Keep calm (and wash your hands): Mental Health resources available in our office to cope with COVID-19 psychological inputs

Friends,

We understand that for many it can be quite challenging time, so we’d like to share with you some practical things you could use to help yourself stay sane in the currently insane (to some extent) world:

If you or a family member need to talk to someone

• You and your immediate family can access free, confidential, independent, and clinically-trained professional mental health support 24/7 via the Colleague Support Center.

Call + 7 800 100 9480 to get qualified help

• You can reach out to our office psychologist Natalia Astafurova available every other Friday (starting next week) via Skype – contact @Daria Zemlyanaya to sign up
• Address your questions to our point of contact (POC): @Victor Abramov, @Maria Mazo, @Maria Korosko, @Natalia Shumskaya and @Lilia Trembovetskaya

We will provide a safe space to discuss your needs and connect you to the most appropriate internal or external resources

Take care of yourself

• Practice meditation – join our daily Meditation Practice run by @Alexey Lobachev:

“In these times of radical uncertainty and social distancing, it’s even more important to remain connected & support others.

Since I’m currently studying to become a social meditation facilitator, I am going to host daily Social Noting Meditation group in Zoom at 15:00 starting this Friday.

I will introduce different techniques and we will practice together. To learn more about Social Noting Meditation: https://www.socialnoting.guide

I look forward to meditating with you every day at 15:00 starting Friday 20th of March: https://zoom.us/j/8800255563”

· Join office Yoga & breathing session available via Zoom every Wednesday at 18:30-20:15 – link to follow. Buzz Lilia Trembovetskaya to sign up

• Don’t forget about your body: make sure you get enough sleep, have a balanced diet and get sufficient (home) exercise
• Try to manage how you follow the outbreak in the media – keep informing and educating yourself, but limit your news (and memes, which are abundant these days) intake if it is troubling you (stick to the reputable news sources and don’t get fixated on what you see/hear on social media).

Stay connected – talk to your family, friends, and colleagues

• Ask our children what they have heard about the outbreak and support them, without causing them alarm, while explaining the facts
• Give older adults a regular call – they may be self-isolating and would welcome a chat having less opportunity for social engagements
• Take the opportunity to call family and friends whom you haven’t spoken with for a while
• Conduct additional phone or Zoom calls with teammates and colleagues to connect personally, outside of day-to-day. Create a “virtual village green conversation” in Slack where your team or office can remain connected socially

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, then please reach out to [email protected], office point of contact, your PD manager, manager, or team leader.

You can also join the mental health conversation on the Firm’s #mentalhealth Slack channel or Mind Matters intranet site.

Stay safe and healthy!

Lilia, Masha, Natasha, Masha, Dasha, Lesha and Vitya