Helping the vulnerable during the Corona Virus outbreak. Mental health will be a big issue through this pandemic and it's up every single one of us to ensure the isolated are looked after both for supplies and with conversation

1. Loneliness is a Killer

2. When you look at the death rate statistics of western
society it has a bit of a jump just after NewYear, this
isn’t just due to the cold weather as it happens in
Australia as well

3. You also find the same spike in the three years
following retirement and a short time after the death
of an elderly spouse

4. Why? One thing all these events have in common
is connection

5. People near the end of their life look forward to
Christmas and NewYear with their families after which
they have nothing to look forward to for a while

6. Retired people go from their life being filled with
people at work to almost no one in their life

7. As for the death of a spouse, my Grandfather was ill for
a lot of years, but he hung on in there, then my
Grandma got breast cancer and died not long after

8. With nothing left to live for my Grandfather also
died less than a year later

9. The CoronaVirus is forcing millions of people into
isolation across the world to protect themselves from
this deadly virus

10. For those in isolation it’s going to be a rough ride

11. Seven years ago, my Step Father died leaving my
mother a widow

12. Since then she’s built a life for herself

13. She’s retired now but works part time at a theatre,
sings with a local choir, looks after my nephew once
per week, visits close friends, plays table tennis, goes
to church and much more

14. She’s filled her life with people and now for the
foreseeable future, it’s all gone.

15. She spends her days alone at home with the occasional
walk which is why it is vitally important for myself, my
brother, other family members and friends to keep in
touch

16. Even if we’re isolating ourselves it can be easy to
forget to keep in touch so here’s a way to ensure all of
your loved ones have the connection they need to get
through this;

17. Set Up
Schedule
Show Up

18. Firstly, set up the means by which you’re going to
communicate, then schedule the time and frequency
and finally show up

19. Set Up

20. How are you going to communicate, phone,
video call, email, instant messenger?

21. The more engaging the better, seeing each other in
person is out of the question when in self-quarantine
so video calling would be the next best thing followed
by a phone call then the myriad of other written
communications

22. If you want to do a video call spend some time to get it
set up, if one of you is not very tech savvy spend a bit
of time researching the simplest solution

23. Don’t forget things like bandwidth, do you need to
upgrade your internet connection speed and is it still
possible in your area

24. Once it’s set up decide who will make the call, make
sure both people know how to receive them, it’s a lot
easier to pick up a call than to make it

25. Test, test, test

26. Test your ability to get in touch with each other at least
5 times if it’s a new method of communication such as
video calling when you’d typically just use the phone

27. You don’t have to stick to one method of
communication either, setup a familyWhatsApp
group, send text messages, emails or chat through
social media.

28. Whatever you need to do to keep the
conversations going, do it

29. Schedule

30. It’s important that you schedule the
conversations

31. Preferably at the same time and same days every
week, for example Monday 5pm,Tuesday 8pm,
Thursday 5pm, Friday 9pm and Sunday 1pm

32. Write down the schedule and put it in a safe place

33. This may not be possible, if not you still need to
schedule it, after every call schedule the next day /
time you’re going to call and write it down or add it to
your day calendar

34. At the absolute minimum I would recommend you
commit to the next day in which you’re going to call
whether that be tomorrow or any other time in the
future

35. Set up reminders on your phone or calendar so that
you remember this is a commitment you’ve made

36. Show Up

37. If you fail to show up, you could do some serious
damage to their mental health

38. If there’s any doubt that you’ll be able to make the
next conversation make sure you manage their
expectations and agree on a course of action if you
can’t make it

39. You might want to commit sending a text message
before the arranged time to let them know you got
tied up with something else

40. Agree that if you can’t make it, you’ll rearrange the
day/time of the next call in the text message you send
to cancel your conversation

41. These steps are vital to keeping the spirits up of
the person who is isolated

42. It gives them something to look forward to, it gives
them hope, and hope is what will keep them going
even in the darkest of times

43. Don’t make any commitments that you have no
intention to keep and when you make a commitment,
really commit to it, don’t mess the other person about,
this can do more harm than just not communicating at
all

44. Over the coming weeks and months of isolation let’s
keep everybody talking, if you can spare the time
reach out to your local council to see if there are any
initiatives in your area where you can reach out to
strangers who are alone and isolated

45. Together we can bring hope to the entire world,
together we can get through this corona virus crises

46. There is more that you can do to help overcome your
own feelings of loneliness or the feelings of others

47. To find out more sign up for my
FREE Overcoming Loneliness
guidebook and workbook