Loneliness During the Pandemic: What Can You Do?

VTDigger is excited to work with Vermont Care Partners to promote the much needed services of its sixteen respective member agencies which, includes NCSS. They also understand how important it is for our elected officials to know how to support the needs of Vermonters.

This thirteen week series is a collaboration produced by members of the Vermont Care Partners statewide network of sixteen non-profit, community-based agencies providing mental health, substance use and intellectual and developmental disability support.

Below is the twelfth installment of the series from Vermont Care Partners (VCP) highlights the impact of the pandemic’s social isolation, the work of the agencies statewide and COVID Support VT.

Loneliness During the Pandemic: What Can You Do?

Feeling tired, depressed, less motivated, and even out of practice and nervous about reentry into the social world? Extended social isolation as a result of physical distancing is one likely culprit. Your experience mirrors what people are experiencing nationally.

In the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America (2020), 80% of respondents reported that the pandemic and its deleterious effects on our sense of community and togetherness is a significant source of stress and that stress has been increasing over time.

The good news is that there are actions we can take and resources available to assist us, our family, friends, and communities to feel better and to navigate this difficult time of isolation, distancing, and, paradoxically, the ambiguities of re-engagement with the social world.

Why is social isolation a public health issue?

The dangers and risk of social isolation have been well documented, but now COVID has given all of us direct experience with the detrimental impacts social isolation has, no matter one’s age, on our day-to-day well-being both physically and mentally.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Social isolation significantly increases a person’s risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.”  Read more…

Link to article:

https://vtdigger.org/sponsored_content/loneliness-during-the-pandemic-what-can-you-do/