Interview with Ellie Collins, advanced practice Nurse in Psychiatry: mental health in time of pandemic.
The recent events shook us to the core. We deal with emotions and challenges of pandemic in different ways. I do not think there are two people on this planet who go through this common experience in the same way. Some deal with long standing mental illness, some suddenly found themselves anxious, frozen, or possibly feeling superpower and engaging in reckless behaviors. I work with Ellie at the same institution for the last six years and we share not only patients, but also friends and experiences together. This togetherness and connection created a perfect set up for talk with Ellie about her field of medicine in relation to pandemic and human emotions. We talk about how psychology care she provides adjusted to change with telemedicine, its benefits and limits, and the future of it. We talk about non-verbal communication, power of touch and anxiety. She shares her thoughts on how students work in hospital psychiatric units, and what future holds for them as well. Ellie compares current viral pandemic, and how medical professionals responded to it, with early days of HIV infection in the USA. At the end of the conversation she shares some insights on how to handle stress and anxiety, and avoid mental fatigue. We talk about science of dreams and what value they have in our wellbeing. It is about thirty minute conversation and I hope you will enjoy it and learn form that dialogue as much as I did.
