SURVIVING
UNCERTAINTY
THE PANDEMIC DIDN’T JUST CHANGE HOW WE LIVE: IT CHANGED WHO WE ARE.
BY HARRISON BERRY
increase in her workload and the needs of her clients, Edwards grew frustrated with the medium. The children she worked with had unmet social needs. Their grades and mental health suffered. In the summer of 2020, she started conducting physically distanced sessions in parks. “Just having your face directly on the computer Picking the right face mask, giving gracious space at the screen, for any kid, that’s grocery store, joining a Zoom meeting—these are just a a very direct way to few of the skills that, suddenly in March of 2020, became communicate,” she said. indispensable for life during the pandemic. “To have a teenager with anxiety put their face on Most people learned to keep their distance. the screen and have a very mature conversation That’s what Licensed Professional Clinical was also very limiting.” Counselor Lucy Edwards did, at least at first. “I had to make the call to stop doing telehealth,” she said. “I just made that sacrifice because the need was so great.” Edwards specializes in therapy for children. Her patients aren’t unique for weathering a severe public health crisis, but their problems illuminate the intimate ways COVID-19 has affected America, the State of Idaho and every person in the world. Idaho Gov. Brad Little has touted slashing red tape around telehealth; but facing an
Anxiety heightened in the world, in our homes and in our lockeddown lives.
Stay Home orders continued, playgrounds remained empty and online education kept young people and adults indoors. But the police killing of George Floyd, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and a bitter national election held Americans’ gazes on the streets. Anxiety heightened in the world, in our homes and in our locked-down lives. Even traditional institutions were forced to adapt. For the last 21 years, the Ada Community Library has conducted a “big read” program, Treasure Valley Reads, that turned reading www.idahomemagazine.com
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