COVID-19 and mental health

Several useful resources are now available to support mental health among doctors and other health care professionals. With the significant impact of COVID-19 increasing pressure and stress on the way we work and live, it is important to prioritise mental health and wellbeing.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges – the coordinating body for the UK and Ireland’s 23 medical Royal Colleges and Faculties – has put together many useful resources on its COVID-19 web pages. A section on self-care resources includes advice on mental health and wellbeing is available at: https://www.aomrc.org.uk/covid-19-mentalwellbeing/

Further mental health assistance is available via the COVID Trauma Response Working Group (https://www.traumagroup.org) which has been formed to help coordinate trauma-informed responses to the COVID outbreak. Composed of psychological trauma specialists, coordinators of the psychosocial response to trauma and wellbeing leads at NHS Trusts, the working group is being coordinated by staff at University College London and the Traumatic Stress Clinic at Camden and Islington NHS Trust. Clinical and scientific colleagues in other NHS trusts and universities are also contributing to this work. They have also produced a supporting on-line video ‘Coping with stress associated with COVID-19: advice to hospital staff’, which is available at: https://youtu.be/WFWvkjJ755Y

Rehab4Addiction, an advisory and referral service for people who suffer with addiction, has produced a resource ‘Coronavirus: guidance for better mental health’. Its aim, it says, is that “the resource can be one of many stepping stones for those struggling and their loved ones to better understand their situation and lead them to find a supportive and safe environment”. The resource is available at: https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/coronavirus/mental-health-coronavirus/