Mental Health Episodes

Feb. 8, 2024

597: Childcare Stress Impacts Maternal Health, Palau Tackles Heart Disease and Stroke

Dr. Molly Dickens, Founder and Director of the Maternal Stress Project, discusses the ways maternal health is impacted by stress linked to childcare; Edolem Ikerdeu, Chief for the Division of Primary and Preventive Health Services at the Palau...
Jan. 23, 2024

585: 2024 Legislative Agenda Looks Familiar, Learn Trauma-Responsive Leadership

Andy Baker-White, ASTHO Senior Director for State Health Policy, previews the state of the legislative calendar this year; Omar Khalid, ASTHO Director of Workforce Development, says leaders can support their teams by adopting a trauma-responsive...
Jan. 22, 2024

584: Violence Prevention Work Gets Attention, First Responders Connect Via Telemedicine Link

Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, State Health Director and Chief Medical Officer of the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services, tells us about a recent meeting with officials from the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention;...
Jan. 11, 2024

578: New Fentanyl Laws, Report Indicates Climate Impacts on Mental Health

Dr. Sameer Vohra, ASTHO member and director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, tells us new laws in Illinois will seek to address the deadly effects of fentanyl; Paul Schramm, health scientist for the CDC, details the far-reaching and...
Jan. 9, 2024

576: State Health Assessments Inform Planning, How to Access Public Health Databases

Dr. Edward Simmer, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, dives deep into a new state health assessment; Melissa Touma, ASTHO’s director of the Public Health Infrastructure Program, tells us how Colorado used...
Dec. 18, 2023

566: Policies to Curb Sexually Transmitted Infections, Xylazine Regulation and Testing

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO immediate past president and chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Health, says policies can help address the fact that the number of babies born with syphilis is ten times higher than in 2012; JoAnne McClure, ASTHO...
Dec. 15, 2023

565: Oregon’s Psilocybin Therapy Program, New Focus on Perinatal Substance Use

Cara Biddlecom, interim state health official at the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division, talks about the launch of the first-ever state-sponsored psilocybin therapy program; Amani Echols, policy and government affairs manager for the...
Dec. 8, 2023

560: Businesses Supporting Public Health, Guide Helps Agencies with Antibiotic Stewardship

Dr. Jerome Adams, former United States Surgeon General, says businesses learned from the pandemic that public health is a worthy investment; Destani Bizune, an epidemiologist in the Office of Antibiotic Stewardship at the CDC, discusses the CDC’s...
Dec. 4, 2023

556: New Suicide Prevention Policy Statement, Testing Could Curb Newborn Syphilis Cases

Dr. Mark Levine, commissioner, Vermont Department of Health, says ASTHO’s new policy statement on suicide prevention offers many recommendations including a call to improve access to health care services for those at highest risk; Dr. Robert...
Dec. 1, 2023

555: New Climate Policy Calls for Funding, Actions to Prevent Dengue

Elke Shaw-Tulloch, public health administrator, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, says ASTHO’s revised policy statement on climate and health recommends more funding for state and territorial climate programs; Dr. Lyle Petersen,...
Nov. 28, 2023

552: ASTHO Updates Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy Statement, New Grants Management Toolkit

Patricia Tilley, director, Division of Public Health Services with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, discusses ASTHO’s sexual and reproductive health policy statement; Meghan Fadel, associate director, Healthy Brain...
Nov. 9, 2023

542: Veterans Face Health Disparities, Island Areas Examine Indirect Cost Rates

Charity Menefee, lieutenant colonel and public health officer in the Tennessee Air National Guard and the director of the Division of Public Health at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, highlights the connections between her public...
Nov. 6, 2023

539: Mental Health in Tribal Communities, Working With Medicaid Partners

Kaleb Roedel, News Reporter at KUNR Public Radio, reacts to a recent Pew survey that documents extremely high suicide rates among Native Americans and Alaska Natives; and Stephanie Doyle, Deputy Director for the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition...
Nov. 1, 2023

536: Workforce Care Initiative, JUUL Settlements

Tom St. Louis, Director of the Office of Public Health Workforce Development for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, tells us about the new Culture of Care initiative that aims to help staff recover from the pandemic; Amy Ciarlo, ASTHO Senior...
Oct. 26, 2023

532: New ASTHO President, Licensing Questions May Promote Stigma

Dr. Steven Stack, ASTHO’s new President and Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, previews his goals for the upcoming year; Jacqueline Howard, a CNN Health Reporter, reacts to the idea that questions on licensing forms may...
Oct. 13, 2023

523: Making Decisions During a Crisis, PH Help Wanted

ASTHO CEO Dr. Mike Fraser and Dr. Ray Barishansky, Former Deputy Secretary for Health Preparedness and Community Protection at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, explain new research on barriers to decision making in public health response; Dr....
Oct. 12, 2023

522: New Overdose Dashboard, Public Health Leadership Training

Maria Sarabia, Assistant Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, shares an overdose dashboard that clarifies the people most affected; Shannan Rome, Health Access Nurturing Development Services Manager at the Franklin County Health...
Oct. 10, 2023

520: Policies Help Improve Childhood Mental Health, Overdose Prevention Barriers

Gabby Ruiz, ASTHO Analyst of Maternal and Infant Health, explains strategies to promote infant and early childhood mental health; Joy Rucker, National Harm Reduction Consultant, reflects on the harm reduction journey of...
Oct. 6, 2023

519: Framing Mental Health Connections, New Shutdown Deadline

Mary Giliberti, chief public policy officer at Mental Health America, explains a new framework that connects public health with mental health and suicide prevention; Latoya Sahadeo, director of the Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health program...
Oct. 4, 2023

517: New Mental Health Framework, Teaming Up to Address Overdoses

Dr. Nia West-Bey, the director of youth policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy, shares a new framework focused on prevention and wellness promotion among young people; Dr. Cathy Slemp, co-founder and vice chair of the West Virginia Hope in...
Sept. 27, 2023

512: Court Cases Impacting Public Health, Helping PH Managers

Christina Severin, ASTHO’s Director of Public Health Law, outlines upcoming Supreme Court cases that will impact public health; Susan Donnelly, Workforce Director at the Oklahoma State Department of Health, shares the work her team is doing to...
Sept. 21, 2023

508: Healthy Aging Challenges, Supporting Maternal Mental Health

Dr. Puja Seth, the Healthy Aging Branch Chief at the CDC, shares a new state-focused program that aims to address dementia; Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the Deputy Secretary of Public Health at the Maryland Department of Health, explains that policy...
Aug. 15, 2023

482: Back-to-School Water Dollars, Youth Mental Health Partnerships

Wendi Wilkes, Senior Advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, explains lead testing program that allows schools and child care agencies to remove the threat of lead; Heather Sebero, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst for Social and...
Aug. 14, 2023

481: Syphilis Drug Shortage, Maternal and Child Health Priorities

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, describes how drug shortages are making it tough to treat syphilis; Jazmyn Covington, ASTHO Director of Maternal and Infant...