BUSINESS
Covid Anxiety
Dealing with
POST-COVID
anxiety
Donna Booth offers some advice for coping with postCOVID anxiety, whether it’s you or your customers who are worried about coming back to the practice room…
A
S I write this, things are opening up and it finally looks as though there might be some light at the end of the COVID tunnel. That said, in many places, infection rates are rising, particularly amongst younger people. As the virus has mutated, so have our attitudes towards it. While it is wonderful to have some hope after such a tough time, some worry and anxiety around opening up again is also natural. You may have had to drastically adapt your business or close it completely in response to the pandemic. These were many months when clients were unable to come for treatments,
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HOLISTIC THERAPIST 2021
classes or retreats and you might have noticed a reluctance in them to return. As you move back to working in person, you might be concerned about the risk of infection. Perhaps the venues you used are no longer available or suitable and you might be unsure of booking sessions with the threat of cancellation hanging over you. There are things that need to be taken into consideration to allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of returning to in-person working, while minimising the associated stress and anxiety. During the enforced isolation of the pandemic, people have been suffering from a lack of human contact and connection. Even though life may have
slowed down for some people, it has been much busier for those on the front line and in essential services. Everyone, regardless of their circumstances, has been existing in a constant state of fight or flight, with even the things we could previously do almost on autopilot taking considerable thought and planning. This has led to exhaustion, confusion and brain fog. Our brains are over-stimulated and under-stimulated at the same time. I doubt there has been a time when our services as holistic therapists have been more needed, but it is important that your offering lowers the stress response in your client (and yourself) rather than adding to the already overwhelming load. If you are anxious, your energy will affect your client’s experience. Self-care is survival and the first step to easing your client’s post-COVID anxiety is to manage your own. It can be tempting, when your income has been affected by months of reduced work, to jump straight into a full
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