Covid 19

We provide hybrid in-person and virtual covid-19 support. Our packages of care include:

Pre-test counselling: As more people or companies are beginning to test their employees, it is important to prepare people to be tested for Covid-19 and to receive a positive result.

Post-test counselling: After a person test positive for Covid-19, they need psychological support to accept the results and to prepare for isolation.

Isolation Support: When one is sick or unwell, they usually expect to be taken care of by health care professionals who are trained for the job and in facilities that are well equipped and suitable. However, with Covid-19 many homes have turned into hospitals/ isolation centres where people take care of themselves without any training, medical or psychological support. This causes a lot of anxiety and worries about not providing correct or appropriate care as well as spreading the virus to family members etc.

Thus, it is important to provide:

1. Individual psychological support to the person who has tested positive for Covid-19 for the 10 to 14 days that they are in isolation

2. Family/caregiver support. Preparing the family psychologically as well as letting them know about the precautions they must take in looking after their loved one who has tested positive for Covid-19 is vital.

Post-Isolation Support: After isolation, a person needs to be assisted to rejoin society and to deal with questions and reactions from people & society, that might be driven by fear, stigma, and discrimination. This can be done at different levels.

1. Re-integration services for the individual

2. Reintegration services with family and society

3. Re-integration at work

In the same way that there is a physical sanitization of the workplace to clean out Covid- 19, it is important to psychologically sanitize the workspace so that it is Covid free and ready to welcome employees back without stigma & discrimination. This also includes preparing those that were Covid negative to receive those that were positive back into the office. Addressing their fears and concerns for safety etc.

Bereavement Grief and Loss:

We are experiencing death and non-death-related losses during this time because of Covid-19.

There is a loss of productivity, livelihoods, dreams, hopes, plans and aspirations for 2020. We are also losing loved ones in a sudden or unexpected way. Loss increases our vulnerability to mental health challenges which include depression, anxiety and substance abuse.

Mourning rituals

After we have lost our loved ones, we would like to be given the opportunity to mourn them in a way that gives us closure. We would like to say goodbye, giving them a befitting sendoff that honours them and the contribution that they made in our lives. Covid-19 is not only robbing us of our loved ones, but it is also denying us the opportunity to mourn them and observe burial rites and rituals that we traditionally engage in. This is stressful and causes significant distress.

Covid-19 is also said to spread significantly during funerals if the person who would have passed on had it. Therefore, funerals are also places where we have to be careful about attending as well as keeping safe. It can be hard to not attend but when we do, we must try our best to stay safe. We also must avoid a lot of sentimentalities, especially with rituals around washing the body (kugezesa chitunha), having the box sleep in the house etc. In DRC funeral rituals killed many people during the days of Ebola as they would go and dig up loved ones that would have been buried by the state so that they could do the funeral rituals.

It’s hard to say goodbye and to not give a fitting send-off to loved ones especially if they have just suddenly died or collapsed as we have heard in many Covid cases. We need to help ourselves & others to grieve and observe funeral rights in other ways.