A counselling psychologist has raised alarm as more people say they are lonely, anxious, depressed and hopeless while trying to cope with a new reality brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And most of the people experiencing these challenges are not coming forward for help, Sherryl Griffith, Addictions Counsellor and Coordinator of Services at the Centre for Counselling Addiction Support Alternatives (CASA), has told Barbados TODAY.
She also noted a number of younger people are now showing signs of anxiety and depression, in addition to her concerns over behavioural issues and a “flare-up” of disrespect among family members as some large families now have to be around each other all day and share more.
Griffith said: “These are things that were done years ago when you have large families and persons had to share what they have. But in today’s society, you have five children in a house and each of them has an apple. So how do you make do now that you cannot have those five apples because there is not the financial assistance to do those things? How do we make the small space work for us?”
“A simple thing as online learning, that is new for students, new for teachers and new for parents. That is even new for the community on a whole. So it is a matter of learning how to do this thing.
“So there is going to be frustration because mom don’t have the money to buy the food for the child, it is frustration because the child don’t have the wherewithal to be in contact with her friends and children are accustomed to playing and talking with one another at school. So they are now being denied simply socialization skills and that is where you get the fallout.”
Only a few of the individuals suffering from mental challenges and family issues would call and seek help, but on many other occasions, a close friend or relative would call out of concern, she said.
“You will get one or two that will call, but you get a good friend or relative who will call because they believe these persons need help. So they will call, but getting the persons to come is a another thing,” she said.
Griffith explained that it was through the number of phone calls now that they are able to get an idea of the increase in the number of people who might need professional help dealing with the challenges.
She said: “People are anxious about how they are going to get a job. Then there is depression – how am I going to take care of myself and how am I going to take care of my family and how am I going to pay my bills. There is hopelessness. People are asking themselves ‘where am I going to turn, the people who used to assist me cannot assist me now and they cannot sometimes even assist themselves.”
She said the issue of loneliness was among those living alone who now were unable to getting out of the house and going to work, go out with friends or attend various physical meetings like they would prior to the pandemic.
Griffith said the issue was made worse for some because they either did not have the necessary device to still have online interactions, they did not have an internet connection, or they simply did not know how to use the technology.
“So the anxiety, the depression, the hopelessness, and the loneliness, those are things that are really coming through,” she said.
She further indicated that whenever the country would go into lockdown mode a lot of individuals would try to deal with the issues on their own, try to hide it, or turn to alcohol consumption.
She warned that there was a possibility that some of the flare-ups within families and mental issues could lead to more “vicious attacks”, fighting and break-ups within families.
Griffith said some of the most common reasons individuals were not coming forward for help was because of fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus, they did not believe anything was “wrong” with them or they believed they could handle matters on their own.
She said there was also concern among single parents about not having someone reliable to leave their children with.
Should an individual need help, once they or a relative call CASA they are able to get an appointment to do an assessment. Once the individual visits the office they are assessed and based on the outcome they are then assigned to a counsellor for treatment, monitoring and review. The association also allows for family support.
If the individual needs further assistance they are then referred to the relevant agency.
Griffith told Barbados TODAY she was concern that the children and teenagers were also having difficulty not being able to play like they used to or attend the various clubs to take part in their contact sporting events.
She pointed out that as a result of the development, CASA would be launching a 24-hour mental health crisis hotline programme by the end of this month to allow individuals to have access to a counsellor when they wanted.
She said: “You will be able to call us during the day time, but two of our counsellors, both trained in psychiatric work, will be answering the phone at night.
“We know that help is really needed at night, and we can talk with them and if we feel we need to refer them we can do that.” (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)
