Host intro: The experiences and challenges of psychotherapists working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic has brought extremely rapid change, going from meetings in person to meetings taking place by phone or video which may make it harder to connect than in a face-to-face meeting. Working remotely with clients has exposed psychotherapists to a range of new and testing circumstances with reduced interpersonal cues. Here is Yuleisy Fernandez with the story.
AMBI1: Birds outside the window sound
AMBI2: Birds outside the window and rain sound
TRACK: Due to the social distancing I am conducting an interview over the phone with Jessica Lorraine. Jessica is a Psychotherapist at the Center Western Queens. As a person who practices psychotherapy Jessica explains what social distancing means to her on a societal level.
ACT: We are social creatures by nature and we need social connections with other people. There seems to be some confusion between social distance and social isolation, where individuals felt that social distance meant “ I need to be locked up in my apartment or my house”. Considering in New York City many people live in small spaces. They felt that they had to be locked up and stayed away from people. And that was not necessarily the case. Now that we have more knowledge we understand that it meant which is to maintain a distance from other individuals.
TRACK: Jessica is worried that quarantine could have serious long term effects on people. It’s not hard to imagine the way the virus has impacted all as a whole.
ACT: From a psychological perspective it has been proven that long term effect of quarantine right who have very negative effects on individuals; Creating symptoms of anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, feelings of frustration, boredom and so is really important as mental health technicians to really assess every individuals.
TRACK: In this tangle of stress Jessica has managed to adapt to work from home and how her patients feel since many of the meetings are taking place by phone or video, which may make it harder to connect than in a face-to-face meeting.
ACT: I like to tell my clients that this is a new experience for everyone! It was a very unique time because for the first time my clients and I are going through the same exact things. So in tele mental health, insurance company actually waived a lot of rules they had before to approve it due to the pandemic. For example we are able to have video calls through WhatsApp.
TRACK: Now that New York has entered stage four of re-opening, Jessica will be returning to work physically, but not all of her clients will be assess in person.
ACT: I will be returning to work on Tuesday. Ahm, some of my clients have expressed interest in returning saying “that I really prefer in person”. And what’s really important is to have a conversation and a dialogue with them on how they feel and if they feel comfortable. Some of them didn’t feel comfortable, the ones that don’t feel comfortable will continue to receive tele mental health services.
TRACK: With a lot more remote therapy on Zoom and other kinds of applications. Looking to the future and beyond the pandemic, there is a sense that the practice of psychotherapy has been profoundly and lastingly changed. For Baruch College, this is Yuleisy Fernandez in Brooklyn, New York.
https://soundcloud.com/yuleisy-fernandez-286950692/wednesday-02-28-pm-3-wav