Im hoping that this article finds you and yours, as well as your patients healthy and safe.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way most of us are living and working. The uncertainty and risk that we are facing has increased our levels of stress. Below are more than 50 resources to help you stay informed, nurture yourself and clients, entertain and educate your children, and volunteer.

Reputable COVID Resources of Information:

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  2. WHO Guidance for the Public
  3. Mental Health Americas COVID-19 Information and Resources
  4. American Psychological Associations Pandemics General Resources
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created What Clinicians Need to Know to Prepare for COVID-19 in the United States
  6. National Council for Behavioral Health Resources and Tools for Addressing Coronavirus (COVID-19) including daily updates.
  7. Office of Mental Health (OMH) Emotional Support Line: 1-844-863-9314. The Help Line provides free and confidential support to callers experiencing increased anxiety due to the coronavirus emergency.
  8. The Copeland Center is offering a free copy of their pocket WRAPs,WRAP On the GoandCrisis Plan On the Go,to anyone in the United States who needs them while supplies last. Request them using their electronic form. Theyll mail one of each pamphlet to the address you provide as quickly as they can.
  9. UCSF Department of Psychiatry – Resources to Support Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Helpful Readings/Videos/Podcasts:

  1. Coronavirus Anxiety – Helpful Expert Tips and Resources – updated daily by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. This website contains links to several articles and videos.
  2. Coronavirus How to Keep it Together Psychcentral podcast
  3. That Discomfort Youre Feeling Is Grief – Scott Berinato from the Harvard Business Review conducted an interview with David Kessler. In it, he shares the importance of acknowledging the full range of emotions you are experiencing to be able to manage them and find meaning.
  4. How to cope in the face of uncertainty, making a resiliency plan, and “do’s and don’ts” by the University of Colorado.
  5. Mental Health Considerations during COVID-19 Outbreak – from the World Health Organization.
  6. Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation during an Infectious Disease Outbreak from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
  7. Taking Care of Your Mental Health in the Face of Uncertainty from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
  8. Telehealth Tips: Managing Suicidal Clients from the Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry.
  9. Treating Psychotherapy Patients in the Era of Coronavirus and Tech Tips for Providers: Ethernet, Adapters & Ageism

    by Mike Langlois, LICSW

Free Self-Care Tools for Healthcare Providers:

  1. Headspace is offering a free subscription for healthcare providers through the end of the year, as well as some free meditations for your clients.
  2. The Mind Body Institute is offering a replay of a COVID-19 support webinar that addresses fears and anxieties about our practices, dealing with clients fears and anxieties, and keeping our businesses running.
  3. The Neurosequential Network has created helpful videos with Bruce Perry, MD, PhD, such as Staying Emotionally Close In The Time of COVID19.
  4. The Tapping Solution have an app with tapping meditations for COVID-19 anxiety and are offering free access to its premium app to healthcare providers and first responders for six months.
  5. 30 more free self-care tools to help manage anxiety and stress including free meditations, apps, ebooks and workouts.

Food, Internet Service and Emergency Relief Sources:

  1. The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) has provided a tool for locating emergency provisions pertaining to social work licensure by state. If your state is not included in the tool, it means there arent new emergency provisions related to COVID-19. ASWB will update as new information is available.
  2. Emergency Food Banks from Feeding America will work to fill the gap short-term for most families.
  3. Help with paying bills from the United States government.
  4. In-home internet service from Comcast and Spectrum during the pandemic.
  5. The Juvenile Law Center, The Hope Center, and School House Connection published a fact sheet on supporting students who are homeless or in foster care.
  6. The United Way has created a Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund if you need assistance with food, housing bills, accessing free childcare, or other essentials. After you enter your zip code, you will also be given a list of local agencies to assist.
  7. The US Department of Labor has a portal to provide information about applying for unemployment benefits in your

How to Talk about the Pandemic with Kids:

  1. Coronavirus Resources & Tips for Parents, Children & Others from Prevent Child Abuse.
  2. How to talk to your child about coronavirus disease 2019 from Unicef.
  3. Supporting Families During COVID-19 from the Child Mind Institute including Daily Tips
  4. Talking to Children about COVID-19 from Bright Horizons.

Free Books Explaining COVID19 to Toddlers and Pre-K Students:

  1. Hello, Im a Virus, Cousins with the Flu and the Common Cold by Manuela Molina at MindHeartKids.
  2. I Have a Question About Coronavirus – written by Maryland social workers Arlen Grad Gaines and Meredith Englander Polsky.
  3. Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus from NPR.
  4. The Story of the Oyster and the Butterfly: The Corona Virus and Me by Ana Gomez.

Free Educational and Entertainment Tools/Platforms:

All Kids Network is a platform of free content for children of all ages that includes various fun activities such as childrens crafts, worksheets, coloring pages, printable mazes, dot to dot, hidden pictures and more.

  1. Audible stories for kids for as long as schools are closed, Audible has made available a collection of stories for streaming, including titles across six different languages. No log-ins, credit card or passwords needed.
  2. Comprehensive List of Educational Resources various resources offered by educational companies due to school closings
  3. Free classes such as yoga, sing-alongs, storytime, and cooking for kids 0-6. Watch on-demand or participate live. Use the code: homefun3 to obtain these services for free.
  4. Free virtual education tools for children and their caregivers these range from great videos to digital explorations, games, and even full text books.
  5. KCET and PBS At Home Learning Resources – expand learning and family engagement with their at-home learningon-air programming.
  6. Lincoln Center at Home will be offering access to rarely seen video from decades of Live From Lincoln Center, more recent performances from across campus, and live streams from wherever performances are still happening empty halls, living rooms, and more.
  7. Lincoln Center Pop Up Classroom free arts education learning activities everyday at 10AM EST to engage the entire family using simple materials from around the house, such as making and interacting with expressive puppets, songwriting, and weaving with recycled materials like junk mail.
  8. Mo Willems, a Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence at Home, invites you into his studio every day for his Lunch Doodles. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mos studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks
  9. New York Public Library in partnership with Brainfuse is offering free one-on-one tutoring for kindergartners to 12th graders. To access the tutoring services or any of their free educational videos, use your library card.
  10. Pinterest Ideas of Life Skills that parents may want to incorporate into their childrens lesson plans or routines.
  11. Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) is offering resources for toddlers through Pre-K students including printables to support kids in learning, shows such as Wild Kratts and Dinosaur Train, and games designed to enrich their education.
  12. Take a virtual trips! You can go on various museum tours via Google’s list ofVirtual Museum Tours, or listen to Nightly Met Opera Streams. Alternatively, you can participate in DiscoveryEducation Virtual Field Trips, San Diego Zoo Live Cams, and the Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari. You may also enjoy checking out the New York Botanical Gardens to connect with the power of plants and be inspired.
  13. Thanks to AT & Ts generosity, you have free access to Caribu, a family-friendly video-calling app (available on both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets) through May 24, 2020. Caribu offers 1000+ titles (in 8 languages) from leading childrens publishers like Highlights, Mattel, Usborne, Baby Einstein and more. They also offer fun games, educational activities, and coloring pages.
  14. The Brooklyn Public Library is hosting virtual events such as storytime, make your own playdough and parent support groups.
  15. The Harvard Graduate School of Education has compiled a database of resources for children to continue learning at home.
  16. The Queens Public Library has audio and video recordings on the history of hip-hop and more, as well as a celebration of Womens History Month, with a chance to win free books, and a reference desk to ask librarians questions.
  17. The Social Distancing Festival a site livestreaming art and performances from around the world, enabling us to come together as a community at a time when we need it more than ever.

Volunteering Opportunities:

  1. For those mental health professionals in New York who would consider volunteering some of your time, please register here.
  2. The American Red Cross is looking for volunteers to donate blood. Donating blood products is essential to community health and eligible donors are strongly urged to donate during the COVID-19 outbreak
  3. Dorot, an NYC-based organization whose mission is to alleviate social isolation among the elderly and homebound, is looking for volunteers willing to make weekly, friendly phone calls to their clients for a time commitment of 30-minutes once or twice per week.
  4. Help Support our Countrys Medical Personnel by making face masks for healthcare workers! JoAnn stores have created a number of videos to help. They are also giving away free at-home mask making kits.
  5. Participate in a mutual-aid network, a kind of hyper-local COVID-19 Craigslist, where neighbors can ask for help and you can choose to answer neighbors calls for help for groceries, translation services, pharmacy runs, and even cash to make rent.
  6. Social Work in the Times of COVID-19 request for social workers to share, document and support one another.
  7. Write messages to people who are lonely and isolated such as elders, hospitals, EMS, veterans at risk and more. send an email to either Melissa Brown at mmbrowndrph@gmail.com or foster@gmail.com. They will arrange to have cards delivered to you for you to handwrite your notes and drop off at a door or mail to a facility.

Lastly, would you like some free training resources to help you work with your clients virtually, or protect communities with special needs? Please check out COVID-19 Resources for Social Workers and Therapists.

Are you aware of additional helpful resources? Please share them below in the comments section.