Isolation – it’s a word we have heard a lot about in the last couple of weeks…
Our elderly relatives are soon to be isolated and I’m sure it won’t be too long after that we will all be in isolation too. You’ve got entire countries like Spain and Italy being locked down and people being told to self-isolate. All in the name of reducing the spread of a virus that is so contagious, Angela Merkel announced that up to 70% of the population of Germany could be infected, and this prediction is in-line with global estimates. This is a new experience for me and unless you remember the flu epidemic of 1957 where a million people died globally, we are in unchartered territory.
I know about the word isolation for a very different reason though. Through the mental health support we offer individuals and businesses, we know that social isolation can cause feelings of loneliness and can often feed into depression. It was found that loneliness and social isolation are twice as harmful to physical and mental health as obesity. And a study (published in the Association for Psychological Science) of 3.4 million participants, showed evidence that people who feel, or are, socially isolated or live alone are at about a 30% higher risk of early death.
Current estimates are that isolation may be imposed for 12 weeks which in itself will be tough (although from the looks of the shelves, everyone now has plenty of toilet paper and baked beans for the foreseeable) but as we know from our work on stress, a large stressor in itself is the unknown. No-one knows anything for sure.
As an industry, our entire purpose is bringing people together, the very antipathy of what we are being asked to do over the coming months. I don’t need to tell you the financial impact, personally and professionally that this pandemic is having on us but I urge you to all consider the mental health impact that it may have on you and your loved ones/colleagues/peers too. In our mental health first aider training, we know that the causes of depression are complex but that for some people, an upsetting or stressful life event, such as bereavement, divorce, illness, redundancy and job or money worries, can be the cause. This is going to be a tough time for everybody and we need to look out for one another.
If you are feeling lonely or are worried that isolation might make you feel lonely going forward, search out support. Buddies Matter was set up as a peer-to-peer support service for the events industry. This is the time to take advantage of it if you’ve not yet signed up and remember there are plenty of mental health support services that are also available. Check out the Useful Services section of our site for more information. We also need to stay connected with our communities like Delegate Wranglers and our corporate membership associations – all created to bring people closer together.
Even if we are physically isolated from each other, we need to come together in other ways to avoid a feeling of loneliness. Let’s ensure that isolation and loneliness doesn’t become the second coming after COVID-19 has already attacked our industry. Let’s attack back by looking out for each other and building a network of Buddies across our community that makes us stronger as we fight through this pandemic.
