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Talk about how the events of recent months have affected either your work or your ability to work.
Although I am still working full time, my job has been significantly impacted by COVID 19. I am a social worker who has my own practice, mainly seeing young adults and adults, particularly new moms, in an office that I rent. On 3/13, Governor Baker declared a State of Emergency for MA. At that time I needed to scramble to get a platform from which I could conduct counseling through tele-health. Shortly after the State of Emergency, Baker announced that all insurances operating in MA needed to reimburse tele-health at the same rate that in person visits are reimbursed, paving the way for health services, including mental health, to continue. Not being particularly adept at technology, getting a healthcare platform up and running was really challenging. ... Most of my clients chose to continue to meet with me virtually, although a few opted out for the time being.There were some snafus in the beginning, primarily due to weak internet, such as the sessions freezing so I was missing actual content of what people were saying, not being able to hear or sometimes see clients, etc. ... I greatly prefer working from home. The picture included above shows the view of the little desk I work from looking into my back yard, and most importantly, our cat Zelda who is a frequent companion while I am working. My dog sometimes visits, which is also fun for me, and I believe my clients, who have asked to meet him. I like the extra time working from home has created in each day, allowing time for more cooking, yoga, reading, seeing our pets and my husband. There are many unknowns, however - should I keep my office, which I am still paying rent for and not using? If I decide to go back to my office, when will it be safe to see clients, protecting their health and my own? Will insurances continue to cover tele-health after the pandemic subsides? If not, or at a reduced rate like pre-pandemic, would I make enough money to help pay the bills? Would my clients want to continue through tele-health, or would I lose most of them? Etc, etc. ...
July 6, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
It’s been one of the darker weeks. The world feels like it is imploding again with the murder of black and brown people by police, children murdering innocent protestors, teachers scared to go into schools, the economy continuing to collapse, a hurricane. It’s overwhelming. I also feel more isolated as we have been quite conservative self-isolating for 2 weeks after a vacation. I have seen her mood shift. She is lethargic again and we are all just sick of this. We are ending our two week self-quarantine tomorrow and honestly will not self-isolate this long again or again after traveling and being conservative to begin with. (No one has had symptoms - this is just following the suggested rules). We travelled with friends 2 weeks ago. Meaning we brought groceries to a rental and stayed in the same place for a week. Before that we self-isolated for 2 weeks so we could see our friends and then again when we got home out of respect for everyone. We did do one or two errands but that was it. Meanwhile we work at home, our friends work at home and they also self-isolated and are strict with their rules. Most people in our lives work either in healthcare or other high risk fields. When we see them I feel like we are more at risk anyway. I feel like we are overdoing it at the expense of our daughter’s mental health. When we stop isolating we will still social distance - but this is too much. When we get home from our next trip we will continue to distance ourselves as usual but not in this extreme way. And yesterday my daughter and I rode to the library (again we have done some errands) we saw so many kids riding their bikes together and it looked like a regular summer. Then there is my daughter who we keep pretty separate. You can’t help but start to doubt yourself. My husband reminded me we aren’t seeing all of the other kids who are also being safer - because they are doing just that - being safer. I am feeling resentful.
August 27, 2020