Mental Health Hygiene During COVID-19 Pandemic

o   Introduce yourself, explain what you do and give the name of the organization you are working for

o   Ask the participants to introduce themselves

o   Explain the objective of the activity and what you will be doing today

Part 1 – Brief explanation of what is COVID-19 (5 minutes)

·         Ask: Can someone explain what is the COVID-19?

·         If someone answers, make sure that his/her answer is correct. If not, give the correct definition (see the definition below).

·         If nobody can answer, explain that it is an infectious disease, caused by a newly discovered virus named coronavirus and the disease it causes is known as COVID-19. It was unknown since the outbreak in China in December 2019. Now, the virus has spread all over the world and infected most of the countries on the planet. The virus is not systematically deadly. Most of the people that get infected with Coronavirus recover. Old people and people with previous medical records are the most vulnerable to the virus.

Coronavirus is a type of virus. A virus is very small, too small to be seen by the human eye. It needs a living host to survive (human, animal). This means that the COVID-19 disease cannot be contracted by eating food, being in contact with dirt, or drinking unsafe water – these are not living elements. Domestic animals can get infected with the virus but it is very unlikely that they transmit the virus to human beings.

The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as dry cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing.

Part 2: What is mental health and how it is related to COVID-19 pandemic (15 minutes)

·         Explain: Mental health is mental well-being in which an individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and can make a contribution to his or her community. In this positive sense, mental health is the foundation for an individual’s well-being.

·         Relate: At times of crisis like COVID-19 pandemic, there are disruption, change and uncertainty in different aspects of our lives.   As such, it is natural for us to worry about our present and future which can cause mental stress. Also, many rumor and misperceptions are circulating at the camp level which impacts our mental health.

Naturally, people will fear Covid-19 as many are getting infected and few are dying every day. For example, one can constantly fear the Coronavirus chasing him/her. S/he might feel like the virus will contract him at any moment and everyone in his family then also be infected and ultimately, all of them will die. Such negative thoughts cloud up in our heads when we are mentally stressed and do not take proper care of our mental health. As a result, it will eventually affect how well we function in our daily lives and our relationships. Increased irritability, emotional exhaustion, poor concentration and poor sleep may be examples of such mental health challenges.

Part 3: Importance of maintaining mental health hygiene (10 minutes)

·         Explain: Mental health hygiene is just as important as taking care of your physical self. Think about a day when we are depressed/sad, there are so many mental blocks. We feel tired and exhausted to do anything, let alone taking personal care. We feel so low that we do not feel like taking shower (not for 1 day/2 day, for a whole week maybe) or brushing our teeth. We are even forgetful to comb our hair. But not taking a shower makes our head feel heavier and we do not feel fresh. As a result, we do not feel like going outside our house and socialize with people. The idea of meeting people irritates us and thus, we tend to confine ourselves within the walls of our home/room. Therefore, not maintaining basic hygiene, we feel more depressed as it affects our mental health.

·         Show picture 7.1 and explain the 3 scenarios. The descriptions are added below the picture.

·         Therefore, it is good to ensure that we take proper measures for our mental and physical wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, we will be able to minimize distress and prevent people from developing more significant mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety. Also, we must care for our mental health so that we can cope with what may be a very stressful situation and can continue to support the people around us.

Part 4 – Ways to stay mentally healthy in this pandemic (15 minutes)

Think positively: In this part of the session, engage the participants in the following activity which will help them to think positively.

·         Ask one after one to answer “why are you feeling lucky/grateful today?”

(the answer can be anything, such as- I feel lucky because I am alive and breathing. Or, it can be because I can sit with everyone and share my emotions.)

·         When everyone is done sharing, ask everyone to clap.

·         Explain the activity, such as, reflecting on what makes us happy, or grateful, etc. we have acknowledged that we have things that make us happy. Also, by sharing our positive thinking we were able to create a healthy happy environment too. Even if sharing a small thing, it can help us to consider things differently and improve our mental health.

Now ask them to identify what else they can do, such as:

·         Maintaining basic hygiene to stop the spread: To protect yourself and others from the coronavirus, we must maintain basic hygiene and encourage others to practice it to maintain basic hygiene. If we wear masks when going outside and wash hands with soap from time to time, then we decrease our chances of getting infected by the coronavirus which will also allow lessening our mental stress. As a result, our mental health will remain good even in this COVID-19 pandemic.

·         Not believing in rumors:  An information can easily be distorted as it can be interpreted in different ways by the person that receives the information. Believing in those misperceptions or rumors can lead to distress, anxiety and fear among people. For example, if someone who is allergic to garlic believes in the rumor that eating garlic will prevent him from the virus, it will create worry and fear in that individual. As he has an allergy, he cannot consume garlic but believing the rumor if he consumes garlic, it will create allergies on his body. Thus, it is very important to verify information from reliable sources.

·         Having a healthy lifestyle: We need to have a balanced diet and drink enough water.  We should not use smoking, alcohol or other drugs to deal with our stress. Our body also needs rest and keeping that in mind we need proper rest and sleep.

·         Engage yourself in different activities at home: Draw on skills we have used in the past that have helped us to spend a good time and use those skills to help manage our emotions during

the challenging time of this outbreak. One can engage in stitching or making different crafts. One can try reciting the holy Quran too.

·         Light Exercises: As learning centers, friendly spaces, tea stalls are closed, we spend the majority of our time at home. Having nothing to do makes us bored and sad. By doing light exercises at home one can easily keep himself/herself active and reduce boredom.

Part 5 – Light exercise/yoga/breathing (15 minutes)

·         Show the Yoga Stretching: Entire Body from the media center of the Ideas Cube and ask everyone to do it.  Translate/explain the video by taking pauses.

·         Now relate how doing light exercises like this ensures regular blood flow all over our body, also body movements are good to keep us strong and active.

·         Show them the RELAX AND BREATHE: Do Nothing for 10 Minutes from the media center of the Ideas Cube.

·          Ask the participants to follow the steps the instructor is doing: inhale and exhale at the rhythm suggested by the visual of the video.

·         After completing, ask them how they feel (encourage them to speak up). Explain to the participants how they can do it at home, even without the video, and have benefits from the conscious breathing.

·         Summarize what was learn during the session- we learned how the COVID-19 pandemic can affect our mental health. The stress, fear, uncertainty and many negative thoughts can cloud up our head and disrupts our mental health. Thus, we need to keep ourselves busy with some good practices, such as- positive thinking, maintaining basic hygiene, light exercises at home, etc.

·         Explain to the participants: If everybody applies the basic protection measures, it will contribute to slow down the infection spread and help to eradicate the Coronavirus. I strongly encourage all of you to adopt the protection measures on a daily basis and share them with your family and close relatives.