Mental health important during pandemic
Canton RepositoryJun 29, 2020
Or as
Dutton's 10-year-old daughter, Anna, had been home for a couple of weeks after the coronavirus closed schools when Dutton noticed something wasn't right.
Anna didn't want to do her schoolwork and she was uncharacteristically angry.
"We weren't sure why because that wasn't normal for Anna, and she started crying a lot,"
The fourth-grader who liked art and singing, the girl who had gladly shaved off her waist-long curls to raise money for cancer research, was struggling.
Missing the normal school routine was one snowflake. The snowball followed. Dutton's husband lost a quarter of his pay due to pandemic cutbacks at work. The family's only vehicle broke down. They ran out of food and toilet paper.
"Honestly, we all just kind of wanted to crawl into a closet and stay there for a while," Dutton said.
Anna, especially, was having a hard time, so Dutton contacted her daughter's teacher at
The family was able to get financial assistance and food. The guidance counselor also referred Anna to
Anna and Harding have counseling sessions via video every week, and Anna and her mother say they are coping better with the situation.
Tough times
The Duttons aren't the only family to need help. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a daunting mental-health challenge, and children and teens are especially sensitive to the stress of the pandemic, according to the
Social distancing spawned feelings of isolation and loneliness. Furloughs and shutdowns raised questions about paying bills. The disease caused anxiety about personal health, and the health of loved ones. Many people know at least one person who has died.
The
The association's Stress in America survey, conducted in late April and early May, found Americans were more stressed than they had been the year before, with parents especially feeling the pressure of homeschooling and providing food and housing during the pandemic.
A follow-up survey a month later, found that 71 percent of parents worried about how the pandemic would impact their child's social development, and a little more than half reported their child had been acting out more since the pandemic started.
New normal
Harding has been a school-based mental health counselor for 13 years. She came to Jackson Local a couple of years ago from
Before the pandemic, Harding would spend four days at
Harding typically helped students with depression, anxiety about getting good grades or problems with family members and friends.
Then a new coronavirus started infecting and killing people around the world.
"This whole pandemic hit us with two things most people are not prepared for, it doesn't matter how old you are: It was unexpected and it was out of our control," Harding said.
As the pandemic crept toward
Jackson Local stopped in-person classes a week before spring break. At first, the students saw it as an early vacation, Harding said. Only later did they realize that stores, theaters, restaurants, salons -- nearly everything -- were closed for the foreseeable future. There would be no class trips to
"Definitely, in the beginning, they just didn't understand," Harding said. "There was a lot of anger and sadness and grieving the loss of having those fun events that they do at the end of school."
Help available
Changes in eating or sleeping habits, irritability, a loss of energy and disengagement from friends or activities can be signs that a young person is in distress, said
"During this time, it's always important to communicate openly and make sure that, as a parent or a caregiver, you're reassuring them that they're safe and you're getting information from reliable sources," Cool said.
Youth treatment services are available through CommQuest and
For immediate help,
Young people also can use the
No summer break
School is out for the summer, but young people can still get help from CommQuest's school-based counselors. Visits can take place in an office or the client's home, and relaxed state rules have made it easier for counselors to use video conferencing to keep in contact with their clients.
During a video session, Harding said, she and a client talk about the things they can control, letting go of worries and moving forward.
Harding likes to say the pandemic is a storm, but everyone is in his or her own boat. Circumstances differ, and so do clients. Some need to talk once a month, others talk every week.
"Some of them did not adjust well; some of them still struggle," Harding said. "Different families have had different rules when it comes to the pandemic about things they are allowed to do and that they can't do."
As
Feeling better
Anna is growing back her hair -- she raised
She's also been drawing. Accurately rendering eyes is the skill she's trying to perfect at the moment. Art is therapeutic, too, as are her video chats with Harding.
"It's going pretty good," Anna said. "I definitely have improved in many different ways. I feel better from the first time I ever got on the call with her."
Harding said she's proud of Anna's progress during the last couple of months.
"I just think she needed an extra little push," Harding said. "I think it really was adjusting to our new normal and she had a lot of changes happen at the same time."
"Abby has been a complete blessing for our family, not just for Anna, but for myself and my husband as well," Dutton said.
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On Twitter: @shooverREP
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