Is Lockdown Worth the Price of Mental Health? — Auckland Level 3 Lockdown Feb 2021
Seeing the world go in and out of lockdowns has really started to make me question... Is Lockdown Worth the Price of Mental Health?
ITS OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY!
EVEN IF YOU DONT FEEL LIKE YOU ARE ‘on the edge’. REACH OUT FOR HELP. THERE IS NO SHAME!
WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER AND WE NEED YOU HERE ON THIS EARTH ❤️
Since first writing my article“Breaking free of House Arrest: A new perspective on travel” New Zealand has been relatively free of lockdowns. They went hard and fast in March 2020, with a Level 4 full quarantine countrywide for a bit over a month. NZ managed to basically stamp out COVID-19 community transmission in the country, other than incoming flights which had cases in 2 week hotel quarantine.
However, my family in Australia was in the middle of the Sydney, Northern Beaches (the NB) Christmas lockdown outbreak. With my Nan and Aunties on the south side of the NB and my dad, brother and step-mum on the otherside. Needless to say, the timing as awful. It happened was suddenly, and it was very unclear how the community should assist in managing the outbreak.
As of 16th February 2021, Auckland has been in its thirdaround of Level 3 lockdowns, and wider New Zealand is in Level 2. Seeing the world go in and out of lockdowns has really started to make me question if Lockdown is worth the price of mental health. So I created a video to capture my thoughts (see below).
CLICK LINK for YouTube VIDEO DISCUSSION in detail: Is Lockdown Worth the Price of Mental Health? — Auckland Level 3 Lockdown Feb 2021
The video above dives into the importance of us needing to evaluate the impacts of lockdowns and the impacts of mental health and where they balance out on each other.
At the moment, I think we are leading ourselves into a situation where we’re going to have a huge problem with mental health which is going to be absolutely devastating.
We need to ensure decisions are being made with consideration of what is vital for humanity to prosper, and this includes mental health.
I wish that I had the answer, I really, really do. I plan to gather supporting evidence and investigate this more, but in the interest of time I want to start the conversation now.
I’d love to hear more information and ideas around the different ways mental health could be managed in lockdown, and I want to remind you to focus on your mental health, because it is the greatest asset you will ever have!
To read the previous article click here: Breaking free of House Arrest: A new perspective on travel in 2021
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES CONTACT DETAILS:
AUSTRALIA
— Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au 1300 22 4636
— Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.au 131 114
— Headspace: https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/
— Kids Helpline https://kidshelpline.com.au/ 1800 551 800
— Suicide Call Back Service: https://www.suicidecallbackservice.or... 1300 659 467
NEW ZEALAND
— Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.nz 0800 543 354
— The Low Down https://thelowdown.co.nz/ 0800 111 757
— Youth Line https://www.youthline.co.nz/ 0800 376 633
— Kidsline http://www.kidsline.org.nz/Home_312.aspx 0800 543 754
— WhatsUp https://whatsup.co.nz/ 0800 942 8787
OTHER MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES:
— Just a thought (self help/self guided counselling) https://www.justathought.co.nz
— Headspace (meditation service): https://www.headspace.com
— R U OKAY? (encouraging each other to ask and answer truthfully) https://www.ruok.org.au/
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATES TO FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM:
— Mitch Wallis, founder of @HeartOnMySleeve https://heartonmysleeve.org/
— Might & Mane @mightandmaneorg www.mightandmane.org
— El Rowland creator of @BelleOfTheAshes www.belleoftheashes.com.au
— Tony Robbins @tonyrobbins https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mental-health/
Follow on:
- Instagram @KristieBennett https://www.instagram.com/kristiebennett/
- YouTube @KristieBennett https://youtube.com/channel/UCVX2_BkHf8I6BzZp8YLiqvA
- Medium @Kristie-Bennett www.Kristie-Bennett.medium.com
