Keeping our frontline healthcare workers mentally healthy; mental wellness with MindPath
Healthcare workers are dealing with an extra challenging and on-going strain with the pandemic. Their efforts are helping many but can leave them vulnerable themselves. MindPath's Sonya Isler, MSN, PMHNP-BC and James A. Smith, III, M.D., DLFAPA discuss what they might be going through and ways to help cope, the video includes discussion on the following:
- how healthcare workers are being affected
- what hospital systems can do to help
- pandemic seeming to be forever on-going and mental strain
- accessing support with limited time or resources
- a few ways to build resilience
- what can community members do to help frontline workers
For more information or mental health assistance, visit mindpathcare.com or contact MindPath Care Centers at 919-261-3958 for telehealth and in-person resources near you.
Resources
Fully Present: A Helpfully Contagious Perspective for Healers Adjusting to Covid-19
Helping Hospital Workers and Emergency Responders during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Provider Bio
Sonya R. Isler is a mental health nurse practitioner who works with patients of all ages. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. Since she was a child, Sonya was influenced by many nurses in her church and in her community to pursue her career. Sonya worked as an RN for 20+ years before she became a mental health practitioner. She has provided safe, high-quality care and compassionate cognitive behavioral therapy sessions with children, adolescents, and adults alike. Sonya also assisted in leading educational groups to work on substance abuse issues and life skills. More information at https://www.mindpathcare.com/staff/sonya-r-isler-msn-pmhnp-bc/.
James A. Smith, III, M.D., DLFAPA
Dr. Smith is the Medical Director Emeritus of MindPath Care Centers, LLC. He spent thirty years with the Wake County Alcoholism Treatment Center as a staff psychiatrist and over twenty years with the North Carolina Department of Correction as Chief Psychiatrist at Central Prison Mental Health. He is also the current President of the North Carolina Minority Prostate Cancer Awareness Action Team.
He completed his education at Howard University in Washington, DC where he obtained his BS and M.D. He is board-certified in Psychiatry, by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is proud to be a second-generation psychiatrist as his father preceded him in this profession and it was not surprising that he followed in his father's footsteps. He has held faculty appointments with both Duke and UNC Departments of Psychiatry. He was Chair of the Wake County Human Services from 2014 to 2019. Dr. Smith is the Chair Elect of the Board of Directors of Urban Ministries. He has been a Board Member of the Governor's Institute on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse and Catholic Social Ministries, Dioceses of Raleigh. He is a member of the North Carolina Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association. He has been on the Advisory Council Rex Prostate Cancer Center of Excellence. He was recently appointed to the Community Advisory Board of the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center. Most recently Governor Roy Cooper bestowed on Dr. Smith the "Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award."
Dr. Smith and his wife, Sandra have three sons; Anthony, Jason and Brian. Both Jason and Brian and their spouses live in the Northern Va. Area and he is most proud of his four grandchildrean, Micah Alexander, Mischa Annilese, Madison Mili and Alexandra Kaya Smith.
