As we all continue to face the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we may find ourselves needing more and more help with our psychological well-being. This crisis is not only potentially affecting us physically, but economically, emotionally, socially, and psychologically. Just as we turn to our medical experts to help us preserve our physical well-being during this challenging time, we should seek the advice of our mental health professionals as well. Russ Harris, author of the international best-selling self-help book ‘The Happiness Trap’, and world-renowned trainer of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) has outlined some practical steps to help us effectively respond to the current crisis using ACT principles. If you’re not familiar, in short, ACT is a form of counseling and a branch of clinical behavior analysis (just like ABA). It is an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. Harris uses the principles of ACT to outline nine key steps to help us during this time using the acronym “FACE COVID”:
F = Focus on what’s in your control
A = Acknowledge your thoughts & feelings
C = Come back into your body
E = Engage in what you’re doing

C = Committed action
O = Opening up
V = Values
I = Identify resources
D = Disinfect & distance

After grounding yourself in these activities, it’s time to move onto the steps of COVID

Resources:

Harris, R. (2020, March 20). FACE COVID. How to respond effectively to the coronavirus crisis. ContextualScience.org. https://contextualscience.org/covid19_therapy_resources.