Jen's Second Chance: How Compassionate Mental Health Care Changed Everything

This story mentions suicide. If you need support, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Jen Sword’s life was saved by INTEGRIS Health caregivers. Today, she’s paying it forward to help others.

Overwhelmed, angry, and exhausted, Jen Sword sat in a hospital room after she attempted suicide.

On a sweltering July day in 2021, Jen was rushed to an emergency department (ED) at INTEGRIS Health after attempting to take her own life. A bright college student and the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Jen had always carried the weight of her parents' dreams, rooted in their own hopes for a new beginning. But after realizing nursing wasn't her path, she left school, only to face rejection and isolation from her family. The loss of her grandfather soon after deepened her despair.

"I felt completely alone," Jen recalled. That day in the ED, Jen was angry and confused. "I couldn't understand why they saved me," she reflected.

"The doctors treated me like a person, not just a patient. I vividly remember a doctor telling me my life mattered."

Jen was transferred to INTEGRIS Health Mental Health Spencer, where she received inpatient psychiatric care. Despite the challenges, she felt compassion and acceptance from every caregiver she met. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel invisible.

Thanks to donor support of mental health initiatives at the INTEGRIS Health Foundation, caregivers had the tools and training to meet Jen with empathy and expertise when she needed it most. "They made me feel wanted, important — like I was a person worth saving," Jen said. After discharge, Jen continued outpatient therapy with INTEGRIS Health for nearly a year.

Inspired by her care team, she returned to school and earned a master's degree in counseling. Today, she's thriving — with a family of her own and a therapy practice focused on helping people like her younger self. "I never want someone to feel the way I did," Jen shared.

Because of you, stories like Jen's are possible. Thank you for being a vital part of the INTEGRIS Health Foundation's commitment to mental health and healing.

Your Gifts in Action

Funds from the INTEGRIS Health Foundation's behavioral health initiatives are providing interactive smart TVs and cameras in emergency department rooms, which facilitate rapid connections to physicians via telehealth. These mental health assessments help ensure that patients either leave with a care plan in place or are admitted to inpatient treatment if needed — meeting people in crisis with the right care at the right moment.

Click below to support life-changing mental health care at INTEGRIS Health.

Story by Zoee Zuerker