I’m grateful that we can have this important conversation in a public format, especially during the holiday season, when many people are struggling more than any time of the year with their mental health.
Bernie Seifert, LICSWOne out of five adults will face a mental health challenge during their lifetime, and one out of three adults have experienced anxiety or depression since March of 2020. For youth and young adults, 50 percent of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75 percent by age 24. These statistics remonstrate just how common mental health challenges are, and yet we often have difficulty talking about this issue and knowing how to respond when it’s impacting someone we care about.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, December 8, titled “Supporting a Loved One in a Mental Health Crisis.” This virtual event will feature John Broderick, Senior Director of External Affairs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) and former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and Bernie Seifert, LICSW, Director of Adult Programs at the New Hampshire chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Participants will learn how to support a loved one during a mental health crisis. Broderick will share his family’s personal experience with mental illness, and he and Seifert will answer questions from participants.
“This webinar will give a safe space for people to discuss and ask questions, and I can’t express how grateful I am that John will be part of conversation. His openness about his own family’s journey and commitment to helping other families avoid similar situations has changed and saved lives,” Seifert said. “I’m grateful that we can have this important conversation in a public format, especially during the holiday season, when many people are struggling more than any time of the year with their mental health.”
“Supporting a Loved One in a Mental Health Crisis” will run from 6:00-7:30 pm. Registration is free of charge. To register, visit https://events.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/event/supporting-a-loved-one/.
About Dartmouth-Hitchcock
DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK HEALTH (D-HH), New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves a population of 1.9 million across Northern New England. D-H provides access to more than 2,400 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. DHMC was named in 2019 as the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in 13 clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health also includes the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 51 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation; the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state’s only children’s hospital; affiliated member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, and New London, NH, and Windsor, VT, and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and 24 Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. The D-H system trains nearly 400 residents and fellows annually, and performs world-class research, in partnership with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT.