Mental health promoted amid pandemic

CALEXICO – A series of weekly videotaped announcements that Calexico officials have used to update the public about COVID-19-related issues have included tips to promote mental health.

At the request of Mayor Bill Hodge, a county Behavioral Health Services representative has been advising the public about how best to deal with increased stress and anxiety during the pandemic.

“It is a real concern among some people,” Hodge said.

The videotaped updates are available for viewing on the city’s and the Fire Department’s Facebook pages and are released on Fridays on a weekly basis.

Along with Hodge’s regular videotaped appearances, viewers have encountered Dalia Pesqueira, an ICBHS program supervisor and licensed clinician who is stationed at the agency’s offices here.

Pesqueira has used her past videotaped appearances to offer suggestions on how to commemorate Mother’s Day while following social distancing guidelines.

She will be partnering with the Camarena Memorial Library on Friday to host a virtual presentation aimed at teens who may be suffering from increased anxiety during the pandemic.

The intent of her presentations have been to normalize the feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety and stress that individuals may be increasingly feeling as a result of the pandemic, and offer suggestions on how people can deal with those emotions in a healthy manner.

“All of this is to prevent the symptoms and impairment in our life so it doesn’t become a mental illness,” Pesqueira said.

One suggestion she has offered viewers to help reduce anxiety and recharge one’s emotional well-being is to practice mindfulness, which involves training the mind to enjoy the present moment.

“Mindfulness is geared toward being able to enjoy what you’re experiencing at the time,” Pesqueira said.

Tips to practice mindfulness are relatively easy to follow for both adults and youth alike, she said. Such practices can include focusing one’s senses on the tasks at hand, such as purposefully tasting and smelling one’s food while they eat.

Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been an apparent local increase in requests for mental health presentations, Pesqueira said.

Though the pandemic has forced such presentations onto a virtual platform, Pesqueira said opportunities still arise for interaction between clinicians and the public.

Teenagers interested in participating in Friday’s virtual presentation can visit the Camarena Memorial Library’s Facebook page at 10:30 a.m.