What is the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health community?

There are a number of trends I am seeing at the moment in the psychology and broader mental health community.

• Therapists are working from home and deciding that they like being at home and don’t really want to do counselling any more.
• A significant loss of clients and income in some private clinics (particularly paediatric clinics). Therefore increased financial stress and concern for what the future in private mental health will look at.
• An increase in government funding for community (non-cost) mental health programs, whilst making it more complicated and harder to access rebates for clinicians using telehealth, contributes both to financial stress and a sense of isolation – as the service private mental health practitioners make to the community is undervalued.
• Expectations and demands from clients and referrers that clients be bulkbilled – contributing to stress and detracting from the therapeutic relationship.
• A decrease in referrals, partly due to less people attending doctors clinics for non Covid-19 concerns.
• Fatigue at adjusting to telehealth, due to the challenge of learning new policies, procedures and modification to therapeutic tools AND/OR the practical fatigue by the differing physical, physiological and cognitive demands of telehealth therapy.
• Some clinics have seen an increase in client demand, when they were already struggling to meet demands.
• A lack of checking in by friends as they are assuming because you work in mental health you are OK.
• Overwhelm as many clients are bringing to therapy their concerns about Covid-19, a stress that therapists are also experiencing.
• A loss of self-care options that used to be relied upon to release and reduce stress.

You may be experiencing some or many of the above, or different stressors.

You may be attending supervision, or have a great employer.

Even so, you may be finding there is a gap in just being able to focus on you and your self-care needs.

Self-care is essential to looking after your mental and physical health, and is not a luxury, but a necessity. Now more than ever.

Psychologists are notoriously poor at engaging in self-care. You KNOW what to, but that is different from doing it!

Some of the barriers to psychologists engaging in self-care are:

• Burnout
• Professional Isolation
• Negative stigma about seeking help
• Perceived lack of time
• Lack of prioritising self-care
• Limited Insight (we are each on our own mountains)
• Lacking education and prevention strategies – not directly taught
• Keeping distress secretive, because we fear looking incompetent
• Utilising reactive instead of preventative strategies
• An unsupportive and avoidant culture

So if you're a psychologist - what CAN you do?

1. First check how close you might be to burnout here
2. In the Victorian Psychologists' Networking Group Nonie Carr and I are hosting a self-care check in every Thursday afternoon at 5.30pm. This is via a zoom link available to members and streamed live into the group.
3. If you want to update your self-care knowledge and create a plan that works for you, you can complete the Essential Self-Care of Mental Health Professionals course.

And if you're not sure what to do or where to go for help, reach out by email to [email protected].

About the Author. Kim is a private psychologist who loves working collaboratively both online and in real life with other professionals and is passionate about increasing connection in individuals, the community and the natural world. She is also the founder of the Victorian Psychologists' Networking Group

ps. If you are a psychologist and aren't already a member of the Victorian Psychologists' Networking Group I invite you to join. If you are a new or solo psychologist I invite you to explore the Peer Mentoring for Psychologists Group.

E:[email protected].