Community News
“You cannot pour from an empty cup.” The Unwanted Visitor
BY SIMONE J. SMITH
“We need to be kind and patient with ourselves. Find adaptive ways to cope. Face up to the reality of what we are dealing with.” Dr Katija Khan (Clinical Psychologist)
One thing that we all have that we did not have before is time. As a journalist, and community contributor, it is my responsibility to find constructive content to present to the community so that they can learn and grow through this process. This is how I ended up sitting down to take in, “COVID-19; The Unwanted Visitor,” a podcast series that the team at the Caribbean Tourism Organization has put together to help the global community navigate through this crisis.
They launched the series on April 14th, 2020, and the very first episode featured CTO’s Communication Specialist Johnson Johnrose, and Clinical Psychologist Dr Katija Khan.
At the young age of 43, Dr Katija Khan is an accomplished psychologist, with 20 years experience in the mental health field. She is a former Student Guild President and Proud Alumna of the UWI St Augustine and Mona campuses as well as the Naoparima Girls’ High School. She has been working in clinical psychology for 15 years, some of that time spent in Jamaica and England: studying, training and working. While in England, Dr Katija worked more in the field of neuropsychology (a branch of clinical psychology that is under-represented in the Caribbean), as well as in areas of neurodegenerative diseases (like Alzheimer’s disease).
In this podcast, Dr Katija touches on issues that connect with how globally; people have dealt with the coronavirus crisis. She helps listeners understand our: stress, boundaries and limits, mental flexibility, substance use, communication, our support and physical exercise needs during this unusual time.
One of the first things she pointed out was that this is indeed a traumatic global disaster. “The uncertainty has left us chronically stressed out. Leaving home has become a daily hassle, and we are at heightened levels of stress. There is not even time to adjust to a new normal, because this is an evolving pandemic.”
I encourage readers to take a listen to the podcast. It is about 25 minutes in length but stocked full of useful tidbits that could really help. I took the liberty of pulling out some of the main topics, and I have also attached the link below for your convenience. Let us get into it.
Manage our perceptions and notions about working from home
Dr Katija reminds us that working from home during a crisis is different than working from home during normal times. “The question should be how do we execute our responsibilities while taking care of our well-being? One way to do this is by maintaining a structure and routine when possible. It gives us a level of control. Make sure that you have a cut off time when work ends, if not, life can get blurred. Some people may feel guilty about stopping work and taking time for self-care.”
Stress is subjective
“Everyone is experiencing this differently,” Dr Katija explains. “There are going to be different realities depending on your life circumstances. You have to modify the expectations to fit the reality. This will call for some flexibility. Figure out what works best for you in your personal context.”
She encourages letting some things go and relax some of the standards. This might mean not doing laundry and watching it pile up until you have time to do it. “We need to be kind and patient with ourselves. Find adaptive ways to cope and face up to the reality of what we are dealing with.”
Dr Katija points out that we deal with stress differently, and it is important to understand our own reactions. This understanding is twofold if you are a leader. You must think about how stress is affecting people you work with. A good way to do this is by picking up the phone and calling members of your team. Emails can be impersonal; that personal connection can be very strong and work wonders for not just them, but you as well.
Maintaining your psychological health
“It is imperative to tweak your routines regularly,” Dr Katija implores the listeners.
“Maintain a psychologically healthy workspace where your workers can call you and be honest about what they are dealing with. These are not normal situations. This crisis has upended many things.”
To view the podcast series, please visit https://anchor.fm/onecaribbean