 3: which incarcerated many, many black and brown children, and from
Speaker 3: there just gained an understanding about trauma and adverse childhood
Speaker 3: experiences and how that interplays with mental health, physical health,
Speaker 3: the behavioral issues that these children were experiencing because they
Speaker 3: had horrific childhood trauma stories experiences. And then spent some
Speaker 3: time at the Florida Department of Health and a few
Speaker 3: years later wound up at Crisis text Line, where I
Speaker 3: became the chief medical Officer and then ultimately the Chief
Speaker 3: Health Officer.
Speaker 2: But it combines all of my passions, just mental.
Speaker 3: Health, trauma, public health because we reached so many people. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so you know, it's all things coming together. Life is
Speaker 3: a journey right.
Speaker 1: Now, Wow, are you still able to practice as a
Speaker 1: pediatrician now that you are the chief health Officer?
Speaker 3: I do not have time to still practice and see
Speaker 3: patients at this point.
Speaker 1: Ooh, how many patients were upset?
Speaker 2: This was a wayte back.
Speaker 3: I actually stopped practicing when I moved to Florida because
Speaker 3: it really public health was a passion for me, and
Speaker 3: being able to help large groups of people, like in
Speaker 3: juvenile justice setting like Department of Health, and like our textures,
Speaker 3: just to touch so many people in their times of need,
Speaker 3: in their times of pain.
Speaker 1: Wow. I asked that I have an uncle who is
Speaker 1: a doctor, a family practice physician, and he did some
Speaker 1: type of pivoting where I think he's now more in
Speaker 1: public health and community health, and so he left your
Speaker 1: more traditional health system. Yes, And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: my gosh, how many patients are probably so sad that
Speaker 1: you know they can no longer see you. But you know,
Speaker 1: passion and calling, you must follow it, even when you
Speaker 1: may even disappoint people or make people sad. Because I'm
Speaker 1: sure you had some favorite patients and you were probably
Speaker 1: their favorite. So I can understand how difficult it was
Speaker 1: to make that transition, which will encourage our listeners. Everybody
Speaker 1: at so many walks of life are going to have
Speaker 1: to make some type of decision. Here you are, I'm
Speaker 1: sure at the top of the game. Medically, you know,
Speaker 1: making this decision, not saying that you made a bad dish.
Speaker 1: I'm not I hope it's not signing that way, but
Speaker 1: a transition.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's easier probably to work in a health system, you know,
Speaker 1: and making all the money and all this, and then
Speaker 1: you're like, no, I'm going to serve a demographic that
Speaker 1: probably gets ignored and turned away way if they don't
Speaker 1: make a certain type of progress.
Speaker 2: Right, No, you're right on target.
Speaker 3: I believe that life is a journey and you should
Speaker 3: look for opportunities to find joy in the work that
Speaker 3: you do and find passion in the work that you do,
Speaker 3: and that may mean pivoting several times to get to
Speaker 3: that place. Right and for me, Crisis text Line we
Speaker 3: serve people of color, we serve all people, but we've
Speaker 3: found that our service reaches younger people. So seventy percent
Speaker 3: of our textures are under the age of twenty four.
Speaker 3: We know that we over index for BIPOC textures, so
Speaker 3: we're getting out into communities that don't otherwise have access
Speaker 3: to mental health and crisis intervention services. And over fifty
Speaker 3: percent of our textures are LGBTQIA plus, so we're really
Speaker 3: meeting a need for individuals who may not otherwise have
Speaker 3: access to mental health support.
Speaker 1: That is so good. So what I do know about
Speaker 1: the crisis text line is obviously twenty four to seven. Yes,
Speaker 1: it ranges from everything to people can text about anxiety, depression,
Speaker 1: eating disorders, anything self harming behavior. So is that what
Speaker 1: makes the crisis text line different from a suicide prevention hotline?
Speaker 3: So we view and we operate crisis text line on
Speaker 3: the continuum. So as you said, anything from a teenager
Speaker 3: who feels stressed about their homework to someone who is
Speaker 3: actually physically on the brink of suicide or dying by suicide,
Speaker 3: we can our volunteers and we've trained over fifty nine
Speaker 3: thousand volunteers. Our volunteers are trained in active listening, in
Speaker 3: problem solving, in developing cope and identifying coping strategies, in
Speaker 3: de escalation and safety planning. So for any situation, the
Speaker 3: volunteer knows how to work with a texture who is
Speaker 3: in crisis. And we say a crisis to you is
Speaker 3: a crisis to us.
Speaker 2: So that means it doesn't have to reach a certain level.
Speaker 3: So when someone reaches out for their homework, that is prevention.
Speaker 3: That actually is suicide prevention because we're helping them to
Speaker 3: develop coping strategies in that moment for that crisis. Right,
Speaker 3: So whatever they feel in that moment needs to be addressed.
Speaker 3: We are there to help them, and that is suicide prevention.
Speaker 1: And doctor schi Eerie, I feel like too, you are
Speaker 1: saying something so crucial here when a person, a young
Speaker 1: teenager reaches out to you, guys because they're stressed about homework.
Speaker 1: Depending on how you grew up and what culture you
Speaker 1: grew up in, that could be dismissed. You didn't pay attention,
Speaker 1: Why didn't you pay attention? Why didn't you blah? And
Speaker 1: something as stressed from homework that is major and should
Speaker 1: not be dismissed. So I'm so glad that the Crisis
Speaker 1: Texting Hotline it's also a teaching moment where it teaches
Speaker 1: that person where anything like you said, anything that is
Speaker 1: a crisis to you or a problem to you, is
Speaker 1: a problem of a crisis to us. Something as stressed
Speaker 1: from homework, because you never know, that could be the
Speaker 1: last thing the straw that breaks the camel's back, as
Speaker 1: they say, that might make a person decide to make
Speaker 1: a more permanent decision with their life. But the Crisis
Speaker 1: text Line is making it so to where we're not
Speaker 1: going to dismiss anything exactly.
Speaker 2: And Crisis text Line is prepared right, We're prepared to.
Speaker 3: Meet what we're experiencing now, which is a youth mental
Speaker 3: health epidemic. We are losing children of color, Black, latinx Asian,
Speaker 3: Native American children of color at rates that exceed their
Speaker 3: white counterparts. So in this moment, we have a crisis.
Speaker 3: We have an epidemic. We're losing our children, and Crisis
Speaker 3: text Line wants to be and is a part of
Speaker 3: that solution.
Speaker 1: What is a thread here when we talk about how
Speaker 1: we're losing their children? What do you feel like this
Speaker 1: is all they needed? What is something? Is a communication?
Speaker 1: A safe place? What are our children needing?
Speaker 3: I wish it was as simple as one thing, right,
Speaker 3: But what we know from our insights and data, so
Speaker 3: we have a post conversation survey that ever read texture
Speaker 3: is offered at the end of a text conversation that
Speaker 3: they can voluntarily and confidentially complete, and it's from that
Speaker 3: that we're able to gather these insights.
Speaker 2: And what these insights have shown us is that music
Speaker 2: ah music in fact.
Speaker 3: For younger people and people in their early twenties is
Speaker 3: a coping strategy that when asked what helps them, they
Speaker 3: turn to music, they turn to time with friends, they
Speaker 3: sleep right.
Speaker 2: So these are some of the things that we.
Speaker 3: Know our textures are choosing, and we can flip that
Speaker 3: around and say, when our children are in need, this
Speaker 3: is not holistically the answer, but these are options to
Speaker 3: offer when they feel stressed. Right. So looking at our
Speaker 3: data and insights allows us to offer up some possible
Speaker 3: supports for children in general. But you know, we know
Speaker 3: children have been through the pandemic, they've been through you know,
Speaker 3: the racial and social unrest. They're in the midst of
Speaker 3: this political thunderstorm that we're experiencing as a country.
Speaker 2: And they have access to social media.
Speaker 3: So it's this continuous exposure to all of these factors
Speaker 3: that I know is we know is impacting our children.
Speaker 1: It's funny you should say all of that because I'm
Speaker 1: about to sound like one of the old ages because
Speaker 1: when we were growing up, but seriously, docn turn to like,
Speaker 1: when we were growing up, we didn't have social media
Speaker 1: that was everything is in your face, from politics to everything.
Speaker 1: So that when something when there was some unrest. The
Speaker 1: only way us as children saw it is if we
Speaker 1: happen to rush Biden, Mama or grandma or grandpa was
Speaker 1: watching seeing In or whatever their favorite news channel is. Right, So,
Speaker 1: not only does that child have homework problems or spat
Speaker 1: at school with a friend, but they're also having access
Speaker 1: to everything that I think capacity wise that an adult
Speaker 1: may have development enough to handle. You know, we see right.
Speaker 2: Now, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: We know that a child's brain isn't fully developed until
Speaker 3: early twenties, and all of the experiences, all of the
Speaker 3: things that children are seeing have easy access to.
Speaker 2: It's affecting their brains. It's affecting the way they process
Speaker 2: and look at the world.
Speaker 3: Right we are with I mean all of these mass shootings, right,
Speaker 3: we're telling children that the world is not a safe place,
Speaker 3: that their schools are not a safe place.
Speaker 2: They can't you.
Speaker 3: Know, they have to opt out of seeing that, right.
Speaker 3: They have their phones. It's continuous access on the phones,
Speaker 3: it's continuous twenty four seven news cycles. They actually have
Speaker 3: to opt out in the way that you or I
Speaker 3: would opt in if.
Speaker 2: We wanted to see what was on the news.
Speaker 3: They have to turn it off, shut it off, shut
Speaker 3: it down, and that's hard to do.
Speaker 1: So are you saying that we should not give our
Speaker 1: children social media to they're in their twenties based on
Speaker 1: how their brains develop. I'm just gonna say it. When
Speaker 1: I have children, I'm gonna say Doctor Turner said you
Speaker 1: cannot have this till till you're twenty five.
Speaker 2: You can blame me. So yes and no, because we
Speaker 2: know there's.
Speaker 3: Connection through social media, right, So everything in moderation can
Speaker 3: be positive or can be negative. So social media, especially
Speaker 3: during let's say those deeply isolated pandemic years, was a
Speaker 3: connection for children, right who were otherwise in their homes
Speaker 3: by themselves oftentimes or just with their families, and social
Speaker 3: media allowed them to connect with their peers.
Speaker 2: So it is not all evil.
Speaker 3: It is that adults need to help children understand the parameters,
Speaker 3: the boundaries, the times that.
Speaker 2: You're on and times that you're off, and understanding the.
Speaker 3: Impact of consuming what they see over social media and
Speaker 3: how it frames the world for them.
Speaker 1: I mean, I discovered you, doctor Turner, through Miss Vanessa
Speaker 1: through social media, right, So there are good things to
Speaker 1: social media. But do you think is there influx of
Speaker 1: even young people on neeting the Crisis text line because
Speaker 1: of maybe anxiety or depression being induced by social media.
Speaker 3: Well, we don't have that direct connection to say social
Speaker 3: media caused.
Speaker 2: Our textures to text in. What we can.
Speaker 3: Say is that we saw in twenty twenty two amongst
Speaker 3: our textures an increase actually in conversations for the first
Speaker 3: time about relationships and isolation and loneliness. So it's hard
Speaker 3: to kind of create that direct correlation, but we know
Speaker 3: that social media does impact anxiety, depression and mental health issues,
Speaker 3: and our United in Empathy Report in twenty twenty two
Speaker 3: makes all of that information available and accessible to the public.
Speaker 1: Wow, yes, I definitely see that. How in the last
Speaker 1: year of the Crisis text line, it was discovered that
Speaker 1: relationship stress, anxiety, or dysfunction were the top stressors of
Speaker 1: conversations from people. Yes because people, yes, real people.
Speaker 3: People are people, and we know even the Surgeon General's
Speaker 3: report showed that people were dealing with more loneliness and
Speaker 3: social disconnect and that could be one of the reasons
Speaker 3: that they're struggling with relationships. Right, we were isolated, then
Speaker 3: we had to come back together. It's a new school space,
Speaker 3: it's a new workplace environment. Everybody's trying to deal and
Speaker 3: understand how to best communicate and work with each other
Speaker 3: in this new post pandemic environment.
Speaker 1: I will say I love traveling and all that good stuff,
Speaker 1: but as a person who already likes to stay home
Speaker 1: the pandemic, for me, when they said we had to
Speaker 1: lock down, I was.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, right.
Speaker 1: And then I've got other people who are more extroverted
Speaker 1: who are like, no, I've got to get out. I've
Speaker 1: got to connect with people. But for the people like
Speaker 1: me who love staying home, I have found it more
Speaker 1: difficult to want to be out because the pandemic made
Speaker 1: it okay to stay in and the fact that we
Speaker 1: can connect through Zoom. For some of us, work didn't
Speaker 1: stop because we have Zoom right right, But at the
Speaker 1: same time, it is contributing to loneliness and the dysfunction
Speaker 1: in relationships. Yes, when you say that relationship stress was
Speaker 1: really a highlight of the calls or the texts that
Speaker 1: were coming into the crisis. Text line was it parental relationships, friendships, romantic.
Speaker 3: All kinds interpersonal right, anything between people. One in three
Speaker 3: of our conversations discussed the stress and the dysfunction of
Speaker 3: human relationships. So that can be parent, child, spouse, friends, parent.
Speaker 2: Teacher, teacher child.
Speaker 3: Anything where you know two individuals are interacting together can
Speaker 3: cause stress, especially if the interaction has to be by
Speaker 3: zoom where you don't get that real time experience of
Speaker 3: being with someone which you know, which can.
Speaker 2: Be positive too.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: I think the pandemic did lend itself to those who
Speaker 3: were introverted, feeling comfortable, sort of being at home. But everybody,
Speaker 3: the human being, the human element is about some type
Speaker 3: of connection, and it's hard to fully connect through a screen.
Speaker 1: We are in a loneliness epidemic. We're not going to
Speaker 1: ask how do we be here? Unless this was slowly
Speaker 1: but surely on the way, the pandemic just kind of
Speaker 1: accelerated it, I believe because we're all everybody's on their phones,
Speaker 1: heads are down, so that's starting the lack of connection.
Speaker 1: As it is, even when I go home and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: y'all not talking about nothing at the dinner table, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna grab my phone or the phone has been a
Speaker 1: buffer between conversations that you know you need to have
Speaker 1: maybe at the dinner table you need to connect. There's
Speaker 1: so much easier to pick that phone up not have
Speaker 1: the conversations that we should have. Doctor.
Speaker 3: Yes, those difficult face to face conversations that make relationships real,
Speaker 3: that make relationships authentic, that ultimately helped to decrease the
Speaker 3: loneliness because if you're able to get through those difficult
Speaker 3: conversations and reconnect, that's a relationships, that a relationship that's
Speaker 3: being rebuilt. Right, That's that's a way to decrease isolation
Speaker 3: and loneliness. But you know, especially our children during these
Speaker 3: formative years, that's when they learn about how to have
Speaker 3: these difficult conversations and when we you know, when they
Speaker 3: went through the pandemic and didn't have to interact in
Speaker 3: that way. You know, it's far easier to take to
Speaker 3: the phone and pick up a text and send a
Speaker 3: text that may not be kind right when you don't
Speaker 3: have to see someone's face. So it creates a buffer
Speaker 3: for that interpersonal relationship that might make you think twice about,
Speaker 3: you know, trying to say something harmful or mean to
Speaker 3: someone else.
Speaker 1: Now, see this, The rest of this conversation that you
Speaker 1: and I are having can go two ways, because you
Speaker 1: already answered a question I was going to ask about,
Speaker 1: what is a way that we can cope with a loneliness,
Speaker 1: but some of it is self induced because it's conversation
Speaker 1: we are afraid to have. Yes, so some of us
Speaker 1: might be lonely because the next question I have, we're
Speaker 1: cutting off relationships. I'm just gonna cut you off now,
Speaker 1: if you are in an abusive relationship by all means
Speaker 1: cut off. Well, what about us this crisis of relationships
Speaker 1: where the relationship didn't have to be cut off. We
Speaker 1: just weren't mature enough, or maybe we were fearful about
Speaker 1: having a difficult conversation.
Speaker 3: And rightfully so, right difficult conversations don't always make us
Speaker 3: feel good. Getting to the point of reaching and understanding
Speaker 3: does feel good, but you've got to go through the
Speaker 3: rough road to get there, right, and that means looking
Speaker 3: someone face to face, recognizing the pain that you may
Speaker 3: have caused or they may have caused you, and talking
Speaker 3: through it without might I say, getting triggered, right, because
Speaker 3: we're all bringing past experiences and past relationships to our
Speaker 3: present moment and our present relationships. And sometimes we can
Speaker 3: be triggered by something that's said, or we can avoid
Speaker 3: a relation a conversation because we think that person's going
Speaker 3: to trigger us and make us angry, and we're gonna
Speaker 3: say something we don't really want to say.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: I try to use triggers to mature me. Triggers used
Speaker 1: to shame. I used to be ashamed of triggers because
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm in therapy. Why does this still trigger me?
Speaker 1: Why does the thought of this situation still trigger me?
Speaker 1: Why does it hurt me? But we can use it
Speaker 1: to mature us to do what we need to do
Speaker 1: so that it's no longer a stronghold. It's no longer
Speaker 1: like the scent of nuggets, chicken nuggets should make you
Speaker 1: go oh, yes, right, I'm just using that as an example,
Speaker 1: but even a scent of something, like I said, this
Speaker 1: conversation is it can go in so many ways because
Speaker 1: we're talking about mental health and even sense. All right, trigger,
Speaker 1: yeah right, you know. But I'm thinking of the person
Speaker 1: that has to have the difficult conversation, or maybe you're
Speaker 1: looking for the person that you have to have a
Speaker 1: conversation with. You want their apology, you want to be understood.
Speaker 1: And I can imagine that crisis text line too is
Speaker 1: probably a lot of people just.
Speaker 4: Wanting to be heard, just wanting to be under yes, yes,
Speaker 4: they want to be heard, they want to know that
Speaker 4: they're valued, they're seeing, they're heard, they're appreciated.
Speaker 2: Because it is it is.
Speaker 3: A challenge for us to have the difficult conversations and
Speaker 3: triggers are like you said, they're really actually growth opportunities
Speaker 3: times when we can respond differently than we have previously. Right,
Speaker 3: And I think one of the great things about our
Speaker 3: volunteers is they can help textures right who are triggered.
Speaker 2: To problem solve.
Speaker 3: Right, So if a previous interaction didn't go well, let's
Speaker 3: talk about identifying problem solving skills for this next conversation.
Speaker 1: Now does the crisis text line? Because I'm just wondering
Speaker 1: when does it? Can the same person text over and over?
Speaker 1: Or do you say, hey, do you refer them to
Speaker 1: a counselor nine to one one a psychiatric evaluation? How
Speaker 1: do y'all help someone where you know you could they
Speaker 1: could really benefit from therapy? Right?
Speaker 3: So we are a mental health support and crisis intervention
Speaker 3: organization and service, So we leave every conversation for a texter,
Speaker 3: the volunteer provides them a resource, so usually something related
Speaker 3: to the conversation that they can have on their phone,
Speaker 3: either to look up, you know, get more information about
Speaker 3: or a something that will help.
Speaker 2: Them with their anxiety.
Speaker 3: But we do not make direct referrals to therapists or psychiatrists.
Speaker 3: But if someone is at imminent risk of suicide, in
Speaker 3: those just one percent of cases.
Speaker 2: So we've had one point.
Speaker 3: Three million conversations in twenty twenty two and only one
Speaker 3: percent of them really require a wellness check where we
Speaker 3: work with a nine to one one call center because
Speaker 3: we you know, our clinicians, so our volunteers are supervised
Speaker 3: by mental health professionals, and the mental health professional who
Speaker 3: supervised that conversation in conjunction with the volunteer has to
Speaker 3: determined that this person is really at risk.
Speaker 2: And we need to engage nine to one.
Speaker 3: One call center for a wellness check to ensure that
Speaker 3: they are not going to harm themselves.
Speaker 1: The Crisis text Line again is a free twenty four
Speaker 1: to seven mental health support service via text and web chat.
Speaker 2: In English and in Spanish.
Speaker 1: Come on, what is the Crisis text Line? How can
Speaker 1: people get to the Crisis text Line?
Speaker 3: Yes, anyone can text help or Hello to seven four
Speaker 3: one seven four one.
Speaker 2: To reach us by text.
Speaker 3: They can text Ayuda and our Spanish service is bilingual
Speaker 3: and bicultural, so it's not a translational service. These are
Speaker 3: all live volunteers English and Spanish speaking, and they are
Speaker 3: supervised for the Spanish service by bilingual mental health professionals,
Speaker 3: So it's having a live person on the other end
Speaker 3: is fundamental to the work that we do.
Speaker 1: Seven four one, seven four one, the Crisis Text Price
Speaker 1: Last text Line, Yeah, and volunteers. It peaked my interest
Speaker 1: as well. What is the qualification for someone to maybe
Speaker 1: want a volunteer.
Speaker 3: Yes, so our volunteers have to be over the age
Speaker 3: of eighteen, They fill out an application, they go through
Speaker 3: background screening, and then they have approximately a thirty hour
Speaker 3: online self paced training. We have trained fifty nine thousand
Speaker 3: volunteers in our ten year history and they are trained on,
Speaker 3: like I said before, active listening, empathy, coping strategies, problem solving,
Speaker 3: really skills that they have then told us have helped
Speaker 3: them in their relationships outside of the work that they
Speaker 3: do volunteering for Crisis text Line. So we feel like
Speaker 3: we're creating skill sets for people to spread empathy, to.
Speaker 2: Listen better even outside of the work that they do
Speaker 2: for Crisis Text Line.
Speaker 1: So basically, if you lack empathy and patience. Please do
Speaker 1: not sign up to be a volunteer. Tell us about
Speaker 1: wait a minute, you text me about this already. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: you might not.
Speaker 3: We think our training is very good right at helping
Speaker 3: people to develop those skills.
Speaker 1: And so it can be developed. Okay, all right, not everyone.
Speaker 3: You know, reaching out and helping someone in crisis is
Speaker 3: not something that everyone feels like they are prepared to do.
Speaker 3: But for anyone who wants to help someone else, we
Speaker 3: will give them the skills. We will make sure they
Speaker 3: are supported so that they can become a volunteer.
Speaker 1: It's so good, so good. Thank you so much, y'all.
Speaker 1: Crisis textline again is twenty four seven. I love what
Speaker 1: she said. If it is a crisis to you, it
Speaker 1: is a crisis to us. That is so good. I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you some more about trauma and as
Speaker 1: a pediatrician and an intern, is what does trauma do
Speaker 1: to the mind?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: So we know now the adverse childhood experiences. Was that
Speaker 3: sentinel study back in the early nineties that made that
Speaker 3: connection between mental health issues and sort of key events
Speaker 3: traumatic events that happened to children between the age of
Speaker 3: zero and eighteen, And why that is such a significant
Speaker 3: timeframe is that that's when brain development is happening. That is,
Speaker 3: those are the years when a child's brain is fully developing. Right,
Speaker 3: So a child who has experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse,
Speaker 3: emotional abuse, neglect, family dysfunction, right, witnessing, spousal abuse, abuse,
Speaker 3: those are all things that are affecting how that child's.
Speaker 2: Brain is developing.
Speaker 3: So all of the pathways, the stress response is how
Speaker 3: we view the world. This our safe, our view of
Speaker 3: our perception of safety. All of those things are formed
Speaker 3: during those important you know, zero to early twenties when
Speaker 3: brain development is occurring. We know that, and that significant
Speaker 3: trauma has actually been shown on MRI and PET scan
Speaker 3: to impact and to affect the actual physiology of the brain.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I ask you that because you've served so many positions,
Speaker 1: the Deputy Secretary for Health and the interim State Surgeon
Speaker 1: General for the Florida Department of Health. Y'all, the resume
Speaker 1: is amazing. A faculty consultant for the National Center for
Speaker 1: Trauma Informed Care. The reason why I ask about trauma
Speaker 1: because we're hearing that word so much more, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad that people are defining what trauma is. Someone that's
Speaker 1: maybe not really have a lot of training and mental
Speaker 1: health or maybe you haven't. I'm still currently in therapy,
Speaker 1: been for years, So I know that trauma is more
Speaker 1: than seeing blood maybe, yes, Okay, Trauma is more than
Speaker 1: maybe a physical wound inflicted upon you by someone.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Trauma is witnessing the abuse, right.
Speaker 3: Witnessing or experiencing, and then how that trauma.
Speaker 2: Affects you as an individual. Right. So where two people.
Speaker 3: Could have had similar childhood experiences, the response in their bodies,
Speaker 3: the changes in their bodies can be very different.
Speaker 2: But we know.
Speaker 3: That the things that I listed out, the abuse and
Speaker 3: neglect and dysfunction, affect our interpersonal relationships.
Speaker 2: It affects our minds.
Speaker 3: Right, the average childhood experienced study will say, you know, depression,
Speaker 3: It can be the normal response of the brain to situations,
Speaker 3: to traumatic situations. Right, The brain just wants to shut down,
Speaker 3: slows it down, shut it out, right, or we become
Speaker 3: and the brain becomes hypervigilant. Right, where everything is a
Speaker 3: potentially dangerous situation and everybody experiences trauma can experience trauma differently.
Speaker 2: We know some of the classic symptoms.
Speaker 3: But we're learning more and more about trauma every day
Speaker 3: and the impact that it has on behavior and mental
Speaker 3: health and physical health and teenage pregnancy.
Speaker 2: I mean the expanse of which you know through which trauma.
Speaker 3: Touches people and touches lives, and then intergenerational trauma, right,
Speaker 3: the epigenetics, the changes in our DNA that can occur
Speaker 3: due to significant trauma.
Speaker 1: She's getting down really in a science of trauma. Sounded
Speaker 1: like a neuroscientist to me, because then I want to
Speaker 1: start asking you, Okay, well, neuroplasticity that can be reversed
Speaker 1: or healed, yay or nay?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we know that children's brains have neuroplasticity,
Speaker 3: that they are able to compensate it because they are continuing.
Speaker 2: To grow, right, continuing to develop.
Speaker 3: What's positive are the supports? Right, So the supports around
Speaker 3: a child who has experienced trauma can help build you know, the.
Speaker 2: R word, resilience.
Speaker 3: But we can't underestimate the impact that trauma has had.
Speaker 3: But we have to look at what supports are we
Speaker 3: able to provide to a child, either inside or outside
Speaker 3: of their family, because to be honest, right, some of
Speaker 3: the trauma occurs within our families.
Speaker 2: What are the supports.
Speaker 1: Available Okay, So going back to the crisis text line,
Speaker 1: You've got children who are in situations they're experiencing trauma
Speaker 1: in the home.
Speaker 2: What kind of.
Speaker 1: Help is there? What should that child do experiencing trauma
Speaker 1: in the home from a parent?
Speaker 3: Right, so they're always able to text crisis text line
Speaker 3: and again, depending on the conversation, if the child is
Speaker 3: at risk, then that would be a situation where potentially
Speaker 3: the mental health professional and the volunteer reach out for
Speaker 3: a wellness check.
Speaker 2: Again, like, if we feel like a child is at risk.
Speaker 1: So is the volunteer is placed with the mental health
Speaker 1: professional maybe on that same text thread or just as needed.
Speaker 3: Yes, So let me explain our platform we've created. We
Speaker 3: created a platform so the texture will text in, the
Speaker 3: volunteer will be on their laptop, they will respond to
Speaker 3: that texture, and the supervisor, the mental health professional, our
Speaker 3: crisis supervisor, will also be able to follow that conversation. Now,
Speaker 3: the volunteer has been trained, so the volunteer knows how
Speaker 3: to engage with the texture, but the mental health professional
Speaker 3: is always there to supervise, provide you answers to questions.
Speaker 2: You know, how should I handle this?
Speaker 3: If the volunteer asks that and then when the situation
Speaker 3: is such that the texture has we feel that the
Speaker 3: texture is at imminent risk of suicide, where they have
Speaker 3: a thought of suicide, they have.
Speaker 2: A means, they have a plan.
Speaker 3: Then seamlessly, the mental health professional can support that texture
Speaker 3: and communicate with the nine to one one call center
Speaker 3: as needed.
Speaker 1: Wow, Crisis text Line y'all is amazing the work doctor
Speaker 1: shay Erie Turner, Chief health officer of the Crisis text
Speaker 1: Line y'all. We talked about an array of things, trauma, loneliness,
Speaker 1: what the pandemic has done with us connecting, Doctor sha Erie.
Speaker 1: What are resources that you have that we can follow
Speaker 1: and get.
Speaker 3: So please come to our website Crisis Textline dot org.
Speaker 3: We have resources. We have the web page for those
Speaker 3: who want to volunteer. We have our United and Empathy Report.
Speaker 3: We have our Mental Health School Supply Toolkit, which as
Speaker 3: we approach the beginning of school, we have tools for students,
Speaker 3: for administrators, for parents. How do you talk about suicide?
Speaker 3: How do you talk about mental health? How do I
Speaker 3: tell my parents that I'm strungruging with my mental health?
Speaker 2: All of these resources are available on.
Speaker 3: Our website on our Mental Health School supply toolkit.
Speaker 2: We have issue briefs about.
Speaker 3: Trauma, about gun violence and mental health issues, all of
Speaker 3: the things that can impact mental health. We have our
Speaker 3: Youth Resilience Report that talks about our coping strategies, the
Speaker 3: coping strategies that our textures use to help them find
Speaker 3: ways to cope.
Speaker 2: During stress and during crises.
Speaker 3: So we just have a plethora of resources on our website.
Speaker 3: We have web chat and again we have access to
Speaker 3: Crisis text Line at seven four one seven four one.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: I will echo again seven four one seven four one.
Speaker 1: The resources are here. Crisis text line lets you know
Speaker 1: you are not alone. Doctor Turna just gave us so
Speaker 1: much stuff for back to school. There are all sorts
Speaker 1: of things, y'all. You don't have to be by yourself.
Speaker 1: You are not by yourself. Those voices that are in
Speaker 1: your head that tell you no one understands what you're
Speaker 1: going through. That's not true.
Speaker 2: That that is not true.
Speaker 1: Come on, that is not true, doctor Turner. Thank you
Speaker 1: so so much, Michelle.
Speaker 2: You are amazing. Continue doing the work that you are doing.
Speaker 3: Uplifting, yes, advocating.
Speaker 2: Thank you, yes, ma'am, y'all.
Speaker 1: The Crisis text line is revolutionary, something that you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm getting to the age where I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I wish I had that going up. Everything that doctor
Speaker 1: Turner discussed about the crisis text line again, it is
Speaker 1: seven four one seven for one Because even if you're
Speaker 1: listening right now and you feel stuck, you feel like
Speaker 1: you don't have anyone to talk to, you feel like
Speaker 1: someone will not understand, Please go right now to seven
Speaker 1: four one, seven four one. It is the Crisis text Line.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for doctor Shairi Turner, who by schooling
Speaker 1: is a pediatrician and internist and is following her passion
Speaker 1: now as the Crisis text Line Chief help Officer. Y'all
Speaker 1: please go and get this help that you need. It
Speaker 1: is a free resource. You got this and you will
Speaker 1: make it. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.