STAYING ACTIVE IN ISOLATION
Checking in with friends, helping others important to maintaining mental health
Ways to deal with anxiety in a crisis
As ‘social distancing ’ becomes the new norm, people are still finding ways to maintain connections amid COVID-19 measures — a key to taking care of your mental health.
“I’m still doing my volunteer work over the phone, calling other people that are also very lonely,” said Shelley Crowe. “I was supposed to be visiting with a person I connected to through Life After Fifty.”
As COVID-19 measures have halted Crowe’s physical visits to Life After Fifty, where time was spent with friends playing bingo, card games or attending group dinners, she said she continues to keep up with connections over the phone.
“It’s good if you can help somebody else,” she said. “Get your mind off yourself, that’s also very rewarding, I find.”
Human beings are social creatures, and those connections “enable us to survive and thrive,” said Jenny-lee Almeida, a mental health educator with the Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-essex.
Researchers, she said, have discovered that individuals who experience high levels of social isolation are at a higher risk for a variety of physical and mental health conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and anxiety.
“I think it’s the way we’re changing how we’re speaking in regards to social distancing,” she said. “We can still be socially connected yet physically distanced from each other.”
Almeida stressed the importance of maintaining social connections, whether it’s through social media or video call coffee dates with friends.
“Amidst everything that’s going on, we have technology at our finger tips,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine this happening 10 years ago.”
“We get to be a little bit more creative in how we are remaining connected in our community.”
While social media can be a great tool in maintaining connections, Almeida cautioned against getting caught up in the overload of panicky COVID -19 posts that can flood people’s news feeds.
“I found myself in that downward spiral of reposting all the horrific news I was reading because I felt like I needed to let people know how serious this was,” Jasmine Jasey said.
She has struggled with anxiety throughout her life and found COVID-19 to be a trigger of those feelings.
“It’s very concerning, my husband’s a physician at the hospital,” said Jasey.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of fear and anxiety as I’m assuming with everybody in the community right now.”
She said the way she chose to cope with that anxious energy is by redirecting it into a project she could do for the community.
“I accept that I feel this, if you accept that you feel it you’ll do something better,” she said. “I can’t sit there and cry and worry all day. You have to put your focus on other things.”
With personal protective equipment in short supply around the world as countries respond to the COVID -19 pandemic, Jasey began collecting those items from people throughout the area after connecting on Facebook. She said the community has really come through to provide these supplies.
“I needed to get a project going that was safe, that I could do to focus on,” she said. “You’ve got to turn your anxious energy to something that’s useful. I feel, even if I can help protect 10 nurses ... I did something.”
Jasey said she’s fortunate her anxiety is currently under control. She understands what it’s like to “crash” and she encourages people to check on the mental health of their friends.
“Knowing that people care and you’re being checked on is huge. I think that helps,” she said. “If you feel alone and isolated that’s not going to be good, so you need to know you can pick up the phone or people are calling and checking on you.”
Having struggled with mental health concerns in the past, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, Danny Gautama said it’s important to remember that what’s happening is beyond our control.
“All we can do is do our part in our surroundings,” he said. “Just be there for the people who are struggling right now.”
For those who are feeling anxiety or stress, Almeida said such feelings are normal and it’s important to accept them.
“The best thing I think is to validate your feelings,” she said. “This is a time where all of us are experiencing a range of emotions as we’re responding to a very stressful situation.”
Almeida said it can help to be physically active and take a step back when those feelings come up.
“Something as simple as just taking those deep breaths when we are starting to feel that anxiety, worry or stress,” she said. “Just acknowledging it and taking a deep breath in, stretching, meditating, trying to eat healthy.”
Now more than ever, said Almeida, it is important for people to check in with themselves mentally, physically and emotionally given these unprecedented times.
While many employees from organizations such as Family Services and the CMHA are working from home, many of the services they provide are still available by telephone.
CMHA offices are still open, but Almeida encourages anyone who is in need of help to call the crisis line at 519-973-4435 to be connected with mental health services.
It’s good if you can help somebody else. Get your mind off yourself, that’s also very rewarding.