Self-Care Strategies

Clinician Self-Care in Times of Crisis (Video) – McLean
Presenter: Blaise Aguirre, MD
In this video, Blaise Aguirre, child and adolescent psychiatrist from McLean, shares strategies from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help mental health professionals and health care workers from all disciplines cope with COVID-19.

Coping During COVID-19 (Youtube) – Women’s College Hospital
Presenters: Dana Ross, MD and Tessa Colthoff PhD, C. Psych
To help support healthcare workers, Dana Ross, a psychiatrist at Women’s College Hospital and psychological associate Tessa Colthoff, have created a video with ten helpful coping tips and self-care strategies.

Resources for MD Wellness (PDF) – Julie Maggi, MD MSc FRCPC
This document provides a list of MD Wellness resources and includes Individual supports/assistance in navigating the supports, distress numbers, virtual chat groups and support groups for MDs, residents, and psychiatrists, physician mindfulness sessions, resources for supporting children and childcare for essential workers and COVID-19 relevant articles.

Stress and Burnout for Front-line Staff (Website) – Center for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH)
Developed by CICMH and partners, this info sheet highlights useful information on stress and burnout and possible interventions to build coping skills.

Training, Webinars & Events

Ambiguous Loss in the Time of COVID-19: Shifting Your Mindset to Hope and Resiliency (Webinar) – Center for Change
Presenter: Melissa Taylor, LMFT, CEDS-S
In this webinar, Melissa Taylor discusses how to find hope and resiliency during the ambiguous loss in time of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Coping Tips for Health Care Workers (Webinar) – McLean
Presenter: Dr. Blaise Aguirre
This webinar draws from dialectical behaviour therapy strategies to help mental health professionals and health care workers from all disciplines cope with the challenges they are facing during COVID-19.

Crisis Response Virtual Training (Course) – Mental Health Commission of Canada
The Mental Health Commission of Canada has developed two free crisis response training programs for essential workers. Recognizing that essential workers are facing a number of new challenges while at work which may be affecting their mental health. These programs are specifically designed to help provide individuals with the tools and knowledge to better understand their own mental health and the mental health of their team.

Demystifying Ethics and Law for Telebehavioral Health (Course) – American Counseling Association
This 4-part course provides an overview of how to set up tele-behavioural health services, including counselling and supervision. The content focuses on the ethical and legal practice of tele-behavioural health. In this course, participants learn how to provide ethical and legal tele-behavioural health services, what technologies to use or not use and how to establish a therapeutic relationship via distance modalities.

Mental Health and Resilience During COVID-19 (Webinar) – Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute
Presenter: Vicki Enns, MMFT, RMFT
In this webinar, key factors for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic are explored. The focus of the webinar is to provide participants with guidance for building resilience and staying emotionally and mentally healthy during this time of added stress.

Providing Psychological Services in the Face of Uncertainty: A Q&A Series – American Psychological Association
Presenter: Jeff Zimmerman, PhD
In this three-part series of video, Jeff Zimmerman, addresses frequently asked questions on issues surrounding telehealth and practice innovations during COVID-19.

Pragmatics of Telepsychology Practice in the Age of COVID-19 (Webinar) – National Register
By: Mary K. Alvord, PhD
In this webinar, Mary Alvord discusses telepsychology during COVID-19 and presents strategies for ethical and effective practice. Participants will learn the conditions under which telepsychology might be appropriate and suitable during the COVID-19 outbreak, the skills providers must possess prior to using telepsychology and the ethical issues and strategies for effective risk management.

Psychological Care of Frontline Health Care Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues to Consider – Canadian Psychological Association
Presenter: Anita Gupta, PhD, CPsych
This webinar aims to assist individuals who are providing psychological care to frontline health care workers during COVID-19. The focus of the webinar is to increase the awareness of common stressors faced and implications for care, considerations to take into account when providing assessment and treatment to health care providers of different professions during COVID-19, and how it might be similar or different from treating this population generally.

Telebehavioral Health – What Every Provider Needs to Know (Webinar) – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Presenter: Marlene M. Maheu, PhD
This webinar explored the important legal issues that relate to telehealth (e.g., licensure, informed consent, privacy/confidentiality); ethical issues (e.g., competencies, documentation, marketing); clinical issues (e.g., assessment/screening, boundaries/telepresence, handling emergencies); technical issues (e.g., technology/platform choices, cybersecurity, handling repairs); and other related information.