The violent assaults on our nation’s capitol are horrific. Watching US citizens breach national security, threaten the safety of our leaders, and vandalize our nation’s capitol is terrifying. As mental health professionals, we are often called upon to help people make sense of scary and dangerous situations. This can be incredibly challenging in normal circumstances. It is even harder to do this in this situation because we are also affected by the security breach and trying to process and make sense of our emotions. Many of us have found ourselves asking ourselves how we can possibly help people feel safe and calm when we are terrified as well. When counseling traumatized individuals, we run the risk of experiencing vicarious trauma. In this instance, we are at risk of experiencing our trauma from witnessing the events as well as vicarious trauma from our clients. This complex interaction of multiple types of trauma is incredibly hard to experience and work through. Click on the link below to continue reading this blog and learn some ways of managing our own reactions and supporting our clients as best as we can.
Read moreElection Stress
Election day is one week away and stress levels are going up. You have probably noticed your clients or patients feeling more anxious and stressed about the current political climate. It has been a hard year and the election is contributing to increased stress for many individuals. As mental health professionals, we may be experiencing increased stress as we help people cope with political stress. We may also be carrying our own anxiety, stress, and sadness during this time that they we need to manage. Click on the link below to read more about election stress and ways to help our clients and patients as well as ourselves.
Read moreSuicidality in Mental Health Professionals
It's Suicide Prevention Month. As mental health professionals, we are focused on preventing suicide by spreading awareness, assessing risk, and advocating for policy to support suicide prevention and mental health services. We are dedicated to helping others, but we tend to spend less time focusing on ourselves. The reality is that we are at risk of experiencing suicidal ideation. However, there are not enough resources and research on this topic. Click on the link below to read about our risk for suicidality and what we can do to support ourselves.
Read moreRegister to Vote
It’s National Voter Registration Week. This is a great opportunity for us to practice self-care by taking part in an activity that promotes our sense of purpose and creating meaning in our lives. Register to vote at www.vote.gov
Navigating College in a Pandemic
The summer is coming to an end, and that normally means back to school. As COVID-19 persists, college students are having to navigate choosing between remote classes and being on a campus that is drastically different than what they are used to. As the school year approaches, we can expect to see increased mental health concerns in college students. We need to prepare ourselves for meeting the mental health demands of this population as college counseling centers will likely not have enough resources to meet all the demands. Some issues the college counseling centers are facing include having too few providers to meet with enough students on a regular basis, not having providers licensed in the states students are living in while they take remote classes, and not being able to see students on a weekly or biweekly basis due to overwhelming demand for services. The need for additional community support will be high and we need to prepare ourselves for the issues facing these college communities.
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