24
people
LITTLE CHILD BLUE
E n s u r i n g C h i l d r e n’s We l l b e i n g During Covid-19
Words Dwain Hebda images Jade Graves Photography and courtesy Kenneth Roy
As a mental health professional, Rebecca Whitson of The
loneliness and isolation and an increase in relational issues,”
Whitson Group in Fort Smith has grown accustomed to seeing
she says. “For some kids, the safety net of going to school
teens and young adults stuck in dark places. Specializing in
was taken away from them in March of last year. For many
serving individuals fourteen and up, her clientele includes
teenagers, as it should be developmentally, the biggest part
kids for whom high school, college or just daily life is a
of their life is social. That’s exactly what we would expect
constant or near-constant struggle with anxiety, depression,
and hope for them and so much of that was taken away.”
and the loneliness of mental illness. A pause. But for all she’s seen, the covid-19 pandemic threw something new into the mix. Never before have conditions been so
“I think we will be seeing the effects of [covid-19] on mental
dramatically compounded, never before has she had to find
health for years,” she says.
ways to convey empathy and caring exclusively through a video monitor. And never before has she been as concerned
In so many ways, it’s hard to fully comprehend what the
over what happens next.
past year has thrown at us. No one could have imagined the masks, the social distancing, the people dying alone in
“What I’m seeing is almost across the board, an increase in
hospitals because their families were barred from visiting
anxiety, an increase in depressive symptoms, an increase in
them. No one had heard of contact tracing, Zoom or drive-
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
