ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The Community Psychological Service at the University of Missouri-St. Louis is launching group therapy to help people manage the emotional and psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "Coping with COVID" therapy groups are open to the community.
“This can be beneficial for anyone who's having any uptick in mental health issues or distress,” said John Nanney, the director of the Community Psychological Service and a clinical assistant professor in UMSL’s Department of Psychological Sciences in a press release. “Because of the group and short-term format, I think it's particularly good for people who are experiencing significant anxiety, depression or other symptoms for the first time.”
The sessions will be held weekly on either Tuesday mornings or Thursday evenings via a "HIPAA-compliant Zoom conferencing platform," the release said. It will cost $50 for five meetings; UMSL students will pay a reduced rate of $20.
Nanney said he expects the groups to be limited to eight to 12 members.
During the sessions, participants will also receive specific ideas and skills for combating stress. Therapy session leaders will emphasize the importance of staying active and engaged with a regular schedule, including devoting time to self-care, the release said. They also will teach mindfulness meditation techniques to help people stay focused and centered in the present, so they don’t risk being overwhelmed by regrets over the past or anxiety for the future.
“It's helpful both for generating a sense of calm, but it also helps you get really on the immediate present where we're most effective,” Nanney said.
Those leading the sessions will give advice for ways to deal with challenging or unhelpful thoughts, like "catastrophic thinking, overestimating the probability of bad stuff happening and self-blame," which might lead people to have more significant problems with anxiety or depression, the release said.
They also talk about the importance of people practicing compassion, especially with themselves.
“We're all going to do some things that we wish we wouldn't have to cope with these stressors,” Nanney said. “You're going to eat too much, you're going to drink too much, you're going to not have saved as much money as you would have liked, you're not going to have been perfect at work and you're not going to be a perfect parent. You're not going to do everything exactly the way that you should have, and that's okay."
For more information on the group therapy sessions or other services, contact the Community Psychological Service at 314-516-5771.
