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A note from my 70+ mother in India (and me) - if you are in no position to offer assistance to your employees/staff/house help or have exhausted all resources or are yourself constricted by age/health, here’s where you can begin: (1/7)
Mental Health - Given the aggressive and immediate physical manifestations of this virus, and the abject state of healthcare facilities and infrastructure, mental health has not become an immediate concern yet. (2/7)
This level of exposure to disease and death presents an unprecedented crisis of mental health with respect to mortality, humanity, caretaking, disillusionment, disenfranchisement. (3/7)
Post-pandemic, we may begin to seek out therapy and wider psycho-social & emotional restorative care/practices. This will be the reserve of few, and most Indians will not have access to these resources. (4/7)
Encourage anyone working for you to talk and share their grief/disbelief/fear. They may not have the vocabulary or framework in which to do this. Try not to impose your understanding of the pandemic on them. Listen actively and openly. (5/7)
Listen even if you feel they hold “wrong” or unscientific/ illogical beliefs. Fear is mostly irrational even in the best of times. And these are decidedly the worst. Articulating their pain in their own way may make at least some of it more manageable in the longer run. (6/7)
Especially as we don’t know if there is a longer run for most of us. If by speaking to you, someone can at least die a bit unburdened, you will have done your bit as a (maybe older) person who cannot be on social media, raise funds or donate plasma. (7/7
