Supporting the Emotional Health of the Behavioral Health Workforce During COVID-19
From the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services As a behavioral health provider, you are likely experiencing additional challenges during the COVID-19 infectious disease outbreak. This may include concerns about your own health, your family's health, stigma from within your community, and managing the distress of people you support in your professional life. We acknowledge the risks you take every single day, and we recognize that with the COVID-19 outbreak the world feels upside down. You are shifting your office setting to telepractice, learning new technologies, determining who needs a face to face appointment and how to do that safely, and where to send people who may be in more distress. We recognize that with all the changes comes increased stress. We also recognize the increased risk and burden placed upon you and your family. If you are still needing to see people face to face for support of their behavioral health condition, your duty to serve can put you at increased risk of getting sick and conflicts with your own safety. That is a stress most will never understand. We thank you for showing up day after day, or for shifting to work through technology, while the rest of the community may not understand all the nuances of what you do. We [...]