By Diana Chepkosgei | Program Manager and Lead Counselor
We have been living in unprecedented times experiencing various challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic affects the globe. Being in the space of mental health and working with bereaved families; we have continued to receive clients who unfortunately are caught up with grief and the psychological impact of the current pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to psychological distress, economical and societal stress. We can imagine what you are also currently going through, but the question is, how are you managing your mental well-being at such a time? As an organization we’ve had to adjust to virtual mode of therapy. Virtual therapy was one of the modes of therapy we used to employ for clients who were unable to physically visit our office. However, we’ve had to embrace pure virtual support for all clients in order to limit physical interaction but still offer quality services.
During the past three months, we supported 146 clients as highlighted below:
This is an increase of 43 clients from the first quarter. It has been encouraging to see individuals embrace virtual counselling and committing through the healing experience. Apart from offering psycho-social support, we have continued to push for mental health conversations via our social media platforms and sharing relevant information to educate our community. This being a very critical period as most people are bound to struggle psychologically as they navigate the new normal and its effects; we’ve encouraged our community to seek mental health services as such we subsidized our counselling rates to accommodate more people.
Below are the stories of two of our amazing constituents whom we’ve journeyed with.
Nadia*
I lost my son on the 22nd of April 2020 at 39 weeks. I reached out to Still A Mum when I was at my lowest point struggling with suicidal thoughts. I knew I needed support but I was still unable to start off the sessions. But Diana, the Counselor, still kept in touch with me and was there for me until I was ready to attend the sessions virtually. I was skeptical about counselling because I’m not comfortable talking about my feelings and sharing my thoughts with other people. But Diana eased my fears and created a safe environment for me to share how I felt and what I was going through. I am grateful for the counselling because I have picked up a lot of skills that are helping me on my grief journey. Although I know I still have a long way to go, I’m able to talk to myself off the ledge when the days are hard. Before I started the sessions, I was a very closed off person, I was hesitant to talk about any of my feelings and I was struggling with a lot of anger. I’m now aware of my feelings and I’m actively trying to improve myself. Thank you Still A Mum.
Lilian*
I lost my first born a day before he was due, I went to the clinic for my regular checkups. On the 2nd of May 2020, there I was told that his heartbeat wasn’t normal. I was then sent to the hospital for further assessments. There the doctor told me that his heart has stopped beating, he told me that I have lost my son, I spent two full days with him inside my womb not moving or breathing. No one knew what had happened, they did tests on me and they showed nothing until the day I delivered him on the 4th of May 2020. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.
I asked myself how can something that was supposed to help him survive be the cause of his death. I sometimes blame myself for I didn’t feel that something was wrong though I did everything the way I told to and never missed even once my ANC appointments. My family was never supportive of the situation at all, they told me to be strong and not to cry over what has happened, to them it was nothing but to me it was my everything. I sometimes cry myself to sleep just thinking of my son. I hated the way people said that I’m young and I will have more children in the future.
During this dark moment, I came across Still A Mum website and right away I did send an email requesting to be part of the WhatsApp support group. I joined the group on 18th May 2020 and since then I have gained great support from the counselor and the other women in the group. At first, I was scared, sharing my story was really difficult as it created more pain that I felt I couldn’t handle. Talking to other ladies was really helping. I realized I am not alone. Hearing them talk about how they go about on their daily basis was giving me some strength to forge on. I liked the way the Counselor facilitated the session; I like being heard and not judged. This was a safe space to be listened to. I am really grateful to be in a platform where I can heal with other mums.
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