Rwenshaun Miller, MA, LCMHC, NCC | Finding your way in a new norm (1 CE hour)
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated an immediate and large-scale uptake of mental health attentiveness and demands on therapists. The pandemic has heightened anxiety, depression and racial and political unrest which in turn is compounding clients’ stress. Therapists are struggling trying to strike a balance between meeting the increased demand for services and managing their schedules in a conducive way to sustain their own mental health. Therapists are experiencing busier schedules, clients with increased trauma, their own pandemic-related stressors and compassion fatigue – all leading to burnout.
Getting a grasp on self-care is critical for therapists and clients. It is furthermore important to enhance our knowledge about the many interacting forces, social determinants, that between them shape individual and collective levels of mental health and well-being, and set out actions to promote and protect good mental health. While we find ourselves in a place and time of uncertainty and suffering, we need to work towards transformation versus adaptation.
Learning Objectives:
- Demonstrate at least three effects of social systems on a client’s mental health
- Describe the impacts of self-reflection as a professional in the mental health field impacting on the therapist’s mental health and client outcomes
- Explore three ways that stigma and trauma and affect the mental health perceptions of various communities and their willingness to seek treatment
