Oct 28, 2020 - Brace yourselves. This winter is going to be long and dark. For the average person, the winter blues are a common phenomenon. However, with the second wave of the coronavirus looming over us, the winter blues may develop into more serious mental health conditions - anxiety and depression to name a few.
It has been reported that one in four Canadians say that their current state of mental health is worse than during the initial phases of the COVID-19 outbreak.
We must ask the inevitable question: How do we cope and stay resilient during the next 6 months? This is especially a concern for the vulnerable population who were experiencing negative mental health outcomes even before the coronavirus outbreak.
According to an article published in CBC.ca, psychologists are warning of anxiety turning into depression as COVID-19 cases rise and tightened restrictions are put into place.
As per the article, JianLi Wang, scientist at the Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research concludes, “Feelings of loneliness do not depend on how many people physically surround you. It depends on how you connect with others.”
How do we at SupportiveLiving.ca continue to help our residents to cope?
Amongst a multitude of enhanced measures put into place during initial phases of the pandemic, SL homes have a peer support component to our methodology in housing. In-house resident engagement programs coupled with external support services from agencies enable our residents to maintain a healthy way of connecting with others.
Movie and game nights and socially distanced parties celebrating wellness within SL homes are a few of the benefits that residents enjoy helping them stay well during the lockdown phase of this pandemic.
In addition to physical programs, by utilizing the technology that we have, we are connecting our residents by building a community online - with each other, family, friends, and support workers.
By connecting them with mental health workers, we strive to keep our resident base stable. We help our residents to break out of negative thought processes, maintaining positivity and healthy emotions by means of weekly support meetings in an effort to keep them well.
We launched our Be Well, Stay Well campaign at the beginning of October. The campaign focuses on celebrating our resident’s wellness and encouraging continued supports, recognizes our resident’s resiliency and celebrates their ability to overcome adversity.
Resiliency during the next few months highly depends on the level of connections made and collaboration with other members of the community. Although we are apart, we are together in our efforts to rise above the challenges of the pandemic.
Stay tuned for our next blog where we share details of our campaign launch with staff and residents!
Be Well and Stay Well.
