We now need to do everything we can to protect our most vulnerable people, ourselves and our families, and also our hard-pressed colleagues continuing their vital work within our health and care services; increasingly also for families, with the closure of so many schools and adult day services.
These are certainly unprecedented times, and the UK Government is telling us that:
Everyone should do what they can to stop the coronavirus spreading. It is particularly important for people over 70, those with long-term health conditions, those who are pregnant, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Those people most 'at risk' include many of our service users and family members e.g. people with profound and multiple disabilities, and those who have additional health conditions which may make them more susceptible to the effects of the Covid-19 virus, should they contract it.
So the UK Government is telling us - Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms: if you have either a high temperature (i.e. you feel hot to touch on your chest or back) or a new, continuous cough, which means coughing for a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual).
But yes, even though these are unprecedented times: 'Lets keep calm and carry on ... and continue to do Intensive Interaction'.
Our service users and family members will still need positive and proactive social interactivity to maintain their social and psychological well-being; just as they did a few weeks ago, before this crisis started. Perhaps they will seek it and need it even more so during these times of unprecedented change to many familiar routines, and the increased anxiety now evident in much of our general behaviour. But we will also still need to do Intensive Interaction because that is in our nature; we are just those kinds of people.
But let's make sure that we follow all the necessary steps to minimise the risk of a potentially fatal viral transmission to many of our most vulnerable people.
Many of those we care for will not be aware of, or understand the need for increased infection control measures, but they will still need and expect some form of responsive Intensive Interaction engagement. Also many of those people who benefit from Intensive Interaction may not understand the wider societal implications of the Covid-19 crisis, but many do have the emotional awareness that means they are especially well attuned to the emotion state of those around them; we can’t take away the anxiety that we are all currently feeling, but we can take steps to manage it as best we can. The more contained we as practitioners can be, the more we can promote calmness in those we’re interacting with.
Also, during this current crisis it may be necessary to find ways to adapt our strategies for social engagement, avoiding when and where we can, or at least minimising all unnecessary physical contacts or close physical proximity (although for many this will still be required to meet their functional care needs). Instead it may be necessary to use Intensive Interaction strategies that can be enacted with more social distance e.g.: vocal echoing or exchanges of vocal/verbal sequences; using vocal or verbal commentaries on a person's actions (or the actions of others in a shared environment); using more, or more kinds of behavioural mirroring, including developing increased turn-taking in various non-physical contact forms; finding more ways of exchanging eye contact and mirrored facial signalling; using more forms of joint focus activity that can be more safely enacted with some level of social distancing.
It will be the responsibility of all our practitioners and their managers to discuss and agree the best ways to make any such adaptations to their normal and individualised social engagement repertoires for those people they support and care for. This may not always be easy, but in many cases it may well become absolutely necessary.
Please do everything you can to keep yourself, and all those you care for safe and well!
p.s. On my Blog next week I will be summarising a very recent Lancet paper on 'The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a rapid review of the evidence' by Dr Samantha Brooks et al, of the Dept of Psychological Medicine at Kings College London.
p.p.s. You can also see a message of support to all our Intensive Interaction community from Dr Dave Hewett OBE (Intensive Interaction Institute director) on his Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/dave.hewett.71/videos/10156817864551123/ .
Everyone should do what they can to stop the coronavirus spreading. It is particularly important for people over 70, those with long-term health conditions, those who are pregnant, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Those people most 'at risk' include many of our service users and family members e.g. people with profound and multiple disabilities, and those who have additional health conditions which may make them more susceptible to the effects of the Covid-19 virus, should they contract it.
So the UK Government is telling us - Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms: if you have either a high temperature (i.e. you feel hot to touch on your chest or back) or a new, continuous cough, which means coughing for a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual).
It is also recommended that you should self-isolate if you have been in recent contact with someone who has the virus, or is showing the Covid-19 symptoms (as described above), or if you have recently travelled to or from any high risk locations.
Everyone’s first priority now has to be the safety of all others, especially the most vulnerable members of our communities ... so the principle should be ‘if in doubt, stay away’.
If you are showing the symptoms the UK Government advice is: do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital - instead use the local NHS 111 online coronavirus service (at: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/) to find out what to do in your local area.
Also we all need to:
- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
- always wash your hands when you get home or into work
- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
- put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards
- avoid close contact with people who have symptoms of coronavirus
- only travel on public transport if you need to - work from home, if you can
- avoid social activities, such as going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas and avoid events with large groups of people
- use phone, online services, or apps to contact your GP surgery or other NHS services
... and:
- do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean
- do not have visitors to your home, including friends and family
Our service users and family members will still need positive and proactive social interactivity to maintain their social and psychological well-being; just as they did a few weeks ago, before this crisis started. Perhaps they will seek it and need it even more so during these times of unprecedented change to many familiar routines, and the increased anxiety now evident in much of our general behaviour. But we will also still need to do Intensive Interaction because that is in our nature; we are just those kinds of people.
Many of those we care for will not be aware of, or understand the need for increased infection control measures, but they will still need and expect some form of responsive Intensive Interaction engagement. Also many of those people who benefit from Intensive Interaction may not understand the wider societal implications of the Covid-19 crisis, but many do have the emotional awareness that means they are especially well attuned to the emotion state of those around them; we can’t take away the anxiety that we are all currently feeling, but we can take steps to manage it as best we can. The more contained we as practitioners can be, the more we can promote calmness in those we’re interacting with.
Also, during this current crisis it may be necessary to find ways to adapt our strategies for social engagement, avoiding when and where we can, or at least minimising all unnecessary physical contacts or close physical proximity (although for many this will still be required to meet their functional care needs). Instead it may be necessary to use Intensive Interaction strategies that can be enacted with more social distance e.g.: vocal echoing or exchanges of vocal/verbal sequences; using vocal or verbal commentaries on a person's actions (or the actions of others in a shared environment); using more, or more kinds of behavioural mirroring, including developing increased turn-taking in various non-physical contact forms; finding more ways of exchanging eye contact and mirrored facial signalling; using more forms of joint focus activity that can be more safely enacted with some level of social distancing.
It will be the responsibility of all our practitioners and their managers to discuss and agree the best ways to make any such adaptations to their normal and individualised social engagement repertoires for those people they support and care for. This may not always be easy, but in many cases it may well become absolutely necessary.
Please do everything you can to keep yourself, and all those you care for safe and well!
p.s. On my Blog next week I will be summarising a very recent Lancet paper on 'The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a rapid review of the evidence' by Dr Samantha Brooks et al, of the Dept of Psychological Medicine at Kings College London.
p.p.s. You can also see a message of support to all our Intensive Interaction community from Dr Dave Hewett OBE (Intensive Interaction Institute director) on his Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/dave.hewett.71/videos/10156817864551123/ .
