Pandemic: Coping with the Chaos Telehealth Version
The pandemic has created a great deal of stress for people throughout the world – children and adults. This game was designed to help children process emotions related to lifestyle changes, loneliness, and the challenges of virtual learning.
The “Healthy Habits” cards will address habits that will help slow the spread of the virus such as hand washing. These are basic skills for kids to know. The questions are framed to allow discussion about feelings about these rules, or to open dialogue if desired. The “Social Distancing” cards focus on processing how social isolation has impacted the child as well as brainstorming ways to stay connected despite distance. The sudden onset of the virus pressured everyone to think outside of the box of our everyday routines. some kids have been extremely creative in ways to connect with others. Unfortunately, more unsupervised time with electronics can also have negative results as well.
The “Virtual Reality” cards address school online and the increase of online presence for kids. Many kids are spending more time on devices than in the past. These cards will help start a conversation about the pros and cons of these changes. The “Highs and Lows” cards really focus on grieving the loss of normalcy. Many kids have had to miss out on sports and extracurricular activities, birthday parties, family gatherings, and many other events that used to bring pleasure. I am seeing higher levels of anxiety and hopelessness due to these losses. Hopefully we can help these kiddos accept the losses but also foster hope for the future.
The file is a google slides document that can be played via your favorite telehealth platform as long as you can share your screen. Instructions are included as well as a video tutorial for how to use google slides to play therapy games.
