If you are having difficulty dealing with isolating yourself from neighbors, not being able to socialize with friends, and feeling disconnected from family during the past couple of weeks…….you are not alone.

As people stay huddled in their homes in hopes of not contracting the corona virus, many individuals are battling depression and anxiety. Mental health counselor Amber Ferguson of Blue Valley Behavioral Health in Beatrice says many of us are being challenged mentally.

“And in these times related to the corona virus, everybody’s anxiety is heightened, it is raised automatically because of the uncharted territory that we really don’t know day to day, week to week, of what is going on”.

Ferguson urges people to stay informed on the latest news of Covid-19 but not to overload on the information.

“You have got to limit yourself to the amount of media you are exposing yourself to. And in our world when you have everything at our fingertips on our phones and on our screens….limiting that Facebook time of scrolling thru and reading every article…yes you need to stay up to date and know what is going on and what you should do, call the hospital hotline and those types of things….but don’t just over absorb yourself with everything that is going on because that is going to be a true trigger for anxiety”

Ferguson says ways to combat anxiety and depression is to open the curtains for full sunlight, play music often thru out the day and face time with family and friends. She says keeping on a daily schedule is very important.

“Get out of your pajamas. Get dressed. Take a shower everyday. Eat regular meals. Those are all super important for our mental health and our physical health. It is super important for mental health and not getting into the habit of staying up late and spending time on Facebook playing video games half the night and then sleeping half the day away. We need to keep a semi-structured scheduled routine in our home, especially for our kids”

She says keeping on a daily routine is extremely important for children.  With schools being closed, she says children can fall into some bad habits that can result in mental health issues.

Ferguson says no one knows how long the pandemic will last. She says on thing for certain is that after the pandemic is over, there will still be mental issues to address.

Ferguson says anyone who feels they are having difficulty dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic are encouraged to contact Blue Valley Behavioral Health.