​​Keep Your Mental Health Assessed During This Stressful Time
 
Working and being at home can contribute to a feeling of social isolation. Due to a sudden sense of loneliness and isolation, and as working from home and social distancing are becoming more prevalent, people are feelings more anxiety.
 
Here are some mental health self-care practices one can do at home:
 
FOR YOUR BODY

• Drink less caffeine
• Eat more nutritious foods
  
• Eat less sugar
  
• Exercise​
  

FOR YOUR MIND

• Relaxation/Deep breathing
• ​Mindfulness
  
• Journaling your thoughts and feelings
  
• Playing games/cards
  
• Crossword puzzles
  
• Puzzles (but not with an overwhelming number of pieces)
  
• Reading a book
  
• Yoga
  
• Learn something new, such as a hobby or a recipe
  
• Try a new genre of music
  
• Limit exposure to Coronavirus media to one or two times a day only
  

 
FOR YOUR SPIRIT

• Connect with nature (go outside, look out the window at the beauty of nature, care for a houseplant)
  
• Read spiritual or metaphysical literature
  
• Listen to a podcast or watch a religious or spiritual video
  
• ​See if your place of worship will offer online services
  
• Spend time with your pets
  
• Meditate
  

And most importantly, reach out to someone outside your home at least once a day. It is important for us to stay in communication with others during this time.

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Mental Health and Coronavirus
Suzanne W. Peebles, M.Ed., LPC

Anxiety and Coronavirus Resources

Our anxiety is higher at this time due to so many questions about this coronavirus, COVID-19. It is difficult to trust that people are protecting us as we are trying to protect ourselves through measures such as sanitary improvement, self-quarantine, and avoiding crowded places. This means that perhaps the thing we are most afraid of is other people. Trusting them to be doing the right thing makes us worry and trust less. These heightened emotions are normal and we need to understand the difference between anxiety, obsessive compulsive upset, and coronavirus news causing feelings of panic.
 
Currently, more anxiety and panic are being experienced in the general population. During times of uncertainty, such as a warning of a potential tornado nearby, anxiety levels increase. But when we have an illness such as COVID-19, which is spread by person-to-person contact and takes days to present symptoms, fear is increased. Our constant news updates, lines in stores, and supply shortages contribute to the collective feelings we have of urgency or panic. We feel an added level of responsibility that we must be cautious enough or we will contract it or spread it and feel responsible.
 
We are being taught and reminded of washing our hands for twenty seconds, keeping our hands away from our face, to cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze, and recently to distance six feet from other persons. Large gatherings of people have been cancelled and companies are asking employees to go home or work from home and schools are being closed. People crave being with others and self-isolation can turn into a greater feeling of anxiety, and in some cases, depression. As people isolate more and socialize less, they tend to develop feelings of restlessness and aloneness, as well as sometimes the feeling of being trapped, isolated, and helpless. The best thing to do is to take as good of care as you can of your body, your mind, and your spirit.
 
Therapeutic appointments offered by video or telephone, in lieu of person to person sessions, are good for staying accountable and in control of your mental health, even if they are not your desired type of communicative therapy. These Telehealth appointments can also be most beneficial to those under quarantine. We are offering these therapies and hope you will accept them until we are all able to return to our normal living without the uneasiness and anxiety during this time.
 
Please know we are here for your needs by telephone, text, or email. Appointments can now be insured by technological means, and your insurances and Employee Assistance Programs are supportive and encouraging of their use at this time. We thank you for your support and hope we see you soon face-to-face in the office.
 

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