Practitioners share top tips for coping with COVID-19

1. Let yourself grieve the loss of your usual practice. This may sound dramatic, but for many of us, our health and medical practices largely define who we are and how we feel of value, and we’re currently unable to treat many of our patients.

2. Practice acceptance. When my clinic first closed, I jumped on every idea I could to provide health services I was allowed, but the rules, guidance, and accessibility to financial supports kept changing. So, I’ve had to adjust, often. Each time practice acceptance with a mantra of, “it just is.”

3. Reach out to colleagues. While we often hear the phrase, “we’re in it together,” sometimes, for me, my situation feels so different from that of the person who’s working in the grocery store, the office worker working from home, or the retiree waiting it out at home. I have friends and family in these categories, but my worries feel so different from theirs, so reaching out to colleagues who get what I’m going through allows us to vent our shared issues while we also lend each other support.

– Melissa Carr, B.Sc., Dr.TCM