Anxious and Hopeless

Dear Dr. My husband and I are educators. People are terrified of the future under this administration -impeached felon has his hand on the nuclear button; end birthright citizenship; release 1,500 prisoners en masse that assaulted and destroyed property on January 6; gutted government diversity, equality, and inclusion programs; took pride for obliterating Roe v Wade… Our youth have lived with school shootings since Columbine in 1999, COVID since 2021. We’re all feeling anxious and hopeless. 

Dear Educators, Many agree that the future mental health of our citizens is at a crisis level. In the US/UK/Ireland/Canada a global company has set up a free, 24/7, confidential crisis textline, manned by trained crisis counselors (text HOME to 741741). Lifeline also has a 988 national suicide/crisis phoneline/text. Short of this immediate intervention, each person needs to (1) assess the predominant disabling symptoms (generalized or specific, chronic or temporary -anxiety, depression)… (2) develop and follow a treatment plan with aid of professionals/research the literature or colleagues/modify goals as needed. Throughout everything, daily belief in something is critical -a purpose in life, or something simple that maintains hope. Times are unstable, dig deep to find resilience and challenge yourself to evolve and thrive. -SQ