Maureen Bisognano On The Well-Being Trust & Tackling Mental Illness

Maureen Bisognano is a nurse who has held many roles over her extraordinary career in healthcare, most recently as President of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. She now serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for the Well-Being Trust, which is a national foundation dedicated to advancing the mental, social, and spiritual health of the United States. She joins us for a remarkable conversation about the origins of the Well-Being Trust, the work done thus far to address “diseases of despair”, some truly amazing program ideas, and the first steps forward.

Please note, at the top of the episode we share a few words upon hearing of the suicide of Dr. Bongani Mayosi.

Key Learnings

What are the diseases of despair?
The challenge laid out by Providence-St. Joseph Health in helping found the Trust
Getting a foothold on mental health at a national level
Initial goals: improving access to care, determining social determinants of health, & focusing on children
The invention of a socialance instead of an ambulance to address access to mental health care upstream
Creating #bewell, #beheard, #bethere as a part of a youth campaign on social media
Sourcing and harvesting programs and ideas on a global level
A revolutionary Call & Check program to address social isolation in Jersey, England using the postal service
Strategic goals of the Well-Being Trust
Parallels with the opioid epidemic
Taking care of yourself while taking care of other people

Links

The Well-Being Trust: http://wellbeingtrust.org

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Call & Check Visits program from Jersey Post