PHX Reporter

Banner Health has achieved a significant milestone by completing a 12-month employee training program focused on mental health. The program, developed by United Suicide Survivors International (US) and supported by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), awarded Banner Health with a platinum-level H.O.P.E. Certification on May 1, 2024.

The H.O.P.E. Certification, which stands for "Helping Our People Elevate Through Tough Times," was initially launched as a pilot in New York and has since expanded to include organizations in Colorado across various sectors such as construction, nonprofit, healthcare, and mental health. Participants of this program received strategic tools to facilitate systemic changes through quarterly training sessions and ongoing coaching.

Victoria Cordova, director of behavioral health services at Banner Health, emphasized the importance of the initiative: “What we really looked at when we saw this opportunity was a structured way to save lives.” She further stated that addressing mental illness is crucial, likening it to any other medical condition requiring attention.

Colorado faces challenges with higher rates of suicide and overdose compared to national averages. Cordova highlighted the necessity for healthcare providers to care for themselves to effectively support their patients: “We cannot take care of our patients to the best of our ability if we are not taking care of ourselves.”

Cordova hopes that the practices learned from the H.O.P.E. Certification will encourage more open discussions about mental health within Banner Health's operations in Northern Colorado and beyond. She aims to extend these practices throughout all Banner facilities in Arizona, California, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming.

“We want to take this to all of Banner," Cordova expressed her aspirations for broader implementation. "Our experience has been so meaningful and important and we want to make sure Banner employees everywhere get this information."

Banner Health is one of the largest secular nonprofit healthcare systems in the U.S., offering diverse services including hospitals, academic medicine divisions, cancer centers in partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center, insurance divisions, outpatient surgery centers among others.

For further details about the H.O.P.E. Certification program, interested parties can visit www.hopecertification.com.