It is understandable that the Coronavirus pandemic might be making you feel anxious, stressed, or depressed. Your livelihood may also be at risk. We are dealing with losses, such as loss of liberty and loss of companionship, among others. For some, grief may be part of your daily life now. We are all trying to deal with circumstances and daily experiences that are new to us. We are compelled into totally new daily routines. Social distancing, isolation, quarantine, these mandates can make us feel that we are not in control of our lives, or that we are not competent to handle the changes. The physical isolation can make us feel totally alone.
Yet, it is beautiful to notice how some people are choosing to respond. The videos we see of people creating community, while remaining in isolation, are moving. Our front line workers are putting the needs of others first and working at their jobs, often to exhaustion. We are hearing inspirational stories of individual actions taken.
There is a great inforgraphic circulating the Internet. It is below and shows a range of possible responses to the Covid-19 outbreak. It’s a wonderful illustration of some of the choices we make in our lives. This idea of making choices is a good fit with how we do therapy at Beach Grove Counselling.
As we discuss under our Services page, we believe that our health and wellness is a function of our biological, psychological, social, and spiritual connections. We are both a whole and a part of other systems. Looking at the infographic, it is totally understandable to be in the Fear Zone; this is all new! The infographic is also encouraging. It shows our connection to other things and how we might take steps to develop new meaning and purpose in these challenging times.
*Original image credit to the Gordon Franks Training Company, subsequently modified by Dr. Monika Langeh to reflect the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are more and more resources around to us to help us get a sense of what these changes mean for our emotions, our bodies and our overall health. You are welcome to check back here. We will be adding more resources as they become available. Creating a list of all resources would be pretty much impossible. So we will concentrate on resources relating to grief, loss, work disruption, job loss, anxiety, stress and depression, as well as important Government information.
The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has great articles, blogs, and other content that give some insight into how we may be experiencing these changes.
The Canadian Psychological Association has a collection of facts sheets on topics such as “Helping Teens Cope With The Impacts of and Restrictions Related to Covid-19”.
The College of Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) has a Q&A on how to access psychotherapy services during these times. Beach Grove Counselling’s Resources page also has good information from the CRPO on Online Counselling | Distance Therapy | Telemental Health.
The Government of Canada has developed their COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. The plan describes the economic support the Canadian Government has put in place to help Canadian citizens and businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak. The page also has a Covid-19 Virtual Assistant to help guide you.