Early intervention in mental health crises may occur outside traditional therapeutic environments, such as at divorce attorneys' offices, bankruptcy hearings, or self-storage facilities. These locations, identified by Associate Professor John Blosnich from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work as "industries of disruption," are significant because they often serve individuals navigating major life changes.
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Blosnich, who is also the interim co-director of the USC Center for AI in Society (CAIS), examines how these everyday environments can be leveraged to connect individuals to mental health resources before they reach a crisis point. His research uses artificial intelligence (AI), large-scale public health data, and community partnerships to analyze suicide risk factors, health disparities, and the social factors impacting well-being.
In an interview with USC News, Blosnich discussed the future of AI in social impact, the unexpected venues for crisis prevention, and the potential for improved data to enhance mental health outcomes.
Blosnich's interest in non-clinical settings arose from his experience with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs focusing on veteran suicide prevention. He recognized that while clinical services are essential, many individuals do not seek help until it’s too late. This led him to explore alternative locations where people are already experiencing significant stress, highlighting the correlation between major life events—such as divorce or financial troubles—and increased suicide risk.
His perspective suggests that individuals like attorneys, who often encounter clients in high-stress situations, can play a crucial role in identifying individuals in need of support. The self-storage industry also reflects this, as it recognizes common reasons for storage use include divorce, death, displacement, and disaster.
AI emerged as a valuable tool in Blosnich's research when he collaborated with experts in natural language processing to analyze data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This dataset encompasses structured and unstructured information about suicides, which includes qualitative narratives that are critical but too numerous for traditional analysis techniques.
By employing AI to process these narratives, researchers uncovered that legal professionals appeared in approximately 10% of the suicide cases studied. This finding reinforced the idea that professionals in disruptive life situations have an important opportunity to connect their clients with mental health support, emphasizing that they do not need to act as mental health professionals themselves.
Blosnich’s broader goal is to generate data that informs not just public health initiatives but also professionals in various nonclinical sectors about their role in prevention. He believes AI offers significant advantages by enabling researchers to navigate emotionally charged data without continuous exposure to trauma and facilitating new ways to link large data sets for analysis.
This research, detailed in the American Journal of Public Health, illustrates the potential of AI tools in enhancing understanding of suicide narratives and improving community-based mental health interventions.