Covid-19 Bulletin - British ...

Covid-19 Bulletin

When we put together the last bulletin in December, we were all feeling a bit
more hopeful as the vaccines were approved. However, following the Christmas
break, we have found ourselves in a further resurgence of the pandemic.

As we met to put this bulletin together, the group took some time to talk
through how we were all feeling and think about how we best can support our
members and the public at this time. The bulletin is only a tiny piece of a jigsaw,
but we hope that it does provide some timely information and help though these
times.

We are all experiencing the challenges of the pandemic in our personal lives,
with the ongoing and draining impacts on our own wellbeing, on our close and
extended families, on our friends. Many more of us than before will have been
ill, seen family and friends become ill, or experienced bereavement. Our lives
may feel as if they have been placed on hold.

For clinical psychologists, in whatever setting they work, there will have been
major professional challenges. The worsening physical and mental health crises
we work within have come at a time when we and our colleagues may already be
feeling worn down by the earlier waves. As psychologists, we may well be
working to support our colleagues, and we will have a focus in the next issue of
the experiences of staff doing this in various settings.

So, this edition of the bulletin focuses on how we are, what can help, and how

we can lift up our eyes and gather hope. There are positives that we have gained
in the ways we live our lives that we do not want to lose, there are exciting and
innovative changes to practice that we want to become permanent.

We need to hold onto these things. Although it is not UK or pandemic themed,
the inauguration poem presented by Amanda Gorman is inspirational and helps us
think about how we can come out of this pandemic 'building back better'.

There will be a Covid-19 focus at this year's online DCP annual conference, which
you can register for now, and the upcoming issue of Clinical Psychology Forum is
also a special issue on the pandemic.

 As always, we are very happy to hear from you with comments, feedback and
ideas.

Support for psychologists during Covid-19

Dr Renuka Jena is the professional and strategic clinical lead for the IAPT team in
Waltham Forest. She spoke to DCP London chair Dr Lorna Farquharson, describing
the processes that have been strengthened and put in place during the pandemic
to enable staff to be supported:

“We already had good staff support systems in place, with a lead emotional

wellbeing champion, and we thought about how we could adapt in these unusual
circumstances where the team could not have those informal contacts and
corridor chats. Monthly team meetings continued on the digital platform to
communicate about the changes which were occurring within the service
following the trust plans.

In the early days of the pandemic, there were daily check-ins, line managers
were routinely checking any needs and supervision was provided more
frequently. In addition, we arranged peer support, as well as external facilitators
from other local services. We have a wellbeing champion who was also involved
in the development of the wider staff support within the trust, which made
access to psychological support through chats and signposting to resources or
local IAPT services.

The staff wellbeing forum included webinars and mindfulness sessions. This all
worked well for supporting staff with managing the impact of the pandemic, but
it was a lot more challenging when thinking about race and inequality.

Training and skill development in promoting digital interventions and adapting to
working to provide therapy remotely was provided right from the start through
the NHSE workshops and still continues.

The murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matters movement had a huge
impact on everyone, both personally and professionally. It was important to be
able to open up conversations in the team, but it was also difficult to manage
the strength of emotion and have such difficult discussions when we were all
working remotely.

As a step to support the team, staff were encouraged to use supervision. At the
same time, a staff survey was undertaken to gauge the needs of the staff and
service. An external facilitator, with the help of the BAME champion within the
team, proposed focusing on a number of areas, including how staff are feeling at
present, staff experiences of our service with regards to issues of racism and the
ways that we can think and talk to our team, service users and families about
their experiences of the impact of racism and racial trauma.

In addition, the team too have come together through a race and equality
champion who leads to provide peer support on this matter. This work is in
progress. In addition, we are working jointly with colleagues outside of the

service to develop anti-racist practices in psychological therapies within the
trust.”

DCP virtual reflective space sessions

The DCP is in the process of setting up reflective space sessions for members
during 2021.The evaluation of last year's showed that these “offered a chance for
members to explore their situation, hear from others, and receive some support
that helped reduce isolation. We heard of good practices and bad, but what
became apparent was that DCP members were experiencing difficulties and
needed support. In a review following the final session, members asked for
further support, liked the idea of the virtual groups and did not want local
groups set up. Some anonymity was needed.”

These will be monthly sessions where you can talk, reflect and access peer
support at this difficult time. They are open to aspiring, trainee and qualified
staff. Proposed dates are below, with all sessions running from 4-5:30pm, as soon
as booking details are confirmed, we'll share them with you via our newsletters
and social media.

Wednesday 24 February, Tuesday 23 March, Thursday 29 April, Wednesday 26
May, Tuesday 22 June, Thursday 22 July, Wednesday 25 August, Tuesday 28
September, Thursday 28 October, Wednesday 24 November, Tuesday 14
December

Heads of Service meetings

Dates have been confirmed for the first half of this year, all from 4-5pm - 18
February, 18 March, 22 April, 20 May, 17 June. Please contact Amra Rao or Tony
Lavender if you are interested in attending.

Current support that is available for NHS staff

All staff working in the NHS can access specific support, including bereavement
support, via the NHS People website.

BPS and DCP publications

Wellbeing

The BPS published a useful summary on the impact of Covid-19 on psychologists'
wellbeing in November.

Trauma

As restrictive measures continue to require psychological professions to work
from home, the sense of the home environment as a place of refuge, comfort
and relaxation can be slowly eroded. In these circumstances, the likelihood of
experiencing secondary trauma increases in the home environment.
This guidance paper recommends a step-by-step approach for organisations with
staff who are at risk of vicarious trauma during the pandemic.

Minority Groups

The DCP has published a document on the issues for psychologists from minority
backgrounds in the pandemic. There are important commentaries to be found on
this in the December bulletin.

Bereavement

Professor Nichola Rooney, chair of the DCP Northern Ireland Branch and the BPS
Covid-19 bereavement task force, recently responded to the UK passing 100,000
deaths during the pandemic - and highlighted a number of resources that the BPS
has produced to help people with bereavement.

Relationships

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to big changes to the way we can live our lives.
This may have had a particular impact on our personal, intimate and sexual
relationships.

This leaflet has ideas for helping us cope with the effects of lockdowns and
restrictions on our intimate and romantic relationships.

Relationships are very varied and it is hoped that at least some of the ideas in

the leaflet will be helpful whatever your relationships look like.

Shielding

We are aware that a number of people are still shielding as a result of their
clinical vulnerability to Covid-19. The most recent piece of guidance in this
series was aimed at the families of shielding parents, and other documents are
available for children and young people, employers, and those with complex
needs.

Covid-19 and the impact on mothers - Olga Hide

Almost a year since the first lockdown, all too familiar measures including school
closures feel like Groundhog Day. We find ourselves working at home again, and
home-schooling our children. I asked a few mothers from surrounding schools to
share their experiences of the current crisis.

As a mum of two young children, when the government instructed us in March to
stay at home, I found working from home, trying to home-school and keep up
with all housework extremely tough. It wasn’t any easier the second time
around. I had a feeling that I was not the only one.

In fact, a survey designed by researchers from the UCL Institute of Education and
the Institute for Fiscal Studies (n=3500) found that the pandemic
disproportionally affected working mothers. Women were 47% more likely to lose
or leave their job, and nearly half of those who were still able to work were
constantly interrupted by childcare or other household duties, impacting their
performance and mental wellbeing. However, I was more interested in
qualitative data and tried to capture how this lockdown has impacted working
mums.

I found that many mothers experienced feelings of guilt for not being good
enough parents while trying to juggle demands. For some women this meant
reducing their working hours to spend more time with the children, whereas
others had to leave their jobs to allow their partners to work full time. Others
found home-schooling children of different ages particularly challenging, having
to stagger their learning during the day and then work in the evening or night,

leaving them exhausted.

Children’s attitude to 'mum/teacher' also presented an authoritarian challenge.
Some mums had to implement a strict routine while others chose to do the bare
minimum and give their children more play time. This led to more guilt and self-
doubt about whether they were spending enough time home-schooling/working.

Many mums expressed feelings of helplessness, watching their children trying to
cope with online learning and not being able to see their friends after being back
at school for such a short time. Some of them were sharing their feelings for the
first time. Many expressed a feeling of shame for not being able to 'hold it
together', drinking alcohol more than usual and trying to find comfort in food.

This was followed by self-criticism, perpetuating loss of self-confidence and
despair. At the same time, it struck me that many were still trying to downplay
their challenges and be 'strong', but admitted that talking about the challenges
with other mums was helpful. There was also an outpouring of support towards
each other, prompted by expressions of anguish.

It seems to me that, no matter when this situation changes, we will never be
able to look at the role of mothers the same way.

Helpful publications

A number of the publications from the Faculty for Children, Young People and
their Families have been written to support parents:

Managing uncertainty
Advice for children with a key worker parent
Advice for key worker parents on helping children to adapt
Talking to children about illness

The November bulletin also had a focus on children, young people and families
and is worth referring back to.

Political and community dimensions of Covid-19

Participation from communities is crucial in reducing the spread of Covid-19,
mitigating the negative psychosocial effects of the lockdown measures, and
enabling recovery.

The BPS recently published a document on facilitating community resilience to
respond to the consequences of Covid-19, which you can access on the website.
A free webinar related to the document is taking place in February - you
can register to attend now.

There are a number of psychologists on SAGE advising the government, and also
on the Independent SAGE group. The latter is particularly worth following for its
succinct analyses and advice/guidance on the pandemic, including this interview
with Michael Rosen.

Michael Rosen has always been an inspirational figure to many advocating for
children as well as writing some of the best loved children's books and poems. He
caught Covid-19 in the first wave and was very close to death. He has been giving
some talks about his experiences that focus on the psychological impact and how
he is coming to terms with what has happened and how he now is. He is also a
vocal supporter of the NHS.

The recognition that the levels of social, environmental and economic inequality
in society are damaging health and wellbeing has gained new prominence as we
seek understanding of the impact of the pandemic in this country and the
disproportionate death rates in different communities.

Sir Michael Marmot, for long a key figure in highlighting these issues, summarises

these in his latest review. The DCP has been actively highlighting these issues,
for instance in our racial and social inequalities paper and through a wider
discussion in the December bulletin. The BPS is also engaging through its 'From
poverty to flourishing' campaign and recent statement on free school meals.

Remember that you can always contact your MP or local councillor if you want to
raise these or any other issues.