The Mary A. Rackham Institute (MARI) is supporting the mental health needs of essential workers and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic by offering free 30-minute wellness consultations that will be scheduled within one to two business days of the initial call to our Institute. The University Psychological Clinic and the University Center for the Child and Family (UCCF) are offering the consultations via teletherapy to essential workers and/or their families.
Mental health services, while always critical, have become even more so for many as we face new and uncertain situations. In particular, front-line, essential workers, including those who work in health care, grocery and food service, public safety, custodial services, and delivery services, are likely to experience increased stress and anxiety related to exposure to COVID-19 and the demands of their jobs.
A MARI Mental Health Wellness Consultation may be useful to you if you are:
- A custodial worker who is worried about exposing your family to COVID-19 as a result of your job.
- A healthcare worker experiencing the inability to sleep and/or having difficulty relaxing.
- A grocery store employee wanting strategies for managing stress.
- Trying to figure out how to talk with your child about why you are spending more time away from the family and/or you can’t hug right when you get home from work.
- The partner of an essential worker trying to figure out how to manage parenting and/or household duties on your own.
- The child of an essential worker who is having big worries or other big feelings related to your parent’s job.
The objective is to offer shorter but quick-to-be scheduled appointments to help manage the daily or mounting stresses front-line workers and their families may experience. Appointments can help clients develop concrete coping strategies, figure out how to talk with children about job demands, or work through how to manage logistics of a household given job demands, for example.
Details
- Who: Essential workers on the front lines with risk of exposure to COVID-19. Psychological Clinic appointments are slated for individual adults; UCCF appointments are open to essential workers, their partners, and/or their children.
- What: Up to three free 30-minute teletherapy appointments with a therapist to help triage emerging mental health issues during the ongoing pandemic. Individuals and families who are interested in pursuing care beyond the initial wellness consultations can discuss options with their clinicians.
- When: Call for an appointment. Every effort is made to schedule a session within one to two days.
- How: Teletherapy provided via HIPAA-compliant conferencing (i.e., Zoom or BlueJeans). Contact the MARI Call Center at (734) 615-7853 to get started.
- Cost: Free for up to three wellness consultation sessions.
- Why: Access to mental health care is crucial, particularly for those who are keeping our world moving forward right now.
Looking for Mental Health Care, but Not an ‘Essential’ Worker?
If you would like to seek mental health care for you or your family and you are not classified as an essential worker, we will also be accepting new clients as capacity opens. You can contact us to find out more about first steps, wait times, and insurance coverage at (734) 615-7853.