Lucid Planet Radio with Dr. Kelly: Coping with the "New Normal": Staying Mentally Healthy during Social Isolation with Julia King

Today’s show is all about checking in with everyone and making sure we are taking good care of our mental and physical health during the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine. What is happening right now in the world is something so unprecedented and unfathomable that it’s leaving many of us in shock, not to mention the stress and worry over our finances, our health, and our loved ones…  I’ve been quarantined for over 3 weeks now and while Tiger King memes and eating Nutella with a spoon have definitely been helping get me through this, it's not enough. There is a lot of fear and uncertainty in the world, and social isolation isdefinitely starting to take a toll on many of us, myself included.  (Does anyone else just miss getting a HuG??!) We don’t know how long this is going to last- Just remember, there is NO roadmap for dealing with this and you are doing your best and that is enough.

As a mental health professional we know that isolation is silent killer- it can lead to depression, and other negative health outcomes. During this time, we all have to be vigilant about taking care of ourselves and working with feelings of depression and anxiety, as well learning to manage our time in a way that it can still give us some semblance of reality. Julia King joins me from the UK today to talk about how to cope with our 'new normal.' Julia is a registered nurse and she has an extensive background in nursing, counselling and psychotherapy. Her specialist subjects are relationships, mental health issues and eating disorders. Julia was a school counsellor for five years, helping 11 to 18-year-old girls, many of which had problems related to their parent’s relationship issues. Julia is skilled in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

In this talk, we address:

• How diifferent personaliity types deal with social isolation
• Relatioinal Communication Strategies
• We are all greiving- How to cope with the phases of it (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance)
• Coping with the loss of a loved one during this time
• Virtual communication as a substitute for physical contact
• Our sexualitiies becomming increasingly "Digisexual"
• What to do if you are feeling anxious/ depressed, and what not to do
• Time management, "chunking" time, routines and creating safe spaces
• Taking the best care of our children while we are home schooling them
• Gratitude and Positive Affirmations
• Giving back and taking care of othes (plant, animal and human)

We are all in this together! Juliia will be offering 30- minute counseliing sessioins to anyone who tuned into this talk, you can reach her here: https://julesandjacqui.com/

Sending everyone love and virtual hugs!