Tackling fear and anxiety amid Coronavirus

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Therapy has moved online in the midst of stay at home orders throughout the country. Here locally, some therapists are helping more and more patients through fear and anxiety about COVID-19.   

Rhonda Gipson-Willis has been a licensed therapist for 17 years. She says there has been a learning curve for some of her patients moving to online sessions. 

Gipson-Willis also says she's seeing more extroverts struggling with social distancing. "This time, what it represents for a lot of people is not that I have to sit down and 'be bored' but now they have to sit down and they’re being bombarded with feelings that they’ve never had to deal with before." said Gipson-Willis.

Gipson-Willis has come up with the acronym 'H.A.P.P.Y.' in order to encourage patients during this time. It stands for:

• Help yourself to heal first
• Allow space and room to breathe
• Pace yourself during times of uncertainty
• Pivot from what doesn't bring you joy
• You don't have to do "this" like anyone else

Gipson-Willis also says it's important not to allow yourselves to become overwhelmed with all of the Coronavirus news. "People are finding themselves just glued to the television or to social media and that only increases your anxiety because we’re dealing with something that we can’t control," said Gipson-Willis.

For more information on how to apply the H.A.P.P.Y. method, click here.