News from Northern Lower Regional Center AHEC

Kimberly Ashcraft Appointed to the National AHEC Organization Board of Directors

Kimberly Ashcraft, Executive Director of the Michigan AHEC Northern Lower Regional Center, was recently appointed to a 3-year term on the National AHEC Organization (NAO) Board of Directors. Kim is serving as the Center Director Constituency Group Representative for NAO.

Dr. Stacey Gedeon Presents at Mid-Central AHEC Tele Mental Health Symposium

Dr. Stacey Gedeon is a fellowship-trained, clinical health psychologist who has worked in healthcare for over twenty years. In the role of health psychologist, Dr. Gedeon has established a multi-disciplinary program that assists patients with chronic pain, diabetes, and chronic complex diseases.

Currently, Dr. Gedeon is the Director of Behavioral Health and Integrated Primary Care for MidMichigan Community Health Services (MCHS), a federally qualified health center based in Houghton Lake, Michigan. In addition to the counseling services, in 2010, Dr. Gedeon created and implemented an integrative primary care program and continues to provide direct clinical services within the Primary Care Behavioral Health model.

Recently, Dr. Gedeon was a featured guest and spoke at a Tele-Mental Health Symposium Series-Part 1 “Navigating Public Health Beyond the Public Emergency” hosted by Central Michigan University and Mid-Central AHEC. She presented on the wide range of challenges that are faced as a Behavioral Healthcare provider when in session with a patient over the phone or video chat. She shared how the team’s providers evolved best practices to meet patient needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Safe TALK for Suicide Awareness and Prevention

Suicide is one of the most significant issues that public health faces in the world today. The causes of suicide are as complex and varied as the individuals having those thoughts. Most importantly, with the right knowledge and skills, suicide can be prevented. According to the CDC in 2011, suicide was ranked as the 11th cause of death nationwide.

There are several types of suicide prevention trainings offered including safeTALK training. SafeTALK is an introductory training for suicide awareness and prevention. While participating in this workshop, a person learns how to prevent suicide by recognizing the signs, engaging someone in crisis, and connecting them to intervention resources that will provide further and possibly more in-depth support.

In April, MidMichigan Community Health Services in Houghton Lake and Northern Lower MI-AHEC invited JoJean Thompson from UPNorth Prevention, a certified safeTALK trainer, to train Front Desk and Patient Services staff, along with staff from Michigan Works in safeTALK. Participants learned how to identify invitations to ask whether someone is thinking about suicide, how to engage the individual, and what resources to pass on to the individual to help them stay safe until they can get more hands-on support.

Dial or text 988 if you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or experiencing a mental health crisis and get connected to a trained crisis counselor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.