Hi, I’m Hannah and I’m Aaliyah and we are the welfare officers on the VMS committee. Each week we will be discussing matters related to wellbeing and how we can support each other during this difficult process. It doesn’t have to be a stressful time, and our aim is to help each other. We’d love to have your involvement in these discussions, so please feel free to share experiences (this can be done anonymously if you would like to do so). Join us in discussing each week’s topics by sharing your thoughts and questions. The goal of this blog is not to judge others based on their experiences, but to make sure everyone feels valued so please be respectful of people’s opinions even if they are different from your own. We’ll be discussing a new topic each week and answering the most common questions during the weekly Virtual Medical Society Meetings, as well as in the comments section below. We’d love the main body of this blog to be a discussion, therefore, we have included a short intro to this week’s topic to be used as guidance. However, we want the conversation to be led by you because it’s your Virtual Medical Society after all!
If you have any suggestions of topics, you’d like covered in the future then please let us know in the comments too!
This week we will be discussing- Looking after mental health in lockdown
Sorry to be the 100th person to mention this, but we couldn’t help it!
Hopefully you’ve got the hint by now; mental health is really important. We have all experienced burnout, anxiety or any other mental health complication at some point in our lives, and this won’t just magically change as healthcare professionals.
It’s perfectly normal to feel worried or overwhelmed about the current situation with such uncertainties about the pandemic, especially with exams, medical application and school delays. But our mental health comes at no compromise, and the better we learn to cope, the more resilient we will become.
Here are our top tips for wellbeing during in lockdown:
- If you’re worried about COVID-19, limit your news coverage to a maximum of 30 minutes a day. We know how difficult to restrain going down internet holes and conspiracy theories, but try to only look at reputable sources and don’t believe everything that you see. (Stating the obvious, I know!)
- Stay healthy by eating well, doing some exercise, sleeping well and limiting technology use (we’ve seen way too many messages on our whatsapp at 2 AM!)
- Try to stay in contact with all your friends by dedicating what would have been your lunchtime at school to a quick FaceTime call for example. It can really help you feel at ease and know that you are not alone in feeling worried!
Please comment down below to share your own experiences, ask questions or give some of your own tips. We hope to hear from you soon ????