Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) has shifted its operation online and is offering a new session about dealing with stress in the age of COVID-19.

COVID 19: Stress and Coping?

Date and time: Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 10 a.m.
YouTube Live link:   https://youtu.be/5Dp-mE4vgFM

The worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) may be stressful for many people. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. How you respond to this outbreak can depend on your background, the things that make you different from other people, and the community within which you live.

People who may respond more strongly to the stress of a crisis include older people, people with chronic diseases who are at higher risk for COVID-19, children and teens, people  helping with the response to COVID-19 (doctors, nurses and other health care providers) or first responders. As well, people who have preexisting mental health conditions, the homeless, the vulnerable and people with substance abuse may all struggle with these stressful times.

The speaker will walk us through the many issues surrounding mental health with particular emphasis on the isolation and loneliness COVID 19 has caused, resulting in extra stress on many families and individuals.

Speaker:                   McMillan James

McMillan James is a registered psychologist with experience spanning academic and clinical counselling settings. She earned her BA in psychology and her Masters of Education in Counselling Psychology with a focus on addiction and mental health. During her graduate studies, she completed her thesis on the Phenomenological Experience of Athletic Retirement. She is currently in private practice at Associates Counselling Services here in Lethbridge.

In addition, McMillan provides psychological services for the Canadian Back Institute and Lethbridge Integrated Service Court. She is dedicated to supporting clients through a client-centered and collaborative approach relying on cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness techniques.

In order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. Please create an account well ahead of the scheduled start time, so you’ll be ready. Go to the YouTube Live link provided in this session flyer and on the top right of your browser click the “sign in” button. If you have Google or Gmail accounts, they can be used to sign in.

If you don’t, click on “Create Account” and follow along. Once you are signed in, you can return to the livestream and use the chat feature to ask your question of the speaker. Remember, you can only participate in the chat feature while we are “livestreaming”. If you watch the video afterwards, you will still be able to see the questions other folks have asked but you won’t be able to chat anymore.

For further information, visit the SACPA website.