My thoughts on the end of COVID and trying to make sense of this stuff and the impact it has had on all of us.
Now that uncertainty of COVID has wound down and the harmful experience of social distancing becomes a fading memory, are you feeling lost? Are you trying to return to what you remember as normal only to find that normal doesn’t even make sense anymore? This existential transition is affecting every single person alive today. Processing the last few years requires evaluating changes as you see them- politically, socially, spiritually- how it affects us, our families, our relationships. Especially here in the PNW. Everything we know as routine is a bit different. Seems the same, but is isn’t. It’s just different.
As a clinician my role has changed Post-COVID. During COVID I think mental health practitioners reminded people that the world was still out there and that their values would be accessible and useful when it was finally over. That people were not alone.
It seems that many of my clients need a gentle nudge to transition back to in person existence. Simply going to work, driving the kids to soccer, going to the grocery store isn’t enough post COVID. We all need to increase our contact with friends, family, getting used to saying hello to strangers again. We need to have more fun out there! Even for those who preferred to less interaction before COVID- I do not know a single person who wants to continue their life in near total isolation.
When people realize they aren’t alone and still feel disconnected- that’s when anxiety and depression pop up. I see this as the formation of event related traumatic distress.
I enjoy helping people find a way to get back out there. Nothing needs to stop you- not depression, anxiety, bad love and relationships, distraction, procrastination, substance abuse- nothing will stand in your way if you are willing to be uncomfortable diving into this stuff and working on it. Chopping it up, tossing it in the fire, and watching it smoke to the cosmos.
You don’t need to do it alone. Won’t work. You’ve got to work on it and it is hard work. But it wouldn’t be worth doing if it was easy.
You are moving on. The values and principles that you live by will work and you will stand strong. You’ve got this.
Let’s get to work.
–Justin Rice, PMHNP
I provide effective, culturally competent, trauma-informed psychiatric care to clients in a private and comfortable location. I practice general psychiatry which includes: anxiety, ADHD, Binge Eating Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and addiction / alcoholism. I serve people ages 16-60 in the Beaverton/ Portland area.
Justin Rice, PMHNP offers psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and therapy. The primary focus of our clinic is psychiatry which in this practice means mental health medication management and therapy.
Conveniently located on SW Beaverton Hillsdale HWY near 217 in downtown Beaverton.