Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic has had a global impact, disrupting virtually every aspect of work, personal, family, and social life. Mental health professionals are impacted in their treatment of ongoing patients, facing heightened levels of exposure to the overlay of their clients’ pandemic-related fears, anxiety, frustration, and grief on top of the ongoing therapeutic issues. They also are challenged to maintain professional boundaries and self-care while experiencing the direct impact of the pandemic on their own lives. With the upsurge in distress and disorientation intensifying the symptoms experienced by ongoing clients, and the addition of new clients who are in acute distress due to the pandemic, many mental health professionals’ work stress is increasing correspondingly. Therefore, the APA COVID-19 Interdivisional Task Force established a work group dedicated to providing professional support to mental health clinicians. The Professional Support for Psychologists Working Group included psychologists from many areas of the United States and internationally, with a common goal of identifying practical ways to provide psychologists and other mental health professionals with direct support during the pandemic. As part of this working group, virtual video support sessions were hosted in which mental health professionals (and trainees) could join to discuss the challenges they face and to give and receive support. Themes that emerged from these meetings align with the literature on the pandemic-related challenges of mental health clinicians and include compassion fatigue/burnout, isolation, managing boundaries, and work-related concerns, which are discussed in this chapter. Future directions and lessons learned are also provided.
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Author Note
The Professional Support for Psychologists Working Group at the APA Interdivisional Task Force on the Pandemic is represented by Judith Alpert, Tina Balachandran, Julian Ford (co-chair), Ilene Serlin, Arlene Steinberg, and Melissa Wasserman (co-chair). Further details or information on the chapter content are available from the first author upon request. The authors would like to thank all group members for their contributions to the Task Force.
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Wasserman, M., Ford, J.D., Steinberg, A.L. (2023). Supporting Mental Health Clinicians During the Pandemic. In: Figley, C.R., Walker, L.E., Serlin, I.A. (eds) Pandemic Providers. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27580-7_7
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