Anxiety-Reducing Survival Tips for Mental Health Providers by Shalyn Dussiaume, M.A., RP When it comes to the anxiety generated by COVID-19, clients seek out counselling for guidance and symptom reduction. However, mental health providers are impacted by this pandemic just like everyone else. We too experience fear, anxiety, and worry about our safety and how this pandemic will impact our lives for the foreseeable future. Whether concerned about a decline in financial security or fearing for our own physical health, mental health providers are human too. Physiological changes accompany our anxiety. It is important to practice what we preach for our own health and well-being, along with that of our clients. Here are five simple but effective strategies that I can recommend to mental health providers (as well our clients) to help us navigate COVID-19:
Focus on the silver linings We may suddenly have time freed up to spend with our families, get to work on a project we have been thinking about for the past year but couldn’t follow through on because of obligations, catch up (via Zoom) with old friends, become a better cook, or learn a new language. And perhaps a gift is simply to take time to breathe. Prior to the pandemic we may have found ourselves preoccupied with the chaos of day-to-day life. With busy lives and responsibilities, it gets harder and harder to stop and smell the flowers - literally. Coping mechanisms As with general anxiety, it is important to have a set of tools to use when the anxiety cloud starts to peek its way through the trees. Time and time again we say, exercise is key to mental and physical health. This may seem cliché, but it is the truth. Exercise can release stressrelieving endorphins, as well as dopamine (“happy hormones”) and the sleep hormone serotonin. A walk outside in nature is one of the most calming, free, and easy forms of exercise almost anyone can do. And thanks to COVID, there is more time to dedicate to the things that keep us healthy — another silver lining. Stay Safe
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Take precautions whenever and wherever necessary. As mental health providers we are obligated to do no harm. Therefore, if we have resumed in-person sessions, it is important to adapt our practice accordingly. We can wear masks and gloves, and offer them to our clients, have hand sanitizer readily available, and provide telephone or video options. This is a necessity, not an option, for those who have an identified vulnerability: people with medical conditions including heart disease, hypertension, lung disease, diabetes, or cancer, people with weakened immune systems from either medical condition or treatment such as chemotherapy, as well as older adults.
