Across all of our sites, Cater Care is contributing to better mental health for our clients.
Whether you’re a student at one of our education sites, a resident at a retirement or aged care facility, or you’re working at the mines, there may be times you feel isolated or alone. Studies also suggest as Coronavirus restrictions ease, people coming out of isolation may experience ongoing mental health challenges. It’s just as important to care for our mental health as well as our physical wellbeing during these trying times.
It can be easy to underestimate the impacts isolation and quarantine can have on a person’s temperament. In a 2019 study, The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence the authors reported, “negative psychological effects including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. Stressors included longer quarantine duration, infection fears, frustration, boredom, inadequate supplies, inadequate information, financial loss, and stigma.”
The report also recommended people be quarantined for no longer than required, keep communication about protocols and the anticipated duration of quarantine clear, and ensure people have access to the essential supplies they need. People caring for those coming out of isolation can also provide education around ways in which people can help themselves during this time too. Here are our tips for maintaining good mental health after COVID-19.
If you’ve never video called anyone before, now is the time to learn how to do it! You’ll surprise yourself at just how quickly you’ll get the hang of how to use the technology. Whether you’re a novice or an old hand at facetime, you’ll benefit greatly from the social interaction it provides. Seeing the person or people you’re socialising with really does make a big difference to how fulfilled you feel by the interaction. We’ve seen a great result in our retirement and aged care sites where videoconferencing has been made available to help residents connect with friends, family and community. So if you’re on a remote site, boarding school or aged care facility, you don’t have to feel disconnected from those you love.
You may feel lacking in motivation and energy after coming out of isolation. For some ideas, check out our article Staying Motivated During a Pandemic. Do your best to get up around the same time you usually would, keep your physical hygiene up, exercise, eat healthily and get enough sleep. Too much disruption to your usual healthy routines can leave you feeling depressed or lethargic. So, keep up all those healthy routines! Naturally everyone at Cater Care sites has daily access to healthy meals and predictable mealtimes which helps our customers keep a good daily routine.
There has been a lot of distressing news in the media of late. It’s good to remember it’s these people’s jobs to hype things up. There will be a lot of news about things out of your control. If you’re finding the news cycle is bringing you down, don’t tune into current affairs shows as frequently, or stop engaging with them at all. Focus on the good things in life and the things you can control. Take a deep breath and try to let go of worrying about things you can’t change. Spend time listing the things for which you are grateful – list them out loud, in your head, or write them down. Gratitude is a great antidote to fear and anxiety.
Isolation gave us plenty of quality time to really get our teeth into hobbies and it’s a great idea to keep these up after life starts to go back to normal. If you don’t have one, now is an ideal chance to learn something new and expand your horizons. Ever wanted to learn crochet, another language, how to cook or woodwork? You can also try your hand at one of our tasty recipes. YouTube is a great place to find how-to videos on every topic. You can learn a new hobby just by following step by step. Or why not join an online group relating to your hobby? There you can socialise with likeminded people and share your experience of your favourite things.
We all know by now the mental health benefits associated with daily exercise. It doesn’t have to be strenuous. All of those lovely endorphins you get from exercise help alleviate feelings of sadness and can give you a sense of euphoria. If you’re stuck in a post-COVID rut and you don’t want to exercise in public, try dancing on the spot to your favourite song or Google exercises you can do in your lounge room. You’ll find plenty of free videos you can just follow along.
Show kindness and compassion to yourself and others. Given the state of the news right now a lot of people are feeling fearful of the future. Some people have lost loved ones to Coronavirus; some lost employment. Everyone you see around you is going through this in their own way. Try not to let your own fears cause you to lash out at other people. If others are terse around you, show them some extra love and kindness, they are clearly feeling stress and anxiety. Being generous has been shown to improve your own wellbeing as well as that of other people, so give it a try!
The more we practice compassion and kindness, the easier it will be for everyone in society to recover from the stresses of quarantine.
