Pandemic and New Ways of Counseling Therapy

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a surge of stress has taken over how people would be able to cope. Not just clients, the professionals also needed to know. As we all scrambled to stay safe, keep our distance, and manage our hygiene it was becoming distinctly clear we have come to a new age that just may have taken a seat right in our own living space. 

A lot of people were beginning to understand they were no longer understanding the very thoughts plaguing them day by day. It was as if we stepped inside a scientific bubble waiting to burst with all of us inside, trapped, not able to move. We were frozen in time in a pandemic that was gnawing at our very existence as a human being. Were we human still, or becoming something else?

Life as we know it will never be the same. We are no longer living in a world we used to know as safe. People have bought more guns and ammunition to protect themselves as the rage of the coronavirus pandemic continues to change what we thought was normal. Our ways of seeking safety have been disrupted. This fragmented perspective has led to more imbalance, social violence, spiritual unrest, and environmental degradation. 

Moving through the pandemic crisis without solid trajectories and prediction of favorable outcomes, we are sorted into ideological bunkers that track to an increased sense of loneliness. We see more and more people unsettled and uncertain about their future, the less we have control over how things are going, feelings that make us feel threatened.

The coronavirus crisis caused all of us to suffer during this unique moment in history when the entire planet is suffering the same thing at the same time. Our ability to move through this period of globally connected suffering will produce spiritual, mental, and psychological growth. This leads me to feel challenged to move into a new space and rhythm combined with the need to create safety and sanity in this crazy world.

Sure we want life to go back to normal, but our will to endure will produce a new kind of character within all of us. The character will be one we share with all the people around the planet. We can share stories about how we missed our families, friends, how we struggled with isolation, how we worried about our jobs, security, and economies, and ultimately, how we overcame it all.

So many healthcare providers are suffering moral injury from witnessing the volume of suffering caused by the virus. As we struggle like so many others, we must ask ourselves "will I survive this pandemic, will I overcome all the changes I see coming towards me, will the coronavirus take my life like so many others." I spoke to Johnny yesterday, he wasn’t feeling well he had stated. I didn’t think much of it until the next session he didn’t show up. Calling around I learned the coronavirus took his life. How shaken I felt, how uncertain my thoughts became. Yet deep inside I had a new possibility to survive! I want to live I will fight as I’ve never fought before I must survive. I thought of so many needing hope to live and rise above this pandemic as well. 

We each have a responsibility to look at a new meaning in our work as we move into a new space, a new rhythm. I see this sense of perspective as a key to a resilient nature, to look for alternatives to responding in proactive ways in evolving circumstances. 

The coronavirus pandemic is an evolving situation and will continue to change. We have choice points to use the restlessness we sense that comes from distancing, to set our minds toward initiative and optimism. We must act thoughtfully rather than reacting to the wish of the way things were, instead find new ways of caring rather than wishing things go back to normal, that won’t happen and that’s ok too.