During her second year of medical school, Dr. Delicia Haynes found it difficult to get out of bed. She had trouble sleeping and no matter how much she studied, couldn’t seem to retain information. The dean of students at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine noticed Dr. Haynes’ decline and called a meeting in which he advocated for her to take time off and recover.

Through an integrative approach Dr. Haynes was able to find the support and resources needed to overcome her depression and return to school. She eventually went on to becoming a board certified physician and founded Family First Health Center, an integrative direct primary care clinic with a worldwide reach based in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Through her Overcoming Stress and Depression Program and her signature speech Dying On The Vine: Suicide and Depression Amongst Physicians Dr. Haynes highlights the staggering suicide rates in the medical community. While medical students may appear to be high-achieving, conditions such as rigorous testing, sleep deprivation and high stress often normalize symptoms of depression and make it harder to detect.

Dr. Haynes’ informative and research-based speech helps students understand their risk for depression, how it may show up in themselves, know they are not alone, how to communicate effectively with administration, and learn life long skills to maintain their mental health.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the early warning symptoms and who is most at risk for depression
• Identify barriers to treatment many physicians face and how to remove them
• Learn how school administrators and students can create a better dialogue and culture for handling depression
• A step-by-step roadmap with an integrative approach that utilizes the five senses