Summary
Highlights
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Clint Thurgood, Intermountain's Director of Behavioral Health Crisis Services, defines resilience not as returning to how things were, but as the ability to adapt and change to new situations, using the analogy of trees growing at an angle in strong winds.
Humans thrive on routines and expectations. Stressful events like COVID-19 redefine our 'normal' daily. Resilience is crucial for adapting to ongoing changes, as demonstrated by the shifts after 9/11 and the current pandemic. We must ask ourselves daily: What is normal now? How do we define our new normal?
Coping is an active effort to manage stressful situations or emotional responses. It's not about waiting for problems to disappear, but actively changing and taking accountability. This perspective helps in understanding grief, especially during the pandemic, where many are experiencing different levels of loss.
The pandemic is a breeding ground for anxiety and depression. Society has a responsibility to check in on one another, especially those who struggle to cope. Support is available through emotional support lines, access centers, and emergency departments. Many services have adapted to virtual connections, ensuring care remains accessible.
Intermountain provides resources like an emotional health hotline (833-442-2211, 10 AM-10 PM daily) where caregivers can help schedule video visits with therapists. Access centers, located at LDS Hospital, Dixie Regional Medical Center, and McKay Dee Hospital, offer urgent care for mental health crises, with licensed therapists, nurses, and psychiatrists available on-site.
It's important to stay connected with loved ones, reprioritize, and view challenges as opportunities for growth. Defining change as good or bad is up to the individual. The core of mental health lies in a feeling of purpose and connection with oneself, others, and the environment. Additional resources, including blogs on physical, mental, and emotional health, are available online.
Children, who also rely on structured schedules, are significantly impacted. Parents should maintain routines and foster connection. While situations like altered graduations are different, they are not necessarily bad; the definition of good or bad is internal. It's important to provide nurturing voices and maintain important connections.