Counselors busy during pandemic, challenges remain
The devastating physical impacts associated with COVID-19 are familiar to everyone who has lived through the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
The disease has claimed roughly 600,000 lives in the U.S. alone and has had long-term health impacts on thousands more who survived.
But physical impacts aren't the only imprint that COVID-19 has left behind. The impacts to mental health have been wide-ranging, touching people of all ages and in all social strata.
This is particularly true of those coping with mental illness, said Bette Peoples, executive director of the Grapevine Center, an independent nonprofit organization based in Butler County.
“When working with people suffering from grief, loss and trauma, one thing you want them to do is build a community,” she said. “And COVID made that impossible.”
Jim Smith, director of programs for the Center for Community Resources, said for many, the various issues that surfaced during the pandemic — financial concerns, food, clothing and shelter concerns — “certainly got amped up for a lot of people.
“Lost jobs, people behind on rent: you can imagine the kind of impact those stressors would have if someone had underlying mental health issues such as anxiety, depression or mood instability,” Smith said. “All of those would be additional factors that would contribute to someone feeling really hopeless.”
Switch to Zoom
Adding to the problem was the fact that those feeling in need of assistance had to rely on something other than face-to-face interaction for the most part, since many mental health providers had to switch to Zoom or phone sessions. For some, that worked well and in fact some providers say that one of the side benefits — if you could call it that — of COVID-19 was the emergence of telehealth as an effective strategy.
A portion of this story is shared with you as a digital media exclusive. To read the full story and support our local, independent newsroom, please subscribe online.
