Selected Podcast
Returning to Normal Post-COVID
Pari Baker, LCSW discusses mental health issues faced during and post-COVID, how to identify and avoid toxic relationships.
Featuring:
Pari Baker, LCSW
Pari received her Bachelors of Arts degree from Wofford College, roughly 30 minutes away from her hometown of Greenville, SC. She graduated with her Masters in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2014, later relocating to the Hot Springs area with her husband Taylor and their dog, Warren. Pari joined the Bath Community Hospital team in 2016 to start the Behavioral Health program in order to provide services to an area that has come to mean so much to her. Pari provides outpatient therapy to individuals, couples, and families of all ages and varieties of diagnoses and needs. Pari also serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for Safehome Systems, Inc., in Covington, VA. In her spare time, Pari enjoys spending as much time with her family and friends as possible and cheering on the Alabama Crimson Tide. Transcription:
Tony Martinez: The Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, announced recently even more relaxed guidelines for unmasking outdoors and even indoors for Americans who are vaccinated from COVID-19. The news suggests that the worst of the pandemic may be behind us. So why are there so many Americans still fearful, still greatly concerned about a post-COVID-19 future?
You're listening to Your Health Is Our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital podcast brought to you by Bath Community Hospital. I'm your host, Tony Martinez.
Returning to normal post COVID-19 is our theme today. And joining me to discuss this extremely relevant important topic is Pari Baker, licensed clinical social worker at Bath Community Physicians Group. Pari, thank you so much for being with us today.
Pari Baker: Oh, of course. Thanks for having me on.
Tony Martinez: Well, great to talk with you, period. You know, I wanted to start with this with summer upon us and people really celebrating community. Again, I wanted to ask you about these new murals in your area. Why are these love murals so important now, as we, emerged from COVID lockdown.
Pari Baker: So bath community hospital is so excited to have partnered with the bass county arts association to bring love, evolves to the area. And, it was created by a Richmond artists, sunny stack. Good. And the thought behind it was that. When we see the word love out and about, it's such a huge facilitator for connection, for being able to sort of check in with ourselves to see what we need promotes well-being, and really just makes us want to reach out and become more connected and involved with other people.
So the thought is that if we have these murals just, Semi randomly placed around people will see them. And that will spark a, conversation or an effort to reach out to someone that maybe you haven't talked to in awhile, or just to really check in with yourself and see what it is that you're in need of in that moment.
So we are so excited to be receiving one of these murals. It's going to go on the side of our, rehabilitation and wellness center, and we're actually going to be having an event to kind of introduce it to the community on, June 6th, from 10:00 AM to noon. It's free to the public and everyone's invited to just come by, take a look.
Connect with other people and this being such a momentous point of the pandemic, where we're able to get out and see each other again, it's all sort of come full circle and we're so excited about it.
Tony Martinez: Well, it's so wonderful to talk to you because we don't always get to talk to the people in the middle of America, the people who do all the work, the people that, you know, don't see a stoplight every couple blocks. Tell me about your neighborhood, your community, and how it is now feeling with this COVID-19 pandemic, at least releasing its hold on us a little bit?
Pari Baker: Yeah, sure. So I live and work in a very rural community. We're very small. There's about 4,000 people in the county. No stoplights, as you mentioned. So, you know, we're very good about standing behind each other and taking care of each other. And also like the rest of the country, we've been really hit by the pandemic and all of the changes that's brought. So understandably, we're all also very excited about the possibility of getting to move forward with, you know, life as we used to live it, maybe a little bit mask-less at this point or hopefully moving forward. So, I think the community is really excited and, you know, of course also a little apprehensive.
Tony Martinez: Absolutely. You mentioned excited. We have been waiting for the opportunity to emerge from this pandemic for quite a while now. So that makes it sort of unusual that these feelings of apprehension and fear, I would say fear is a good word, still exist in some individuals. Are those feelings normal?
Pari Baker: Oh, yes. They are so normal. If we're thinking about the pandemic, I mean, that qualifies as a collective trauma. I mean, collectively as a country, we've been experiencing a trauma for the past, you know, 15 months or so. And so of course, that comes with all sorts of side effects even as the trauma, the fear seems to be lifting or passing. Now everybody's faced with, "Okay. Well, I've been in my house for 15 months" or "I've been largely separated from the rest of the population for this long. How do I start to get my life back on track?" And then facing very normal, very valid feelings of anxiety, fear, a little bit of restlessness, even a little bit of like, “Wait, I don't know if I'm ready for this yet." Kind of that feeling of, "I want to pull back in. I don't know if I'm ready to reintegrate." Very normal feelings.
Tony Martinez: So what is the one thing, or maybe it's two or three things, that we need to keep in mind now as we reemerge at least here in the US, but in your neighborhood, in your rural community, what are the two or three things you're really reminding people to do right now?
Pari Baker: So the first thing is just being very kind and patient and gentle with ourselves. I mean, emotions have been running high for pandemic and other reasons for so long now. And I think we've become a little numb to just how impacted we've been, because it's been so ongoing. So now, to start to lift some of the regulations about masks and distancing, you know, I think people have a tendency to kind of want to run towards that because they're so excited and so ready, and they don't realize that could also have kind of a ripple effect as it relates to their anxiety. And I think it's so important that we're patient with ourselves to acknowledge that might happen and that it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with us or that we're doing it wrong if we do feel that way.
And also just that we do this in kind of a methodical way. We didn't really have the luxury of being very methodical when everything shut down. It was just sort of like all at once. It felt like we were in lockdown mode. And so of course, that means we're all the more ready to get back out there. But I think what people are finding is, if they haven't prepared themselves, they're really just taking a second to think about what it's going to be like.
They go back out, put themselves in, you know, the most crowded store or the busiest part of their town and then, all of a sudden, start to experience social anxiety or just more anxiety and then it startles them. Maybe they've never felt that kind of anxiety before. Maybe they've never struggled with social anxiety. And then here they are thinking, "Wait a minute. People are in my space now. I'm not used to this." And then it catches them off guard and they think it means that something's wrong with them, but it doesn't. It's just the natural progression of this.
Tony Martinez: So I totally agree with you. And I think that idea of we didn't have the opportunity to gear down, but now we do have the option to gear up. And as we go from third, fourth and to fifth gear in our everyday lives, what should we do would you say to hit cruise control smoothly and get back into the swing without the problems we had at the beginning?
Pari Baker: Yeah. So I think that easing in is going to be crucial because, again, there's that kind of desperate feeling that's compelling all of us to want to immediately, you know, go book a flight to New York or immediately go just get out there and live life normally the way we see it as pre-pandemic normal. And then, because we have that startle response, it can really freak us out.
So I think that's why the ease in is so crucial. Don't start with the busiest place you know of. Start with a small store near your house that you can just kind of go and test the water, then remember what it's like to be in the presence of people and not be worried about keeping a six-foot distance between them or, if the masks are lifted in your state and you can go in to stores without a mask on, to ease yourself into it and not just run up on people and start hugging, though we all have the instinct because there's that piece of us, that's like, "Oh no. What if it leaves again? Let me go do all of my things now in case we get shut down again. Let me go to all of the busy stores. Let me go hug everyone I see even strangers on the street because I'm so scared it's going to get taken away from me again." But that desperation also really fuels that fear and fuels that negative energy. So I think really, slow and steady wins the race here.
Tony Martinez: Well, absolutely. Slow and steady is it. And before we give your listeners the resources of where they can go to get some help individually, I do want to mention the healthcare providers, the nurses, the clinicians who have been on the front lines. They deserve so much credit for being the face of bravery really during this pandemic. Talk about your exemplary team at Bath Community Hospital and the job that they've done in your community. It has been truly amazing, hasn't it?
Pari Baker: It absolutely has been. They've all been extraordinary. I mean, this was a pandemic, something that happened to all of us at one time where we had no manual to follow. There was no way to say, "Oh, okay, here's what we can expect next. Let's prepare ourselves." It was just kind of trial by fire day in, day out. And they all accommodated as quickly as they possibly could. There were learning curves. We all at one time or another probably felt like we had no clue what was going on. And they kept good attitudes, they kept healthy boundaries for themselves, I hope. They maintained a positive attitude in what was a completely devastating and unprecedented time. And they all came together as a team. It was really beautiful and they did such a good job of it.
Tony Martinez: Anything else that you would like to add for your community to know about what you're providing now as you begin to emerge now from COVID-19?
Pari Baker: I think some of the things that are kind of considered silver linings from the pandemic is that we've had to take a different look at resources and their availability. So as I said, I live in a really small town and we don't have a ton of resources available. Transportation can be kind of hard. The weather, we live in the mountains, so for several months, it just feels like it's just frigid with nothing but snow. And so some of the upsides of the pandemic has been that we've gotten creative about how we offer resources. So for example, I'd never done telehealth until the pandemic started. I now do telehealth for half of my practice.
And my hope is that's going to continue. I've had a lot of good feedback from clients who do telehealth. It was exclusively telehealth for awhile. Now, I see some people in office again, but I want people to be aware that these small benefits that have come out of the pandemic, I plan to continue to offer for as long as I can, for as long as insurance will cover it, which might be indefinitely. So there are still services and there are some positive takeaways that we can still hold on to from the pandemic, even as we desperately climb back to our level of normalcy, that some of these things were benefits and we can actually keep them and keep utilizing them. So I think that's really exciting.
Tony Martinez: Yes, they can come from where we least expect them. So, Pari, I thank you so much for being with us. A tremendous discussion and you're doing more than I think you may realize for your listeners and for your community. So thank you so much for being with us.
Pari Baker: Oh, of course. That's very kind. And thank you so much for having me on. This was so fun.
Tony Martinez: It is. It's great to have you and we hope to have you back again. Thank you so much.
Well, that wraps up this episode of Your Health Is Our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital podcast brought to you by Bath Community Hospital. If you're interested more of this information, you can visit us online at bathhospital.org. You can even call us directly at (540) 839-7319 -- one more time, it's (540) 839-7319 -- for more information on coping with the stress related to COVID-19.
In addition, please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other Bath Community Hospital podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social media channels. And for Bath Community Hospital, I'm your host, Tony Martinez. Thank you.
Tony Martinez: The Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, announced recently even more relaxed guidelines for unmasking outdoors and even indoors for Americans who are vaccinated from COVID-19. The news suggests that the worst of the pandemic may be behind us. So why are there so many Americans still fearful, still greatly concerned about a post-COVID-19 future?
You're listening to Your Health Is Our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital podcast brought to you by Bath Community Hospital. I'm your host, Tony Martinez.
Returning to normal post COVID-19 is our theme today. And joining me to discuss this extremely relevant important topic is Pari Baker, licensed clinical social worker at Bath Community Physicians Group. Pari, thank you so much for being with us today.
Pari Baker: Oh, of course. Thanks for having me on.
Tony Martinez: Well, great to talk with you, period. You know, I wanted to start with this with summer upon us and people really celebrating community. Again, I wanted to ask you about these new murals in your area. Why are these love murals so important now, as we, emerged from COVID lockdown.
Pari Baker: So bath community hospital is so excited to have partnered with the bass county arts association to bring love, evolves to the area. And, it was created by a Richmond artists, sunny stack. Good. And the thought behind it was that. When we see the word love out and about, it's such a huge facilitator for connection, for being able to sort of check in with ourselves to see what we need promotes well-being, and really just makes us want to reach out and become more connected and involved with other people.
So the thought is that if we have these murals just, Semi randomly placed around people will see them. And that will spark a, conversation or an effort to reach out to someone that maybe you haven't talked to in awhile, or just to really check in with yourself and see what it is that you're in need of in that moment.
So we are so excited to be receiving one of these murals. It's going to go on the side of our, rehabilitation and wellness center, and we're actually going to be having an event to kind of introduce it to the community on, June 6th, from 10:00 AM to noon. It's free to the public and everyone's invited to just come by, take a look.
Connect with other people and this being such a momentous point of the pandemic, where we're able to get out and see each other again, it's all sort of come full circle and we're so excited about it.
Tony Martinez: Well, it's so wonderful to talk to you because we don't always get to talk to the people in the middle of America, the people who do all the work, the people that, you know, don't see a stoplight every couple blocks. Tell me about your neighborhood, your community, and how it is now feeling with this COVID-19 pandemic, at least releasing its hold on us a little bit?
Pari Baker: Yeah, sure. So I live and work in a very rural community. We're very small. There's about 4,000 people in the county. No stoplights, as you mentioned. So, you know, we're very good about standing behind each other and taking care of each other. And also like the rest of the country, we've been really hit by the pandemic and all of the changes that's brought. So understandably, we're all also very excited about the possibility of getting to move forward with, you know, life as we used to live it, maybe a little bit mask-less at this point or hopefully moving forward. So, I think the community is really excited and, you know, of course also a little apprehensive.
Tony Martinez: Absolutely. You mentioned excited. We have been waiting for the opportunity to emerge from this pandemic for quite a while now. So that makes it sort of unusual that these feelings of apprehension and fear, I would say fear is a good word, still exist in some individuals. Are those feelings normal?
Pari Baker: Oh, yes. They are so normal. If we're thinking about the pandemic, I mean, that qualifies as a collective trauma. I mean, collectively as a country, we've been experiencing a trauma for the past, you know, 15 months or so. And so of course, that comes with all sorts of side effects even as the trauma, the fear seems to be lifting or passing. Now everybody's faced with, "Okay. Well, I've been in my house for 15 months" or "I've been largely separated from the rest of the population for this long. How do I start to get my life back on track?" And then facing very normal, very valid feelings of anxiety, fear, a little bit of restlessness, even a little bit of like, “Wait, I don't know if I'm ready for this yet." Kind of that feeling of, "I want to pull back in. I don't know if I'm ready to reintegrate." Very normal feelings.
Tony Martinez: So what is the one thing, or maybe it's two or three things, that we need to keep in mind now as we reemerge at least here in the US, but in your neighborhood, in your rural community, what are the two or three things you're really reminding people to do right now?
Pari Baker: So the first thing is just being very kind and patient and gentle with ourselves. I mean, emotions have been running high for pandemic and other reasons for so long now. And I think we've become a little numb to just how impacted we've been, because it's been so ongoing. So now, to start to lift some of the regulations about masks and distancing, you know, I think people have a tendency to kind of want to run towards that because they're so excited and so ready, and they don't realize that could also have kind of a ripple effect as it relates to their anxiety. And I think it's so important that we're patient with ourselves to acknowledge that might happen and that it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with us or that we're doing it wrong if we do feel that way.
And also just that we do this in kind of a methodical way. We didn't really have the luxury of being very methodical when everything shut down. It was just sort of like all at once. It felt like we were in lockdown mode. And so of course, that means we're all the more ready to get back out there. But I think what people are finding is, if they haven't prepared themselves, they're really just taking a second to think about what it's going to be like.
They go back out, put themselves in, you know, the most crowded store or the busiest part of their town and then, all of a sudden, start to experience social anxiety or just more anxiety and then it startles them. Maybe they've never felt that kind of anxiety before. Maybe they've never struggled with social anxiety. And then here they are thinking, "Wait a minute. People are in my space now. I'm not used to this." And then it catches them off guard and they think it means that something's wrong with them, but it doesn't. It's just the natural progression of this.
Tony Martinez: So I totally agree with you. And I think that idea of we didn't have the opportunity to gear down, but now we do have the option to gear up. And as we go from third, fourth and to fifth gear in our everyday lives, what should we do would you say to hit cruise control smoothly and get back into the swing without the problems we had at the beginning?
Pari Baker: Yeah. So I think that easing in is going to be crucial because, again, there's that kind of desperate feeling that's compelling all of us to want to immediately, you know, go book a flight to New York or immediately go just get out there and live life normally the way we see it as pre-pandemic normal. And then, because we have that startle response, it can really freak us out.
So I think that's why the ease in is so crucial. Don't start with the busiest place you know of. Start with a small store near your house that you can just kind of go and test the water, then remember what it's like to be in the presence of people and not be worried about keeping a six-foot distance between them or, if the masks are lifted in your state and you can go in to stores without a mask on, to ease yourself into it and not just run up on people and start hugging, though we all have the instinct because there's that piece of us, that's like, "Oh no. What if it leaves again? Let me go do all of my things now in case we get shut down again. Let me go to all of the busy stores. Let me go hug everyone I see even strangers on the street because I'm so scared it's going to get taken away from me again." But that desperation also really fuels that fear and fuels that negative energy. So I think really, slow and steady wins the race here.
Tony Martinez: Well, absolutely. Slow and steady is it. And before we give your listeners the resources of where they can go to get some help individually, I do want to mention the healthcare providers, the nurses, the clinicians who have been on the front lines. They deserve so much credit for being the face of bravery really during this pandemic. Talk about your exemplary team at Bath Community Hospital and the job that they've done in your community. It has been truly amazing, hasn't it?
Pari Baker: It absolutely has been. They've all been extraordinary. I mean, this was a pandemic, something that happened to all of us at one time where we had no manual to follow. There was no way to say, "Oh, okay, here's what we can expect next. Let's prepare ourselves." It was just kind of trial by fire day in, day out. And they all accommodated as quickly as they possibly could. There were learning curves. We all at one time or another probably felt like we had no clue what was going on. And they kept good attitudes, they kept healthy boundaries for themselves, I hope. They maintained a positive attitude in what was a completely devastating and unprecedented time. And they all came together as a team. It was really beautiful and they did such a good job of it.
Tony Martinez: Anything else that you would like to add for your community to know about what you're providing now as you begin to emerge now from COVID-19?
Pari Baker: I think some of the things that are kind of considered silver linings from the pandemic is that we've had to take a different look at resources and their availability. So as I said, I live in a really small town and we don't have a ton of resources available. Transportation can be kind of hard. The weather, we live in the mountains, so for several months, it just feels like it's just frigid with nothing but snow. And so some of the upsides of the pandemic has been that we've gotten creative about how we offer resources. So for example, I'd never done telehealth until the pandemic started. I now do telehealth for half of my practice.
And my hope is that's going to continue. I've had a lot of good feedback from clients who do telehealth. It was exclusively telehealth for awhile. Now, I see some people in office again, but I want people to be aware that these small benefits that have come out of the pandemic, I plan to continue to offer for as long as I can, for as long as insurance will cover it, which might be indefinitely. So there are still services and there are some positive takeaways that we can still hold on to from the pandemic, even as we desperately climb back to our level of normalcy, that some of these things were benefits and we can actually keep them and keep utilizing them. So I think that's really exciting.
Tony Martinez: Yes, they can come from where we least expect them. So, Pari, I thank you so much for being with us. A tremendous discussion and you're doing more than I think you may realize for your listeners and for your community. So thank you so much for being with us.
Pari Baker: Oh, of course. That's very kind. And thank you so much for having me on. This was so fun.
Tony Martinez: It is. It's great to have you and we hope to have you back again. Thank you so much.
Well, that wraps up this episode of Your Health Is Our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital podcast brought to you by Bath Community Hospital. If you're interested more of this information, you can visit us online at bathhospital.org. You can even call us directly at (540) 839-7319 -- one more time, it's (540) 839-7319 -- for more information on coping with the stress related to COVID-19.
In addition, please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other Bath Community Hospital podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social media channels. And for Bath Community Hospital, I'm your host, Tony Martinez. Thank you.