We may be a couple of weeks into this new world order, but as it's all been a bit overwhelming, now is a good time to check-in and see what’s working for us and what we could do with getting a better handle on.
Mark Smyth is the President of the Psychological Society of Ireland and a Clinical Psychologist with the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAHMS). He’s also a parent who, along with his wife, is juggling work, with home-schooling his children and trying to keep some semblance of normal life going in these uncertain times. In short – he gets it.
In the first episode of RTÉ's new podcast series You OK?, Mark shares his top tips for a psychological survival kit to help us get through these strange times. The good news, they’re all really accessible. The other good news ('cause we don’t do bad news on You OK?) is that getting through each day, whether it went the way you wanted or blew up in your face, is something to be celebrated.
Tomorrow is a new day.
You can follow Mark on Twitter at @psychpolis.
You OK?
The normal rhythms and structures of our everyday lives have been turned upside down. No one alive today has lived through anything like this before. We don't know how we're supposed to feel. There is no handbook for coping. Any feeling is a valid and rational one, in these strange times.
You OK?, hosted by Jan Ní Fhlanagain, doesn't offer a magic solution to the complex emotions we're all feeling, but it does offer a safe space to hold those emotions, to engage with them and to take a moment in the madness, to mind our mental health.
Featuring leading mental health experts, this series will offer simple, practical exercises to quiet the noise and restore some peace. Each episode will focus on a sole topic or area of life that has been affected by the pandemic. Click here for more info.
