Like the Medicine Class of 2017 before them, the Medicine Class of 2018 has embraced Wellness as a cause, dedicating their senior class gift to expanded Sentinel suicide prevention training for undergraduate medical students.
These one-day workshops鈥攐ffered by the Medical Student Wellness Committee with the support of the Faculty鈥檚 WELL Office in collaboration with Suicide Action Montreal鈥攖each students how to detect and act on signs of suicidal distress in their peers.
Pictured: Mame Daro Faye and Mary Koziol, both MDCM鈥�18.
According to the Class鈥� Seeds of Change crowdfunding page, multiple studies have shown that medical training can be a peak time for psychological distress, with depression and burnout occurring in medical students at a higher rate than for their peers in the general population
As it is, demand for the workshop outstrips supply. This campaign, which aims to raise $5,000, will create 16 new spots鈥攅nough to satisfy current demand and eliminate the waiting list.
The senior class gift is a tradition whereby Med-4 students make their first collective philanthropic gift to the Faculty to support a project that is important to them, and that has a tangible impact on current and future students. It begins their legacy at the University.
During a lunchtime gathering to celebrate the campaign and to collect donations, students voiced their enthusiasm for this year鈥檚 project choice.
Pascal Chavannes was a psychologist before he enrolled in the MDCM program. He says those studying and practising medicine too often fail to see the warning signs in themselves. 鈥淲e鈥檙e people who don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e at risk.鈥� He says this kind of program helps people to look out for each other and get over the stigma of mental illness. 鈥淚t鈥檚 trying to create networks where we can help each other鈥攁nd to not see this as weakness.鈥�
Classmate Doulia Hamad brings her experience in suicide prevention to the table for this campaign. She worked as a Suicide Action Montreal crisis counsellor for six years. The Sentinel program identifies language that can be an indicator of suicidal thinking. She gives some examples: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not able to talk about the future or they say 鈥榃hat does it matter? I may not be there then,鈥� or 鈥業 wish I wasn鈥檛 here.鈥欌��
Students learn how to approach a distressed peer so that they can then refer them to the WELL Office or to other support services in the community. 鈥淭he idea is to not intervene but to be able to recognize when someone is suffering,鈥� says class member Nicola Smith.
VP-Dean David Eidelman, MDCM鈥�79, and Beth-Ann Cummings, MDCM鈥�03, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, have donated $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, to this campaign, bringing the $5,000 goal well within reach.