Your Mental Health Still Needs to be Addressed

The pandemic made many more aware of their need for mental health support. Now that the pandemic is lessening, don’t give up those support systems.

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 and 2021 has changed our entire world. Although there have been an unfathomable number of deaths and even more who experienced the disease, thankfully, there is starting to be some positive shift. With the creation and distribution of vaccines, continued heightened cleaning protocols, some who are still masking, and continued social distancing, we are seeing the number of new coronavirus cases go down and communities are slowly opening back up.

Prior to the pandemic, communities were focusing on the impact of mental health issues on our daily lives. Since the pandemic, more than expected saw, first-hand, the impact long unaddressed mental health issues had on society at-large, individuals and families. More individuals and organizations alike began seeking therapy, starting mental health support programs, and assessing the impact of unaddressed mental health issues on the present and the future. People began to address their issues of depression and anxiety, the childhood roots of current problems such as past trauma, and the current changes in their mental health status that were brought on by the changes of the pandemic. If you are in this number of individuals who addressed mental health issues, please keep up this excellent and vital work because mental health is a part of any human being’s overall health and wellbeing.

Now that businesses and other venues are opening back up, the isolation that the COVID environment required is slowly going away. It will be important that we continue to address mental health as a frontline issue. There are some easy ways to do this.

1. Do not turn away from the knowledge gained during this time of change.
   Deal with the situations that glared in your face versus pretending they are not there. We have learned like never before that life happens, and sometimes in a big way. It will be imperative that we shore up the areas where we know there are problems before another life storm comes to the world.

2. Pay attention to your areas of strength.
   There were probably certain areas where your strengths were a great support. Highlight these areas in your mind then use them as a framework to support you in the areas where you are not as strong. For example, a strength may have been the ease with which you were able to stay connected to family during COVID even though physically separated, or your love of books allowed for a healthy escape and easily learned new knowledge. Use these strengths to address the areas where you were hard hit. The framework you used to stay connected to family may provide a springboard of ideas on how to connect with others. The voracious reader may use that as a strength to re-tool career skills to find new employment if their work industry was hit hard by COVID. Use the area in which you are already knowledgeable to help you in other areas.

3. Mental health is a part of health.

Finally, this was mentioned in the beginning of this article, but it is worth mentioning again. Mental health is a part of your overall health and wellbeing. It is difficult to have physical health if your mental health is compromised and vice-versa. They are parts of the same whole, and should be considered as important as your prescriptions, exercise, and nutrition. Continue to address your and your family’s mental health issues by using your job’s resources, community resources. To seek mental health resources (prescription or behavioral), start with your physician’s office.

You also can go to the following links for therapy resources:
www.cliniciansofcolor.org/
target=”_blank”>www.psychologytoday.com

The S.E.L. Group, The Social and Emotional Learning Group, is located at 3300 Battleground Ave. Suite 202, Greensboro. Phone 336-285-7173.
Email: contact@theselgroup.com and visit: www.theselgroup.com.