As the Institute of Living (IOL) celebrates its past, its leaders are looking at the state of the world and the potential for the organization.
“We’re doubling down on the heart,” said Dr. John Santopietro, senior vice president, Hartford HealthCare, and physician-in-chief of the Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network, which includes the IOL. “We look regularly at where we are as a globe. Humanity needs us right now. Depression rates are three times what they used to be. I’m worried about us if we keep going the way we’re going.”
Embracing positive change, is a vision he shares with Dr. Javeed Sukhera, chief of psychiatry at the IOL and chief of the Department of Psychiatry, Hartford Hospital.
“This place was founded on new ways of thinking that centers on the dignity of those we serve,” Dr. Sukhera said. “We are co-creating the future with patients, and will need to build systems that honor lived experience as expertise, embed patient voices in our work, and encourage people working here to bring their full humanity to everything they do.”
The steps to get there, he added, might be perceived by some as loss.
“Overall, health services have drifted toward a mindset that people who come in for help are somehow lacking something. This is a characterization we must reject. Instead, let’s emphasize that all of us have strengths and vulnerabilities, and the only way to heal is to work together,” Dr. Sukhera said of the patient-provider partnership.
“People come in here not seeing their strengths, and we need to remind them that they are stronger than they know,” Dr. Santopietro added.
The evolution will involve tapping technology and research to provide the tools and skills patients need for success, while continuing to create services that meet the community’s needs. Recently, these have included services for peripartum mood disorders, different tracks for treatment of psychosis, services specifically for the LGBTQ community, a Family Resource Center that organizes about 150 activities a year, and modification of national initiatives like Zero Suicide to include a Suicide Assessment Model.
The work done on the campus continues in a supportive manner when patients leave. The Schizophrenia Rehabilitation Center, for example, helps people live in the community, lowering the mortality rate in this population. The Vocational Rehabilitation Program provides job training skills in the IOL gift shop, greenhouse and cafeteria to help patients transition successfully to jobs in the community.
“We are building our system to meet the challenge — IOL 2.0. Doing things based on the old game plan doesn’t work. When people call for help, it takes forever to get them in,” Dr. Santopietro said. “We don’t have the answers, but we will find them together.”