LOCAL CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST OFFERS TIPS ON HOW TO STAY “WELL” WHILE WORKING REMOTELY

Inger Barnett-Zeigler has been a clinical psychologist for more than 15 years. She shares tips for people who are feeling overwhelmed and who are working remotely from home during COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Inger Barnett-Zeigler
Inger Barnett-Zeigler has been a clinical psychologist for more than 15 years. She shares tips for people who are feeling overwhelmed and who are working remotely from home during COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Inger Barnett-Zeigler

Local Clinical Psychologist offers tips on how to stay “well” while working remotely

BY TIA CAROL JONES
     Working remotely during COVID-19 can come with its own set of challenges when it comes to managing stress and anxiety. With some not physically returning to the office until 2021, there are ways to make sure that you are using positive mental health strategies during uncertain times.
     Dr. Inger Barnett-Zeigler has been a licensed clinical psychologist for more than 15 years. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
Keep A Routine.
     When working with clients, Barnett-Zeigler suggests finding ways to keep a routine.
     “In the context of COVID and the in context of working from home, a lot of people are finding that their work is bleeding into the night and bleeding into the weekend and feeling all consumed by having to both work, take care of kids and the other responsibilities that they have,” she said. In situations like these, Barnett-Zeigler stressed the importance of keeping a regular routine. For example, she said, if you previously ended work at 6 o’clock, try to keep up that same schedule.
Create Space.
     Barnett-Zeigler also acknowledges that with COVID-19 and working remotely from home, people might be working different hours to accommodate other responsibilities, but she said it is important to create some space.
     “And that space being for things you enjoy, if it’s being with your partner, being with your kids, even getting outside. I know for me, I have to intentionally say, ‘I have to go outside today.’ Because I don’t have the activities I used to have, or that lunchbreak that I used to have,” she said.
Give Yourself Compassion
and Grace.
    Barnett-Zeigler said people feel stressed, they feel anxious, they feel overwhelmed and they feel frustrated when it comes to working remotely from home. She said it comes up in the majority of the conversations she has with her clients, who are predominately women who work, but who are also caregivers.          She said they are feeling like there’s a lot to do and not enough time to get those things done.
     “What I’m telling those women - in particular- is just finding ways to give yourself compassion and grace because they feel an intense amount of pressure to get everything done in the same way they used to do it and it’s just not possible anymore,” she said. “I find that people are being really hard on themselves and holding themselves to the same expectations of what they were keeping up before and it’s just impossible.”
Plan in Smaller Periods of Time.
      Barnett-Zeigler said there is a lot of stress and anxiety around not knowing what is going to happen in the future, in particular for the working mom. She said people who have a lot of things going on like to plan and that planning helps them to feel in control. Yet people are finding it hard to plan when things are uncertain.
      “Because people can’t plan in the same way they used to, that is very unsettling. For those folks I tell them, now, we just have to plan in smaller periods of time. Where before you may view a plan six months out, you can plan only one month at a time and adjusting to that as a norm,” she said.
Don’t Put Too Many Things
on the List.
     Barnett-Zeigler said lists are also great, but if people don’t accomplish everything on the list, it can lead to stress and anxiety, which can also lead to them feeling less motivated to do anything. She said the idea is to make a list that feels “achievable.” After that, she suggests congratulating yourself once you take something off of the list and then keep working through it at a pace that feels manageable for you based on whatever it is you have going on in your life.

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