Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has announced remote services for mental health, addiction services and prescribing would be expanded statewide, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In the midst of a pandemic, those services are critical.

Being away from work, having kids at home, worrying about the coronavirus; all these things are realities right now, but are not so great for our mental health.

Kurt Carlson is the CEO of Bowen Center, a mental health care and addiction services provider based in Warsaw. He says keeping on top of mental health care is important in stressful situations like a global pandemic.

“There’s a general heightened fear and anxiety, and if people are already anxious or depressed, this simply exacerbates that.”

Carlson says people in isolation should be careful how much news they’re consuming.

“If they’re spending all their time watching the news, listening to the radio and just hearing one report after another they probably just need to turn that off. Not completely. Not forever. But limit that.”

Carlson says that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t keep up with what’s happening. They should just limit it to certain times, and be aware of social media.

He says mental healthcare service providers are moving those services to telemedicine. Technologies like video chatting, texting, or even old-fashioned phone calls are how counselors are reaching patients.