Despite seeing it coming, first in China and then in pockets of Europe, when coronavirus hit the UK it felt like a sudden jolt. Within weeks, our personal and professional lives were turned upside down as we were forced to deal with the challenges of a scary, highly contagious, invisible disease so close to home.
We felt fear. The uncertainty bred anxiety: we had so many questions pinging through our minds… will we get it? If we do, will we be okay? Will our parents or children get it? What will happen at work? Will I still have a job? How can I look after the kids and work from home? How will I pay the bills if I’m made redundant? How long will I be in isolation?
Everyone is coping. Muddling through the social impact, the affect it’s having on friends and family, the economic disruption and the inevitable financial fallout. It’s no surprise, then, and completely normal, that at times it all just feels a bit too much. It’s totally overwhelming. And we worry. We get lost in worries. We just want it all to stop.
But the virus is in control of when we get back to normal, whatever that new normal looks like. So how do you look after your mental health and wellbeing – and the health of those you care about – amid such chaos and uncertainty?
To try and answer that question – and many others – we invited Clinical Psychologist Dr Hannah Taylor and Coronation Street actress Samia Longchambon to our to join us on Zoom call for a 45-minute webinar to explore ways in which people can reduce stress and anxiety, discuss practical tips designed to help manage mental health and wellbeing, and above all else emphasise the importance of normalising mental health challenges and reducing the stigma associated with talking about the topic.
Dr Hannah is HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist (find her Facebook page here) who focuses her work on helping clients work through challenges they’re facing and build lives which feel satisfying and meaningful. While Samia is a popular public figure who has spoken bravely and candidly about her own challenges in recent years.
Here’s the video of the session and, below, some additional links and resources that Hannah shared with us after the recording.
Links & additional resources:
- Here’s the BBC news story published on 4 May 2020 that we started with. It states that nearly half of people in Britain (49.6%) experienced “high anxiety” in lockdown, and measures of wellbeing are at their lowest level since records began in 2011, according to the Office of National Statistics.
- We also referred to a survey by The Mental Health Foundation and LinkedIn (here), which polled >1000 HR professionals, and found that 86% said working from home was “having a negative impact on their health,” while employees that work from home, on average, did an extra 28 hours per month since lockdown introduced.
- Doing What matters in times of stress is an illustrated guide published by the World Health Organisation
- Face Covid is a is a piece written by the author of The Happiness Trap, Dr Russ Harris, on how to cope, and manage your mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic
- By the same author, Dr Russ Harris, is this guide: How to Develop Self Compassion
