COVID & Getting Support With Online Counselling
COVID
Dealing with COVID & Getting Support With Online Counselling when you need it is incredibly important. 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone! We have all had different experiences of COVID and have all found different ways of dealing with it and getting the support we need. For some COVID has meant; loss of a job, a relationship under strain, having to juggle work with children at home, the triggering of anxiety and stress as we struggle with the unknown. COVID and its restrictions may have meant the loss of a loved one, or not being able to present when someone died or not being able to be there for family and friends as you would want.
These traumatic events will inevitably have an impact on you either individually or as a couple. Responding to COVID and getting the right Support is really important whether it is informal support or professional Counselling Support Online.
Informal Support
Having informal and formal support can be very important to helping us get through these difficult times. Informal support might include:
- talking with a friend
- chatting on an online help forum
- going for a walk
- baking
- creating or engaging in a hobby
- listening to music
- watching a good film
- taking a nap
- meditating
- reading a book or magazine
- exercise
To find out what kind of informal support you could access stop for a few moments and think about the things that you enjoy or have enjoyed in your life, what worked for you in the past could work again now. Also, think back to the last time you dealt with something difficult, what did you do to help you deal with it? When I was dealing with a difficult time in my life I read a great deal. It was an escape for a little while that I enjoyed and helped me to manage how I felt.
Once you know what informal support might help you it is important to intentionally make time to do that activity. Make it a priority and schedule it into your day or week. Give yourself a couple of weeks to see how engaging in this informal support impacts on your wellbeing. If it works great! Play with it and see if there is something else you want to add in to your routine. If it doesn’t work for you, no big deal, try something else or play with a few things to see what feels right.
Online Resources
I have listed below some online and telephone resources that may be useful to you some are general and some offer COVID Specific Support:
- No Panic (Panic Attacks, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder and Tranquilliser Withdrawal) – 0844 967 4848 Youth Helpline 01753 840393
- Samaritans – 08457 90 90 90 / 0121 6666644
- PAPYRUS (Suicide Prevention – Under 35s) – 0800 068 41 41
- Silver Line – (Help Line for people over 55years old) – 08004 70 80 90
Get.gg
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – includes self-help CBT course, free downloadable information leaflets and handouts and free CBT tools.
Living Life to the Full
A free online life skills course using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for use by health care practitioners and members of the public. The modules cover a range of topics including anxiety management and healthy living.
http://www.llttf.com https://moodgym.com.au/
Smiling Mind App
Mindfulness App – Free
https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
Formal Support – Counselling
Sometimes informal support isn’t enough and you might need to call on more professional help. In this situation you may want to talk to a counsellor or psychotherapist about how you are feeling. A counsellor or psychotherapist can work with you to explore what is happening and how you are feeling and what options you might have to move forward.
At the moment, a lot of counsellors and psychotherapists are working online or on the telephone, this means that you can access a therapist who lives anywhere in the country, UK wide. Professional, formal support can give you an opportunity to talk to someone who is separate from your situation, the counsellor won’t tell you what to do but will help you to process your feelings and to make your own decisions about what you want to do.
If you feel that you would like some more formal support dealing with COVID and would like support with Online Counselling, please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss it further. You can also find out more about me and therapy by taking a look at my FAQs and About Me page. I work with a wide range of issues and can offer both short and long term therapy with both couples and individuals. I am currently offering remote support on the telephone or Online Counselling via ZOOM. Please call me on 07843 813 537 or fill in the form on the Contact Page, if I don’t answer I am probably in a session, please leave me a message and I will call you back as soon as I can. I look forward to hearing from you.
