experts urge people to take care of mental health

as saskatchewan heads into its second full winter impacted by the covid-19 pandemic while battling its worst wave yet, mental health professionals are urging people to take time to care for themselves.at regina’s mobile crisis services, the number of calls coming in have been on the rise in the past few months. last year from june through september, the organization received around 8,000 calls. in that same time frame this year, it received approximately 12,000 calls.while mobile crisis works to address a wide range of issues people may be experiencing — including domestic violence, homelessness and child welfare — calls from people struggling with mental health have been the most common recently, said acting executive director jan thorson.“certainly people are feeling a sense of unease and sense of insecurity about the future. a lot of people have expressed to our staff that they kind of feel in a place where they can’t make plans. they don’t know what’s going to happen and so they’re just sort of feeling like they’re treading water,” she said.she often saw this type of attitude in people who had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety pre-pandemic, but now the feeling is widespread among callers because of the pandemic’s far-reaching impacts.at the canadian mental health association’s saskatchewan branch, rebecca rackow has been surprised to see the organization’s calls drop significantly through the fall.rackow, who is the director of advocacy, research and public policy development for the cmha saskatchewan branch, said there are two explanations for this: either people are navigating the fourth wave better than earlier waves or the pandemic is wearing people out and they’re now less likely to seek help for ongoing mental health challenges.“i think people are kind of minimizing that a little bit because of other struggles,” rackow said. “you know, ‘i feel this way, but it doesn’t really matter.’ it does matter.”keeping mentally healthy has been a challenge for many since the start of the pandemic, and university of regina psychology professor gordon asmundson said recent surveys show one in five canadians are experiencing moderate to severe stress and anxiety because of covid-19. he expects the percentage is even higher in saskatchewan, where the fourth wave has hit hardest.from people who are extremely nervous about the pandemic to people who are completely disregarding it, asmundson said everyone is feeling stressed, just in different ways.“it’s stress across the board,” he said. “prolonged stress leads to exhaustion and it leads to challenges in our ability to cope.”

all three experts offered advice on how people can help themselves get through the upcoming months as the temperatures drop and snow flies.rackow encouraged people to continually monitor how they are feeling and to seek help if they realize they are struggling.asmundson recommended taking time to disengage from external pressures by unplugging from social media and the news for a time, exercising, talking with loved ones or pursuing a hobby.“sometimes we forget to take time to enjoy life,” he said. “sometimes we forget that we can disengage and what we think has to be done right now can often be done later, and we can actually take some time and take care of ourselves.”taking care of yourself in basic ways like getting enough sleep, eating regularly and exercising all make a huge difference for mental health, said thorson. she also encouraged people to try something creative with their hands like an art project or even cleaning out a closet.but when the simple tricks aren’t working, all three said that’s the time to reach out to others for help.“for a lot of people, some days they just feel overwhelmed. that’s a good time to call us, because we can walk you through that, help you normalize that and get you back on track,” thorson said.lgiesbrecht@postmedia.comthe news seems to be flying at us faster all the time. from covid-19 updates to politics and crime and everything in between, it can be hard to keep up. with that in mind, the regina leader-post has created an afternoon headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox to help make sure you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. click here to subscribe.