Session Design Submission Review

Yes

• Citizenship and Global Responsibility
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Surgeons and trainees face some of the highest rates of burnout, depression, and suicide across the health professions—yet these struggles often remain unspoken, hidden behind a culture of silence and resilience at all costs. This panel will create a space for open, honest dialogue within the surgical education community by bringing together voices of people in the surgical community with a lived experience with mental health struggles from different perspectives, including personal, peer, leadership, and mental health expert perspectives. Through storytelling, personal reflection, and data-driven insights, the session will illuminate the lived experience of mental health challenges in surgery and the profound consequences of unaddressed distress. By engaging with both the human stories and the structural challenges, this session will empower educators, program leaders, and trainees to return to their institutions prepared to champion a cultural shift—one where mental health is protected with the same urgency as surgical skill and patient outcomes.

Develop awareness of the scope and urgency of the mental health crisis in surgery, supported by data and real-world narratives

Identify communication strategies to help break the silence, foster psychological safety, and normalize help-seeking behaviors within training programs

Apply practical tools for early recognition of warning signs and for initiating supportive, nonjudgmental conversations with colleagues and trainees

Formulate institutional approaches to building proactive systems of outreach, peer support, and access to care that reduce barriers and stigma