Signature Events
Anxiety and COVID-19: An Imperfect Storm
Presented by Sheppard Pratt
On August 6, Sheppard Pratt experts, Jon Hershfield MFT and Dr. Andrea Gottlieb, discussed the “what” and “why” of the anxiety you might be experiencing and the best means of coping amidst so much uncertainty. NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore volunteer, Sarena Love, also joined the conversation to share her lived experiences battling the dueling pandemics of COVID-19 and anxiety. To learn more, please view the following video.
If you or a loved one are struggling with the best parental practices during a pandemic, please see the following resources:
Virtual Crisis Walk-In Clinic: Available for urgent online psychiatric triage, Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturday 1-4 p.m.
Crisis Walk-In Clinic: Available for urgent in-person psychiatric triage, Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturday 1-4 p.m.
Care Finder: Use Sheppard Pratt’s Care Finder to find the program that meets your needs. Search for a word, use the filters, look alphabetically, or search by zip code.
COVID-19 Mental Health Resources: Discover blog posts with mental health tips, DIY activities to do with your kids, open mental health services, and more.
Anxiety Coping Tools:
Sarena Love’s Coping Tools:
Call It by Its Name: Give the illness a name. Yes, a human name. That way you have someone else to blame when your mental illness rears its ugly head.
Five for Five: Keep a list by your bed full of useful information for mini crisis. I call mine the five for five. I have five names of people I can call to tell me things will be okay and they love me. Five activities that I can do immediately that calm me or make me happy. Five foods that trigger happy memories or provide dopamine to my brain. Five affirmations that I say aloud. And five grounding techniques.
Support Basket: I keep a basket full of things by my bed for very low-functioning days. Days where the most you can do is go to the bathroom and get back in bed. In my basket I keep a granola bar, a bottle of water, a post it note reminding myself to play my happy Playlist on YouTube, and some pictures of my favorite people.
