Vancouver Island residents report struggles with mental health after 2-year pandemic

People on Vancouver Island aren’t shy to admit the two-year COVID-19 pandemic is having an enormous impact on their mental health – with many trying to cope with missed social connections, isolation, loss of identity and other hardships.

“It’s fair to say there is a collective grief of a world that’s very different,” says Jonny Morris, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association's B.C. division.

While the death of a person often comes to mind in the context of grief, mental health practitioners say it can also include other losses like the loss of livelihoods, experiences and a sense of normalcy – and that they can all be stressful and destabilizing.

“I’m just doing the best I can,” says Rolands Muiznieks while out for a hike with a friend. “Mentally, I just do everything I can to keep connected with people I know.”

“I feel a little bit helpless,” says Jolie Griffin. The first-year student is studying sciences at UVic and agrees with a friend the hardships around isolation have caused them to struggle with motivation.

“It’s harder for me to get myself to do my school work,” says Griffin’s friend, Paula Frempong.

She’s studying social work at the same university. “I guess I’ve kind of accepted that this is it. This is my life. It’s not really going to change for a while.”

Griffin says she also struggles to validate her own feelings, because she thinks they pale in comparison to the scale of the global pandemic.

“It’s hard to kind of know what to feel,” she says.

A Greater Victoria charity that provides free group and one-on-one counselling to people aged 10 to 24 implores people acknowledge and validate those feelings.

“We need to hear and we need to listen to hear what they’re saying, not just to respond,” says Learning Through Loss executive director Kathryn Dafos.

The resource group says younger people often suffer in silence, sometimes due to peer pressure around wanting to be “normal.”

“We really need to tune into our kids and we need to have conversations,” says Dafos. “It’s OK not to be OK.”

The Canadian Mental Health Association says people should reach out for professional support especially if their feelings around loss are becoming debilitating.

“If the waves continue to be tsunamis and you’re paralyzed and you’re not able to live your life fully, absolutely reach out for support,” says Morris.

The BC Bereavement crisis line is 310-6789.