{"id":26198,"date":"2020-03-19T19:27:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26198"},"modified":"2020-03-26T19:57:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T23:57:23","slug":"fear-can-be-contagious-but-programs-step-up-to-combat-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/fear-can-be-contagious-but-programs-step-up-to-combat-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear can be contagious, but programs step up to combat anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In challenging times, it is normal for people to feel\nanxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a natural response, according to the Canadian\nMental Health Association of York Region and South Simcoe, but there are ways\nto manage and cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the message from CMHA York\u2019s Rebecca Shields as\nthe organization looks for ways to continue to serve in need and at-risk people\nin our community as social distancing becomes the new normal for the next few\nweeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we need is to manage that anxiety and not let it\novertake us,\u201d says Ms. Shields. \u201cWhen you\u2019re just feeling anxious, we often\ntell people to stop and breathe \u2013 not through your lungs, but put your hands on\nyour belly and breathe through your belly with some deep breaths, hold it for\nthree seconds and then release it. Try to calm yourself down. Think about, am I\ncatastrophizing? Then [we advise] we only go to trusted news sources like\nPublic Health to make sure you\u2019re not getting your news from places where there\nis a lot of the biases you might find on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another very important technique in managing anxiety,\nsays Ms. Shields, is simply taking a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t consume information all day all the time, it will\nabsolutely escalate for you,\u201d she says. \u201cTry and consume your news maybe an\nhour a day or a couple of times a day, then take a news break and turn it off.\nIf you follow all day, it is just going to keep you going. We really recommend\npeople taking a news break and really practicing good self care, like eating\nhealthy meals, making sure you\u2019re getting sleep and getting outside. It is\nbeautiful right now; make sure you\u2019re getting outside, taking a walk, and\nexercising. Those core things are critical at this time in terms of self care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practicing what Ms. Shields describes as \u201cpracticing\ngratitude\u201d can also be beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWrite down three or five things every day that you\u2019re\nreally grateful for: make phone calls to the people you love and let them know\nto just connect with people, keep the social connection, even in this time of\nsocial distancing. Find a way to call your friends, message them, and check in\nwith those you love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond these techniques, resources are still available\nfor individuals in crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crisis lines are operational, with the hotline 310-COPE\navailable for anyone struggling, along with York Support Services\u2019 Streamlined\nAccess program, which connects individuals to mental health, addiction, and\ndual diagnosis services in York Region and South Simcoe. (yssn.ca\/streamlined-access\n\u2013 1-888-695-0070). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CMHA is also continuing with the Province\u2019s Bounce\nBack program, a free skill-building workshop to help adults and youth manage\nlow to mild and moderate depression and anxiety, stress, worry, and low mood \u2013\nall delivered over the phone at 1-866-345-0224.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis helps people manage anxiety\u2026and learn those skills\nof anxiety management,\u201d says Ms. Shields. \u201cIt is free, available over the\nphone, and available in French, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, South\nAmerican Spanish, and we also have coaches that speak 12 other languages. If\npeople are feeling anxious, they really need to get that under control and\nthere\u2019s a free program available through the day, but also evenings and some\nweekend hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the community agencies are moving a lot of\ntheir support services to virtual and phone call. All of that is emerging. What\nI want to tell people to do in the Region is two things: One, they can check\nout 310-COPE for crisis, they can go to Streamlined Access and ConnexOntario\n(connexontario.ca) to find out other services. You can reach out to the\nCanadian Mental Health Association. We are redeploying a lot of our staff to\nsupport people as virtually as we can so we\u2019re all doing our part to flatten\nthe curve by practicing social distancing. Everybody is really working hard to\ndo that. We\u2019re redeploying staff who might do other things to be able to\nsupport our clients and we have some essential services \u2026 some of our clients\nwho require access to nursing and medication, we are ensuring that no client is\nleft without appropriate medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a time of a lot of unknowns and that can be a difficult time. They talk about COVID-19 being contagious but fear can also be contagious. We really have to support ourselves and do the self care and manage our own fears and do the right things, that we know are going to keep us and our community safe. The CMHA is doing our part and we ask everyone to work together to come together do this with us. We\u2019re here for you and please reach out to us if you need us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In challenging times, it is normal for people to feel anxious. It is a natural response, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association of York Region and South Simcoe, but there are ways to manage and cope. That is the message from CMHA York\u2019s Rebecca Shields as the organization looks for ways to continue to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Oy","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 23:56:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}