Hi Friends,
Welcome to the SCTI family! We are so glad that you have come to visit our brand-new website. Since we first started website development, the world has changed dramatically due to the arrival of COVID-19. When we first talked about this updated blog for the website launch, we talked about posting reminders of the new LPCA board rules (on-line training has been approved for the rest of the licensure cycle, even ethics, and we now have relaxed telehealth guidelines!). Instead we decided to speak from the heart.
As mental health professionals, we are experiencing the changes from multiple perspectives- global citizen, front line mental health responder, educator, parent, child, spouse or significant other, patient, and just plain human. Most of us are struggling with how to balance our professional identities, which are rooted in our love and care for others (but also our livelihood!) with being protective and responsible. Because we are good at compartmentalizing our own fears and heartache, the last person on our list to care for is often ourselves.
There a lot of “rules,” many of them contradictory, on how to be and what to do right now. Sometimes it helps to lean on a an intuitive fundamental truth to guide your decision making. The attachment research says that deep social connection is a biological/and evolutionary imperative- crucial to our survival. This is consistent with spiritual perspectives rooted in love for others. In the age of social distancing- the attachment therapist cringes at that term, our fundamental truth is to love, and find deep social connection, anywhere we can get it. We know we have to stay well, as much as possible, in order to do so.
Below are some ways Chinwe and I are doing that.
Practicing love through the art of video sessions- Chinwe is adjusting pretty well with it, and will let you know how it goes!
Honoring nature as a way of enhancing spiritual connection- we’ve enjoyed lots of time sitting outside and taking walks.
Volunteering in safe ways cultivates love for humanity. I was helping out at the local food bank (with precautions)
Eye contact and smiling -nothing beats simple forms of connection.
Watching Netflix with friends virtually-my daughter taught me that one!
E-mail us some of yours. We will find some ways to share them. We are in for the long haul.
Finally, this is from my friends in the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) community:
“Hand to heart-6 feet apart!”
P.S. Check out our virtual web-based trainings coming soon. We have several in development, including Supervision and Ethics.
Warmly,
Mary & Chinwé