Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo relinquished his emergency COVID powers.
Masks are off and graduations and concerts are on.
Even the Sunshine Fair will be back for its August 10-15 run.
So why do so many of us still feel anxious, worried, and stressed?
Because it was never going to be “masks off and COVID is over. That’s not how it works. And people are disappointed.”
That’s how Susan Emerson sums up what 75-plus mental health professionals had to say about how we’re doing and where we go next when the Community Services Board took a look at the COVID fallout.
It took a while for Dr. Emerson, who works at Bassett Healthcare and is also vice president of the Community Services Board, to compile participants’ responses.
Her biggest take-away?
“It has been difficult. We’re right to feel stressed. But people heal. And if you feel like you’re not—yet—there are people to help. It will be OK. We’ll be OK.”
The Community Services Board’s listening session and report grew out of a concern that people were struggling.
But it wasn’t until January, when vaccines started becoming available and there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel that doctors, counselors, school administrators and others dealing with COVID stresses found the time to share their experiences.
What they found is that while kids are mostly OK, there are others battling anxiety and depression.
And so are their parents—who may also be struggling to care for elderly parents with another set of worries.
“If the parents are OK, the kids are mostly OK,” Dr. Emerson said. “Kids are used to rules. But many parents have been stretched so thin they’ve used up their resilience. And anything new they have to deal with, it feels like a crisis.”
COVID’s fallout has also hit those struggling with addiction and already at risk.
They’re isolated and the tools they’re used to relying on—like face-to-face meetings with counselors—haven’t been available, Dr. Emerson said; since January 1, 2021, the Opioid Task Force has recorded 27 suspected drug overdoses.
Even people without those stressors are stressed, Dr. Emerson said: of people not wearing masks, of violence over masks, of getting COVID—and even of admitting that for them, the lockdown or working or learning from home wasn’t really that bad.
It’s not all bad news though; by looking at what worked and what didn’t, Dr. Emerson said the Community Services Board has been able to identify some things that are worth keeping.
“A lot of kids, especially kids that may have been bullied, did really well with remote learning,” Dr. Emerson said, and it’s an option they’d like to see continued in some form.
Another “plus”: people are more comfortable asking for help.
Four local schools—Schoharie, Middleburgh, Jefferson, and Gilboa—have made space available for embedded mental health counselors who can work with everyone in a family.
“They should be in all schools,” Dr. Emerson said. “Kids, schools, parents…everyone likes it.”
The Community Services Board also found getting appointments for help is considerably easier and faster here than in other counties.
On the to-do list, Dr. Emerson said they’d like to find a way to make parents more aware of free, summer kids’ activities.
There’s also a need for online and in-person groups for kids—much like those offered after the Flood—to help kids reconnect.
“We’re looking for champions to move them forward,” Dr. Emerson said.