Election Blues? MSSNY Peer-to-Peer is Here to Help
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Colleagues:
During the recent AMA Interim Meeting in Orlando, I saw AMA staffers who were crying over the presidential election results, and AMA delegates who were nervously fretting over the implications of RFK Jr being proposed as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. If you are upset over the election, you can take solace by knowing that MSSNY is a bipartisan organization that continues to advocate for patient safety, no matter which party is in power. Furthermore, one of your MSSNY benefits is our Peer-to-Peer program.
The pillars of the P2P program are Support, Empathy, and Perspective.
Physicians, residents, and medical students have enormous stressors that can range from the emotions that arise in the context of patient care to the demanding environment in which we practice medicine. MSSNY’s Committee on Physician Wellness and Resiliency played an integral role in the creation of the P2P program—which grew out of a MSSNY survey that found over 50 percent of New York physicians suffer from life stressors.
Physicians are healers that too often are reluctant to seek help for themselves. We hope that colleagues will connect to peer supporters to discuss daily stressors, including work, school, family, substance, or financial issues. And if one of those stressors is the recent election results, the P2P Program is here for that, too.
If someone you know is struggling with life stressors, reach out to the P2P program to connect them to a peer supporter. Email [email protected] or call 1-844-P2P-PEER (1-844-727-7337) and request that you be connected with a peer supporter. In addition to offering a trained, empathetic ear, peer supporters may provide information on specific resources that can offer further support, provide positive coping skills, or connect physicians to professionals for more focused assistance.
If you wish to become a trained peer supporter, please reach out to Emily Rento, Program Coordinator.
All the best,
Jerome C. Cohen, MD
MSSNY President
