In March of 2023 Dr. Cunningham stood in front of a packed house as the Presidential Speaker at the Academy of Academic Surgeon's annual meeting and gave a speech entitled "Removing the Mask" where she revealed her incredible battle with addiction and severe depression. Carrie is a mother, Harvard endocrine surgeon and NIH-funded researcher and risked her professional, and personal reputation to frame the conversation about mental health and addiction to a traditionally stoic group of medical providers with her own journey. In her speech, she shared how profoundly the tragic suicide of a dear friend and colleague impacted her own mental health and highlighted the startling reality of suicide in the medical world. Her incredible story brought the discussion of mental health in the medical world out of the shadows and to the forefront of medical education and institutions across the country. We discuss that medicine encourages grit over vulnerability which can compound self-doubt, fear and isolation into severe depression. Carrie discusses how embracing sobriety, meditation and wellness practices and by priotizing her mental health as a precious assett she rejuvenated her career as an attending endocrine surgeon and academic researcher. She shares how the beautiful sanskrit word "mitra" reminds her to seek light, harmony and abundance, sometimes forgotten in the strain of our medical world.
Please watch and share Dr. Cunningham's 2023 AAS Presidential Address Removing the Mask": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaNBH4UPHv4
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Check out these resources from previous podcast guests for assistance with tracking your mental health, and reaching out for therapeutic assistance:
1. Jonathan Wilson and INVI MindHealth have developed an App using smart watch technology to track your daily mental health wellness:
2. From Raul Rivas and his Trauma Behind the Badge podcast episode he shared the inline resource therapy resource:
https://www.lighthousehw.org/
Available on the App Store or on Google Play.
Lighthouse Health & Wellness is an in-hand, on-demand, 100% confidential health and wellness platform available at no cost to our nation's public safety agencies.
Lighthouse was designed to provide your employees and their families anonymous access to your agency's existing health and wellness programs, along with a growing library of the latest educational health and wellness information and tools that have been tailored to the unique needs of those working in public safety.
3. Survive First is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, whose mission is to assist active duty and retired first responders and families who need mental health support from the impact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and substance abuse. https://survivefirst.us/get-help/
