Morissa Sobelson Henn, DrPH ’19, works with gun rights advocates on suicide prevention in Utah. The state has high rates of gun ownership, and the nation’s fifth highest number of suicides—most of which were caused by firearms. In her role as community health program director at Intermountain Healthcare, Henn works to build bridges with gun owners, finding common ground in their values around protecting loved ones. Henn has helped push forward a number of initiatives in Utah, including programs that provided free gun locks and trained healthcare providers on talking to patients about guns.
In a June 2020 profile published as part of the Harvard Gazette’s To Serve Better Project, she said, “I have never been involved in a topic where I had more hope, energy, and reason for optimism.” She added, “I hope that in 10 years, we will have advanced to a new social norm: that no person who is in a suicidal crisis has access to a firearm.”
Read the Harvard Gazette article: Utah: Morissa Sobelson Henn
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Uncommon Ground (Harvard Public Health magazine)