Telepsychiatry COVID 19 and Unemployment

Nothing is worse than to lose someone we know or someone we love to Covid 19. The grief, pain and loss of a loved one is pain. It will leave a void in our hearts and lives. Certainly, to see someone pass, to never get the chance to say goodbye. Tragic it is. For those who remain to fight another day, the next tragedy is unemployment because of the economic effects brought about by the seizure, closure and bankruptcy of businesses during this pandemic. This article will provide tips to look after yourself during unemployment and the part telepsychiatry plays in mental health.

Unemployment, as research shows, is associated with increased depression and anxiety. Who wouldn’t be depressed and anxious when the job that sustains and feeds our family, pays the mortgage, pays the bills is gone? Where will the next meal come from? Will our home be foreclosed, soon? How will we pay for the electricity, power and other bills that sustains our daily activities at home? Thoughts and concerns raised in our heads and sometimes, it all becomes too much. Everything becomes overwhelming. So how do we gain back control?

How to cope with the stress of Unemployment?

Unemployment during a pandemic is hard but if we let go of our health and wellbeing, then how can we rise back up? There are some things that we can do to cope with stress, to take positive action, to take back control.

1. Apply for Unemployment Payments

This may reduce some of our financial burdens, ease the financial strain by availing of our government’s assistance.

2. Start Looking for a Job

Though we are entitled to feel vulnerable for some time, helpless and unmotivated, for our loved ones, our family, we must overcome. Sure, we can sit and stare at the wall for some time, but we must pursue it, to move along. Start looking for job opportunities. Go online and start browsing for jobs. Let’s start there.

3. Trim Cost, Determine a Budget

Create a budget per day for food and consumption. Turn off and unplug any unnecessary appliances to bring the power bill down. Ride a bike, if you have one, as opposed to driving your car to save on fuel consumption. Sell your items, clothing, shoes that you no longer need to earn money that you can live by while we seek another employment. Find opportunities to make extra income. Every cent and dollar counts.

4. Schedule and Manage Payments

Call creditors, reach out to credit card companies and any financial institutions that you may have obligations with. Explain your unemployment situation, showing good faith, that though you cannot make the payments at present time, you will when you get another job. It may or may not work, but you will never know unless you reach out and make that call.

5. Search for Help, Reach Out – Telepsychiatry is here to help

Mental stress is maddening. Professional help may cost but there are also helplines that we can reach out to. Government-funded professionals and entities can help us manage our mental health. Covid 19 has opened various opportunities for us to get help. Online Health Support has indeed gained popularity since the onset of the pandemic. Medicare telehealth Australia has actually gained popularity and people are getting help through telehealth psychiatry and telehealth psychology services. More often than not, our GPs would know and can recommend or refer us to telepsychiatry services if we live in an eligible area. So all that is left is for us to ask for that help.

6. Update Your Resume, Enrich Your Education

Certainly, availing of online courses, add on to your skills and enrich your resume, will increase your market value.

Addressing our unemployment status is only half of our duty to tackle our problem, we also need to do a bit of self-love and self-help to enrich our well-being. During our darkest episodes, we must continue to maintain social interaction with friends and family, shutting down is not going to help. Build a structure within your day, create an agenda of things you must do, walk the dog, clean the house, arrange the furniture, anything is good so long as it will occupy our mind and will allow us to create a positive outcome out of our day, regardless of how small it may be.

Self-worth, finding ways to realize the contribution we can make to the world and to everyone around us can be good strategies to create a better “ME.” We must never forget one important thing, and that is, “we can’t control what happens to the world, but we can control how we react to it and what it does to us.”