COM Outlook Summer/Fall 2019

8 | DR. KIRAN C. PATEL COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE wellness center that opened immediately in the wake of the recent suicides to serve the Parkland/Coral Springs commu- nity. “In terms of wellness, our collective goal now is to help reduce mental health stigma, raise awareness about services, and improve help-seeking behaviors, including connecting people to Eagle’s Haven,” Cook said. “Public health professionals possess many tools to support dissemination and engagement, such as having information available in multiple languages, materials appropriate for people of low literacy, and innovative outreach with technology,” she explained. “Thankfully, these strategies are slowly, but surely, gaining more headway.” Recently, Cook watched with pride as the NSU community came together to support behav- ioral health when undergraduate and graduate students, colleagues, and alumni volunteered to translate suicide prevention materials into Haitian-Creole, Hindu, Portuguese, and Spanish. Distance-Based Behavioral Health Therapy Another important service Cook has strongly advocated for is easy access to telemental health, which involves using the phone, text, email, or videoconferencing to conduct counseling sessions. “Telehealth offers privacy and convenience and has demon- strated efficacy when compared to face-to-face interaction,” she said. “In many rural and underserved areas, telehealth has flourished in specialties such as psychiatry, stroke care, and dermatology.” Not surprisingly, Cook believes telemental health is an important service that can gain traction among students, teachers, first responders, and parents who may not be willing to walk into a therapy office. “In Florida, many providers, including Medicaid, will reim- burse for behavioral health services delivered through video- conferencing, in accordance with licensing boards and privacy and security laws. Unfortunately, there has been very slow adoption of this service in South Florida,” said Cook, who has also encouraged Stoneman Douglas High School administration to survey students to discover how they prefer to receive care. “Most behavioral health services for the Parkland/Coral Springs area were largely set up to require people to walk into a physical location for ongoing care, though some providers do provide in-home therapy,” added Cook, who earned her telemental health training certificate earlier this year so she could serve as a resource for adopters in South Florida. As her family comes to grips with the recent suicides and frequent news reports of addi- tional mass shootings, the goal is to “do what we know how to do, which is to be here for each other. As a mom, all I can do is let Maia and Eden know we are here for them, and that we love and support them,” Cook said. “After months of not engag- ing publicly, Eden went back on Twitter to encourage people to speak up if they are hurting, and she agreed to do an interview with People magazine to help reduce the stigma of behavioral health, which was well received nationwide,” she added. “Gently, we encourage Eden and Maia to make sure they have healthy outlets, whatever they choose that to be—gym, beach, music, or friends.” The recent suicides have clearly had a significant impact on Cook and her family, but “the heart- breaking fact is that our kids already went through the worst trauma imaginable last year when they were forced to grow up and learn to live with unimaginable grief,” she concluded. “So, as sad as these additional deaths have been, they understand this is part of life.” o Parkland Revisited The heartbreaking fact is that our kids already went through the worst trauma imaginable last year when they were forced to grow up and learn to live with unimaginable grief.” —Nicole Cook ‘‘