Since the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in anxiety, depression, and feelings of numbness, as it continues to impede our daily functioning. Experts have determined that our surge capacity is depleted in this state of the pandemic. Essentially your surge capacity is the flood of hormones and physical changes in your body when you enter a fight/flight/freeze mode (stress response). It is complicated to get closure, work through grief, and move forward when we have been in a crisis for 18 plus months. There will likely be more variants that make the pandemic unpredictable. So, to some extent, we need to learn to cope with how we are feeling. It’s also important to address now because many people maintained in the pandemic by fantasizing about all the exciting things they can do when it’s over. A considerable portion of how we feel currently is based on our perception of the future. When we cannot imagine what the future will look like or struggle to make plans because we genuinely do not know what will happen with the pandemic, it has a significant negative impact on our mental health.

Healing in Public (HIP) is a mental health and crisis recovery initiative to create safe spaces for everyone to be radically honest, transparent, and vulnerable without shame. With over two years of surviving the pandemic, our minds, body, and energy are depleted, and the level of uncertainty on how we move forward is profound. Whether experiencing challenges internally or externally, healing in public is a call for grace for everyone to unmask in the open. Our brains were not made to endure this stress level; It is giving yourself permission to feel your feelings, connect with your friends and give yourself grace during this time.