Mental Health Awareness Month - TCMS Physician Wellness Program

Greetings!  May is here!  Hopefully, you have celebrated Cinco de Mayo...Hopefully, May the Fourth was with you…And hopefully, the April showers brought you some May flowers…for your May Basket!  (My favorite!) But, even more importantly, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so I am dedicating this newsletter to providing our membership with a review of information about our Physician Wellness Program:  

Take Care of Your Patients by Taking Care of Yourself

The Physician Wellness Program (PWP) provides a safe harbor for physicians to address normal life difficulties in a confidential and professional environment.  Our lives can be challenging.  Problems with the current health care delivery system, maintaining a healthy work/life/family balance, and dealing with the normal stresses of everyday life can take a toll on us. By addressing areas of difficulty, we can decrease our stress levels and increase our resilience and effectiveness for ourselves and for our patients.

HOW PWP WORKS

 We have gathered a diverse group of counselors to help our physicians, residents, students, and retired physicians of the Tulsa County Medical Society (TCMS), by providing up to 8 free visits per calendar year.  Our counselors maintain a confidential file for each physician. No insurance will be billed and TCMS will not be given any information about those who utilize the program. As such, this program is completely confidential. TCMS pays a monthly bill based on the number of sessions provided. 

In summary, the PWP provides:

• Up to 8 free, confidential sessions with an experienced therapist

• Convenient, private location

• No diagnosis specified, no insurance billed, no electronic record kept

• Appointments at convenient hours for physicians

  
  

TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

Contact the therapist of your choice (see list, below) and let them know you are a member or non-member of Tulsa County Medical Society.  The therapist will verify your membership through a third party and set up an appointment with you.   (For a limited time, through a grant from Telligen, non-member physicians may also access this resource!)

For a list of PWP Program Counselors/Therapists and their contact information, please visit https://www.tcmsok.org/physician-wellness

Please utilize this resource, as needed.  It is here for you!  If you have any questions, you can reach out to me or any of our TCMS staff.  

Have a Happy May!

Ondria Gleason, MD

TCMS President