I am probably just screaming into the void here, but as a therapist who has been providing grief and trauma support to individuals in NJ for the last few months, I am deeply DEEPLY concerned about Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina opening up right now. 1/?

The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers (and all people) is soul shattering. In the last few weeks, my colleagues and I have helped people through countless deaths, complicated grief, family isolation, survival guilt, existential dread, personal sickness, 2/?

loved ones falling ill, parents dying, spouses dying, multiple grandparents dying IN THE SAME WEEK, etc. We've worked with parents, teachers, religious leaders, grocery workers, community kitchens, and SO many of their children. And we've done it through computer screens. 3/?

The consequences of this virus are catastrophic. Our nation is experiencing LAYERS of trauma every day, the most offensive (and potentially problematic) of which is a government that denies its very existence.

And now we have state governors callously falling in line. 4/?

In crisis work, the PRIMARY goal is to help a person, community, or in this case a country, return to pre-crisis functional capacity. Opening states right now is not only misguided, it is sociopathic. It is unjustifiably violent. It is a massive and global betrayal. 5/?

Opening states right now is the OPPOSITE of crisis work. It will not restore capacity. It will not regulate the emotional welfare of our nation, and in fact risks further exhausting and overwhelming our systems, both institutionally and internally. 6/?

And as far as patriotism is concerned, how does this decision establish justice or ensure domestic tranquility? How does it promote the general welfare of our nation? 7/?

I don't know how to end this other than to say that I am devastated for our country. I am prayerful for our leaders, and especially our governors, who seem to have lost the grace and dignity to think of the most vulnerable of us right now. I refuse to believe they are lost. 8/?

And to my fellow therapists who are currently inside the belly of this beast with me, please know that I stand with you. I salute you. And I am here with you through this night. I am a better person standing arm in arm with you. You inspire me. 9/?

And for my colleagues who are still anticipating this virus' arrival, I pray for you. I pray that you have colleague friends to count on, and that you hold onto one another and take good care of yourselves. Keep the faith. xo, L