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Thinking about going to therapy in 2021? Here's how to get started
2020 was a difficult year for mental health. Feelings of anxiety, sadness and loss were common for many, as lockdown measures were implemented around the country leading to job loss and social isolation, among other concerns. Mental health symptoms, such as depression or increased use of substances to cope, spiked, according to data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Therapy has long been recognized as a highly effective treatment for people experiencing non-emergency mental and behavioral health symptoms, and the pandemic has made it more accessible than ever as nearly all th...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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‘COVID-19 Survival Guide’ from hospital psychologist explains how to navigate the virus from diagnosis to recovery, and answers the question, ‘I’ve survived, but what’s next?’
CHICAGO – While the pandemic was turning the world upside down, front line worker Abigail Hardin was writing a survival guide. A Rush University Medical Group rehabilitation psychologist who counsels patients from intensive care to rehab, Hardin drew on her professional experiences to write “The COVID-19 Survival Guide: How to Prepare for, Manage, and Overcome a Coronavirus Infection.” The book offers readers advice on how to navigate the virus from diagnosis to recovery. “Early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of discussion about survival rates. ... And then, what I was seeing in rehab, pe...
Chicago Tribune
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Balancing Act: Remote learning takes a toll on students’ mental health. But returning to classrooms won’t be easy either
One of the loudest arguments for sending kids back inside their classrooms despite a raging pandemic is the toll that e-learning is taking on their mental health. Remote learning is lonely. It is fraught with technical glitches that leave kids feeling powerless and overwhelmed. It strips the school experience of the spontaneity and laughter and lessons and friendships that spring up in hallways and classrooms and lunchrooms and playgrounds. It removes face-to-face interactions with a whole layer of grown-ups who, if we’re lucky, help our kids feel believed in, invested in, protected, admired, ...
Chicago Tribune
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In a pandemic year, walk and talk therapy is helping people get exercise and receive counseling
CHICAGO – Glenn Sevier believes Lake Michigan can reflect our emotions and seasons through life. For years, the Chicago psychotherapist has been preaching what he calls “Walk-n-Talk Therapy,” the practice of receiving mental health support while walking outdoors with a therapist. In a pandemic year, when people feel stuck inside their homes and many are struggling with isolation and mental health challenges, he said this method has big impact. “People are cramped up and they don’t want to be inside,” said Sevier, the executive director of Advance Potential Psychological Services in Rogers Park...
Chicago Tribune
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Calls keep soaring at crisis hotlines: 'It spiked and hasn't stopped'
PHILADELPHIA – Since 2016, Mark Trainer has worked as a counselor for Crisis Text Line, a national nonprofit organization that provides a free mental health texting service for people in crisis. On any given day, he talks with texters about a "very wide swath of challenges," including struggles with school and relationships with their family or peers. But in March, the tone of those conversations shifted as the pandemic took hold across the country. Trainer, who is based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, found himself talking to people who couldn't see their therapist due to social distancing measur...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Why medical marijuana in Pennsylvania is some of the most costly in the U.S.
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cobb uses medical marijuana to treat PTSD and chronic back pain. “I’m a 50-year-old Black man who’s been a civil rights worker,” said Cobb, now a criminal-justice activist in Philadelphia. “I smoke to have my brain slow down. But to be honest, I also smoke because I enjoy it.” Alleviating his physical and mental pain is difficult when he feels another sting: His doctor-recommended medicine is not covered by insurance. He pays out of pocket — as much as $120 a week. “It’s way too expensive,” Cobb said. “It’s ridiculous.” Other marijuana users in Pennsylvania agree. Surveys s...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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‘Educators hurt when their students are hurting’: College faculty experience rising rates of stress, burnout due to COVID-19
PHILADELPHIA – When Temple University transitioned from in-person classes to virtual in the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Wargo knew immediately that he had to reassess his goals for what he wanted his students to accomplish. As virtual classes continued into the fall, Wargo, an associate professor of economics, tried to capture the atmosphere of an in-person classroom to the best of his ability — using icebreaker questions at the beginning of the semester to engage freshmen and assigning students to Zoom breakout rooms for small discussions. But it has been difficult to recr...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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No one can stop conversion therapy in Florida — for now. How LGBTQ advocates are rethinking their battle strategy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Gay rights and mental health advocates in South Florida are trying to come up with new ways to fight conversion therapy, the practice of mental health counseling aimed at “curing” teenagers with unwanted feelings of homosexuality or questions about their gender identity. Reeling from a recent federal ruling that cleared the way for psychologists in the southeastern U.S. to offer the counseling, opponents are openly questioning whether the legal momentum has shifted so far to the right that court battles are doomed to fail. Critics of conversion therapy and counseling sa...
Sun Sentinel
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Chicago pilot plan for emergency mental health responses does not include police
CHICAGO — City officials said have revised their plans for a new citywide response on emergency mental health calls to include nonpolice responder teams, an idea pushed hard for several months by activists and community leaders.The plan for the so-called mobile crisis teams of clinicians and paramedics — without police — will now be part of a $1.7 million alternate response pilot to launch next year under the newly approved city of Chicago budget, city officials told the Tribune.Activists, however, expressed immediate skepticism about how well thought out the plan is, and how committed officia...
Chicago Tribune
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Mental health issues more likely to affect communities of color during the holidays: 'This is the time where people can bottom out'
CHICAGO — For Listiner Martinez, the holiday season never brought feelings of merriment. Coming from an abusive home, she said, she never really celebrated the holidays. Martinez said she tried to move past that feeling when she had children, but sadness around the holidays still lingers.“I typically look forward to when the holidays are over with,” said the West Ridge mom of three who has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and seasonal affective disorder — a mood disorder that occurs at the same time each year. Diet and exercise are tools Martinez uses in her mental health journey, but s...
Chicago Tribune
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