By Vanessa Cort
“IT’s hard to find someone who has not been affected by this pandemic,” said Clinical Psychotherapist, Shane Tull, as he talked recently about the effect COVID-19 has had on people’s lives
Referring to the many mental health issues which have surfaced since the pandemic began, Tull commented that it has become “a pandemic within a pandemic”.

As a Consultant and Life Coach, who has worked with ministries and private organisations, he has seen an increase in cases of depression, substance abuse and domestic violence.
“Collectively we’re all grieving,” he said, as we discussed the death toll which has rapidly taken away friends and family members on such a scale that it has left us with little time to express our grief on a more personal level.

The clinician observed that while people have different ways of coping with grief the feeling is essentially the same. And this statement certainly made me better understand just how overwhelmed we all feel on a global level and how much we all face the same problems in our day-to-day lives.

Indeed, how to handle the loss of a job and still provide for ourselves and our families is perhaps one of the most fundamental problems facing people the world over.
However, on the ‘flip side’, this pandemic has allowed us all to take “a collective sigh”, the consultant remarked. For with more time at home families are re-connecting and coming up with creative ways to occupy themselves.

Reports indicate that more people are working at home and enjoying it to the extent that some have made the decision not to return to a workplace environment.
Employers, too, have been forced to accommodate their staff with greater flexibility in working hours and in some instances agreeing to online work.

And the planet as a whole has benefitted from the decrease in carbon monoxide emissions as people have parked their cars and stayed home and the pace of industry has slowed.
However, there is no precise answer to how we cope with the devastating effects of this pandemic.

“Feelings buried alive never die.” The therapist tells his patients, declaring that the way forward lies in talking to the people in our lives about our feelings and, where possible, lending a helping hand to someone in need.

“When we talk about this to other people, we realise we are not alone…and that gives us hope,” he said, adding: “The only way we get through this is by supporting each other.”

He also unequivocally recommended vaccination, pointing out that clinical trials have been taking place for years now, and, in the case of COVID-19, have involved unprecedented numbers of people of colour.

“This is the only thing we have to protect us,” the consultant declared, while acknowledging that this is yet another area of stress as many remain undecided about whether or not to take the vaccine, while some reject it outright.

However, he stands firm in his opinion that the way forward is for us to come together, saying, “Collectively we can do things’. And I put it this way…”So whatever you’re feeling, breathe, Breathe and don’t seethe, Talk to someone and tell them how you feel, because this really is a ‘big deal’. Help a neighbour along the way, Find out how they spent their day; this is a storm we can weather, If we only pull together.”