Health experts say pandemic fatigue is normal; encourage reaching out to others

Vancouver Islanders who are feeling anxious, frustrated and overwhelmed by the seemingly relentless ebbs and flows of the COVID-19 pandemic aren’t alone, say mental health experts.

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) says demand for its services are up across the board – including a 111 per cent increase over pre-COVID calls to its crisis line at 310-6789.

The BounceBack program is also seeing a 50 per cent increase in year over year demand. The phone-in service teaches skills to help people overcome symptoms of mild to moderate depression and anxiety.

"We’re seeing people who are stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, lonely," says spokesperson Pamela Findling. "It’s okay to feel all those feelings."

Nearly two years into the pandemic, Florence and Bruce McKeown find spending time at Cadboro Bay beach helps improve their mental health. But even then, the optimists say it’s been tiring.

"It becomes a little more exhausting when you have a false ending and it comes again," says Bruce.

"Go away," says Florence to the disease. "We’ve had enough."

Mother of two, Frannie Wu, says it’s been a "constant struggle" to keep her children safe and socialized.

"At this point I feel a little bit numb to it all," she says.

CMHA says the stressors people have been feeling in B.C. related to ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions and outlooks are compounded by this summer’s deadly heat dome, floods, fires and the discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential school sites.

"The biggest thing that can help with mental health is predictability and routine, and having some stability. So for a lot of people that stability is shaken to its core," says Findling.

The mental health resource group is urging people to ask for help if they’re getting overwhelmed. It says checking in on someone else can also help a person’s spirit.

"It gives you that sense of community and that sense that we’re all in it together," she says.

Other tips include exercising regularly, eating properly, getting enough sleep, taking breaks from social media and focusing on what you can control.