APA Interdivisional Task Force on COVID-19

A group of psychologists, members of four divisions of the American Psychological Association, under the lead of Division 56 and Division 39, came together in late March of 2020 to reach out to help colleagues deal with the trauma from COVID-19. This was a grassroots’ coming together of concerned psychologists who wanted to help and generated a unified mission: to enable psychologists to share knowledge and resources about the psychological impact of the pandemic, how we can cope with it, and how we can minimize deleterious impact. These resources would be available to help other psychologists, first-line responders, caregivers, families, and children who are impacted by this trauma. In addition, the advent of communications and therapy via Zoom presents new challenges for education, training and psychotherapy.

This Task Force formed specific Working Groups, each focusing on a specific area of application or population. Each of these working groups curated materials and then disseminated them to help psychologists and anyone affected by the pandemics. Through this work, they also supported each other to prevent compassion fatigue and build resilience.

There are general resources provided below, as well as resources collated under each of the Working Groups, pertaining to the particular sub-population the group is focused on.

General Resources:

Resources for individuals

• NIMH » Shareable Resources on Coping with COVID-19 (nih.gov)
  • Includes social media graphics, news stories, and specialized tip sheets.
• Mental Health America resources
  • Includes tools on coping with anxiety and depression during COVID-19, financial support, hotlines, webinars, and resources for specialized populations.
• Healthline masterlist: All the Mental Health Resources You Might Need During COVID-19
  • Includes tip sheets and information relevant to specific emotions, situations, and conditions, eg. anxiety, depression, history of eating disorders, panic, raising children, experiencing loneliness, etc.
• Mental health resources for those with specific mental health conditions (anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse)
• Mental Health Resources for the BIPOC Community
• COVID-19 Pandemic Response Resources — Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (cstsonline.org)
• Emotional regulation videos by the Attachment and Trauma Treatment Centre for Healing (ATTCH)‹
  • Attachment and Trauma Treatment Centre for Healing (ATTCH)‹Relaxation Place: This video is a brief guided practice to provide a form of sensory distraction for intrusive images, sensations, or emotions by installing resources that are sensory rich and grounding.
  • Tapping and Breathing Through Emotion: An introduction to Ocean Breathing and a few mindful awareness tips to promote emotional regulation.
  • Understanding Affect Regulation Working With the Window of Tolerance: This video provides a brief intro to working with the window of tolerance through a trauma-informed / trauma-treatment lens to promote increased affect regulation.
• Covid-19 Minds newsletter: monthly newsletters to connect with others and learn about current research on COVID-19 and mental health.
• General Scholarship
  • Psychology, Health & Medicine, Volume 27, Issue 1, January 2022 available online on Taylor & Francis Online. Includes many articles, such as:
    • Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on mental health status and associated factors among general population: a cross-sectional study from Pakistan by Hayat et al.
    • Levels and predictors of depression, anxiety, and suicidal risk during COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina: the impacts of quarantine extensions on mental health state by Lorena Cecilia López Steinmetz et al.
    • Differential effect of gender, marital status, religion, ethnicity, education and employment status on mental health during COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria by Abiodun Musbau Lawal et al.
  • The Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s two-day public workshop on how the COVID-19 pandemic has uniquely affected AAPI communities

Working Groups Formed

Working groups are focusing on the following areas, with several under development. All seek membership and assistance from Task Force members:

Hospital, Health & Addiction Workers, Patients and Families

• Mission statement: This working group was created in order to educate and provide information and training resources for the those within the medical and addiction communities, and the public about pandemic-related psychological stress and trauma, how to cope with it, and, importantly, how to recognize opportunities for positive change that facilitate resilience and post-traumatic growth. Our initial concern was for the medical “first responders” in Emergency Rooms and ICUs in COVID hospitals, as we anticipated their psychological trauma would be great. Next, our attention went to hospitalized patients and their families who were suffering the double trauma of life-threatening illness compounded by forced separation from loved ones. Finally, the “unsung heroes,” including janitorial and all other support staff, as well as mental health and spiritual counselors whom we also anticipated would experience great stress and trauma. Following the initial acute crisis, we broadened to include outpatient medical facilities and addiction treatment centers to address issues such as the pandemic-related increased substance abuse.
• We also work in collaboration with the Older Adults and Caregivers working group of the Task Force.
• Co-Chairs: Maureen O'Reilly-Landry & Patricia O’Gorman
• Resources
  • Working Group Original Content
    • Working Group website: https://resilienceandcovid.us/
    • We created our own blog consisting of articles reflective of our mission statement. We now have nearly 50, each delving into the healthcare and addiction issues facing us today.
      • Blog: Psychological Trauma, Coping, and Resilience | Psychology Today
      • These first three posts describe our beginnings:
        • On the COVID-19 Battlefield
        • When Pandemic Trauma Hits Home
        • Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on You
    • Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on You We also created a Speaker/Seminar series. These are the topics through February, 2022:
      • Can What We Already Know About Mind-Body Disorders Help Us to Understand “Long COVID”? Alla Landa, PhD
      • Vaccine Dissent and the Post-COVID Landscape, Bernice Hausman, PhD
      • Rethinking Vaccine Hesitancy in a Pandemic, a discussion, Bernice Hausman, PhD and Heidi Y. Lawrence, PhD
      • Embodied Resilience, Ilene Serlin, PhD, BC-DMT
      • How “Vaccine hesitancy” is intensifying pandemic injustice and psychosocial hazards for workers. Mary Beth Morrissey, PhD, JD, MPH
  • Recommended Scholarship
    • Giorgi G et al (2021) .COVID-19-Related Mental Health Effects in the Workplace: A Narrative Review.
    • International Journal on Responsibility’s Volume 4 : Issue 1: "Disability & the Pandemic”
    • Yanjun Ma et al (2020.) “Association Between Sleep Duration and Cognitive Decline.”
    • The Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness. Includes resources such as:
      • Caring for People with Serious Illness in the Home: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Webinar
      • Serious Illness Care, Structural Racism and Health Disparities in the Era of COVID-19: A Webinar
      • Best Practices for Patient-Clinician Communication for People with Disabilities in the Era of COVID-19: A Webinar
  • Web links and news articles
    • Trauma-informed guidelines for clinical care providers
    • Coping strategies for complex trauma survivors
    • Coping strategies for youth with a history of complex trauma
    • The Death of Empathy — “The medical landscape has transformed for the worse, and now we are just numb" by Julie Swartz, MD.
    • Why Therapists Are Worried About America’s Growing Mental Health Crisis - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
  • APS Webinar recording - Mental Health in a Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned from Psychological Science

Older Adults and Caregivers

• Mission statement: The Older Adults and Caregivers subgroup will focus on the needs and priorities of seniors during Covid-19, as well as on those of their caretakers and the agencies that provide services to the elderly. The group will collect and summarize available resources, including relevant academic material as well as effective interventions that have been rapidly adopted and developed by different agencies in response to Covid-19 in order to allow continuation services to the elderly while maintaining social distancing. These resources will be organized and made accessible so they can be disseminated rapidly and widely. The group will also develop resources based on the expertise of its members in specific areas, such as geropsychology, trauma, and community psychology. From a perspective emphasizing the whole-person, Trauma-Informed Person-Centered approach, there will be a focused attempt to address and learn about the experiences during Covid-19 of seniors who have suffered and endured prior traumatic situations in their lives. Understanding how these past experiences contribute to the difficulties and concerns, as well as to adaptive coping and resiliencies exhibited in reaction to the pandemic will enhance effective interventions with individuals and on a programmatic level.
• Co-Chairs: Irit Felsen, PhD & Jennie Frumer, PhD
• Resources
  • Working Group Original Content
    • Webinar Series for children of Holocaust survivors and their family members during 2020-2021 
    • “Parental PTSD and Psychological Reactions During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Offspring of Holocaust Survivors” by Dr. Irit Felsen and Dr. Amit Shrira
    • “Web-Based, Second-Best Togetherness: Psychosocial Group Intervention with Children of Holocaust Survivors During COVID-19” by Dr. Irit Felsen
      • This a link to two cycles of a series of 10 webinars for children of Holocaust survivors and their family members during 2020-2021. The series included two different live rounds of lectures, each covering ten different topics. The webinar series was sponsored by NEXT GENERATIONS in partnership with the NOW for Holocaust Survivors Initiative at MorseLife Health System, and was partially funded by the Jewish Federations of North America – Center for the Advancement of Holocaust Care. The series was organized by Dr. Jenni Frumer, Ph.D., LCSW, MSEd, Director, NOW for Holocaust Survivors, MorseLife Health System ap ind Co-Chair of the Older Adults and Caregivers Working Group in the APA Interdivisional Covid-19 Task Force.
  • Recommended Scholarship
    • “Older Adults and Covid 19: Social Justice, Disparities, and Social Work Practice” by Dr. Carole Cox
    • “COVID-19, Mental Health and Aging: A Need for New Knowledge to Bridge Science and Service” by Vahia et al
    • “How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic” by Moreno et al 
    • “The Coronavirus Pandemic and Holocaust Survivors in Israel” by Cohn-Schwartz, Sagi, O’Rouke, and Bachner
    • “The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence” by Brooks et al.
    • “Reaching out across the Virtual Divide: An Empirical Review of Text-Based Therapeutic Online Relationships” by Reynolds, Hanley, and Wolf.‹
  • Web links and news articles
    • World Economic Forum’s “Combating Ageism and Creating Solutions” Community paper 
    • “Older Adults in the US Face Mental Health Challenges” by Sara Heath, American Society on Aging’s Generations SmartBrief
    • “How do counselors support clients during the coronavirus pandemic?” - Counseling Today
    • Veterans Mental Health Coalition of NYC webinar - Aging Veterans: The Impact of COVID & Access to Essential Resources

Professional Support for Psychologists

• Mission statement: Psychologists working with patients who have been directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19, including front-line health care workers, and who are providing support to front-line COVID-19 workers, often experience secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue which can affect their professional work and personal lives. This working group within the APA COVID-19 Task Force will assess the needs and preferred forms of support of psychologists and other mental health providers, and will develop and guide the implementation of needed peer-to-peer professional support for managing these impacts. The support will include virtual discussion groups and educational presentations designed to enhance mental health professionals' personal wellness and to facilitate the delivery of psychological and other mental health services that are tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of front-line workers and other persons directly affected by the pandemic.
• Resources:
  • The Professional Support for Psychologists subcommittee will be hosting video conferencing support meetings throughout the week. These meetings will provide an informal, supportive space for mental health clinicians to join and connect during the pandemic. Access is free and available to mental health providers.
    • Disclaimer: This is not a formal consultation group or a supplement for supervision. Our group hosts are donating their time to coordinate a supportive community and are not providing a clinical service.
    • CONTACT US: CLINICIANCOLLABORATIVE@GMAIL.COM
    • Sign up online! WWW.CLINICIANCOLLABORATIVE.EVENTBRITE.COM
  • Co-Chairs: Melissa Wasserman, & Julian Ford

Immigrants and Refugees

• Mission statement: The mission of the Refugees and Immigrant Concerns (RIC) Working Group is to work within an interdisciplinary, integrative system of care to serve the COVID related pandemic related mental health, psychosocial needs and advocacy needs of refugees, immigrants, migrants  and related communities.  Our goal is to identify and disseminate helpful resources addressing the diverse and multicultural needs of these communities, and the harmful effects of marginalization.  The committee recognizes the strengths and resiliency of these communities and will continue to find ways to leverage that strength in meeting ongoing needs.  We seek an inclusive membership, where members of the communities this working group strives to serve are represented in the RIC Working Group itself.  Only through such full representation can our work be considered fair, just and equitable.
• Co-Chairs: Monica Indart & Falu Rami

Interpersonal Violence

• Mission statement: The mission of the Interpersonal Violence Working Group is to find, create, and disseminate resources to assist those people who are in danger of experiencing and/or perpetuating physical, sexual and/or psychological abuse during the pandemic. We promote the use of tools for emotional regulation to help manage overwhelming emotions arising from the pandemic and enhance safety. It is understood that the stress and uncertainty of the novel coronavirus and necessary sheltering-in-place may exacerbate domestic violence and child abuse in families. The CDC has found a three-fold increase of intimate partner violence since the onset of the stressors brought about by the coronavirus. Also, children brought to emergency rooms following abuse are more seriously injured. Murder-suicide rates are rising. This is consistent with reports from other countries. In addition to leaving the situation, new ways need to be found to better protect vulnerable populations, such as strengthening emotional regulation tools, and decreasing power and control needs of those who use violence. We will disseminate resources on social media we have created as well as other places available to this group.
• Co-chairs: Lenore Walker, Rita Rivera, Denise Carballea
• Working Group Original Content:
  • Round Table Talks with COVID IPV Group
  • The COVID IPV Group host live round-table talks about how to address interpersonal violence during this time when we are still dealing with uncertainties about the virus and its impact on our lives. Although we will focus on mental health professionals and first responders, our presentations also will be useful to people who are living with domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other psychological trauma. Our presentations will occur on Thursdays at 12pm (EST). Each round-table will be 15 to 30 minutes. There will be about 3 designated speakers and time for introductions and sharing our social media links. Professionals who are not members of the COVID IPV group previously will be part of the panels initially. We will practice a few sessions before we go live. We will record the talks on zoom and edit and make them available for later viewing at no charge and no CE credit.
  • Please follow us @COVID IPV on Facebook and Linked In, @covidipv Instagram and Twitter,  and share with those that may benefit.
  • #IPV #Emotionalregulation #resources #healing #IPVworkgroup #COVID19
  • Recommended resources
    • Video - Join Washington Post Live for a series of conversations with experts that go in-depth about how the mental health impact of domestic violence influences other facets of survivor’s lives and how the pandemic has renewed efforts to pass legislation to combat abuse
• Weblinks and news articles
  • The pandemic caused a global surge in domestic violence. For victims with few options, abuse has become the new normal, Washington Post
  • U.N. Surveys Suggest Violence Against Women Has Intensified in Pandemic - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
  • “How to help domestic violence clients during shelter-in-place situations” by Federico Carmona

Support for Children and Families

• Mission statement: The APA COVID-19 Support for Children and Families workgroup’s overarching mission is to help support children, caregivers, and families who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will collect and disseminate resources related to COVID-19 to children, caregivers, and families. Our group is particularly interested in investigating the effect of the pandemic on young children, trauma-exposed children, and under-served families and communities. We also aim to provide COVID-19-related resources to support professionals who are working with children, caregivers, and families affected by the pandemic. We will collaborate with professionals and organizations to share expertise, collect and develop new resources, and disseminate information to interested parties. Our group will also collaborate with researchers on COVID-19-related research endeavors.
• Co-Chairs: Rachel Ann Wamser & Ann Chu
• Resources
  • Recommended Scholarship
    • Children and Youth Services Review. Includes articles such as
      • “Are there any changes in mothers' attitudes? Analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on child-rearing attitudes” by Toran and Ozden
      • “Early Childhood Distance Learning in the U.S. During the COVID Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities” by Ford, Kwon, and Tsotsoros
    • Child Development’s The Impact of COVID-19 on Child Development Around the World special section (Volume 92, Issue 5). Includes many articles, such as
      • “Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on caregiver mental health and the child caregiving environment in a low-resource, rural context” by Pitchik et al.

International Whole Person Approaches

• Mission statement: A growing number of studies now demonstrate that words alone may not always be enough to help heal trauma. First, we know that trauma is in the body; “speechless terror” needs to be met with nonverbal approaches such as QiGong, tai chi, akido, yoga, EMDR, EFT, and established arts and body psychotherapies. Second, trauma is a crisis of mortality, meaning, and identity. It shatters our existential worldview, raising profound questions of what it means to be human. We therefore need existential, humanistic and spiritual perspectives to address the meaning of suffering and of life. Third, trauma is about loss of faith. Spiritual approaches that include mindfulness, meditation, and prayer can help us find a larger perspective, and transform reactive responding into active receptivity and compassion. Fourth, trauma is about “stuckness,” “numbness,” and the “inability to play” therefore needing creative, imaginal, movement and emotion-focused approaches to facilitate interaction, relatedness, connection, and integration. An integrative approach to trauma recognizes the multiple dimensions of traumatization: biological, psychological, social, and spiritual: The Whole Person.
  • The creative and somatic arts therapies are Whole Person therapies that are uniquely suited to address all these dimensions. Therapeutic outcomes from these approaches include helping heal the mind/body split from dehumanizing terror; creating means for containing, discharging and channeling aggression; and, strengthening individual and cross-cultural community resilience and connection.  They can help participants face the terror of death and rekindle life force. The creative and somatic arts therapies can decrease compassion fatigue and caregiver burnout, build caregiver regeneration and resilience, and address the interconnected individual. Finally, the arts can transport us into the transpersonal realm, symbolizing traumatic losses, and glimpse hopes for the future.
• Co-Chairs: Ilene Serlin and Rita Rivera
• Resources:
  • Working Group Original Content
    • Resources for 56 website- International Whole Person Working Group
    • Whole Person Care for Traumatized: Building Resiliency & Self-Care in Response to the Coronavirus - Dr. Ilene A. Serlin
    • Ilene Serlin, Ph.D, BC-DMT, interviewed by Dr. Mark Yang, Beijing Center for Training and Education Beijing, China May 10, 2018 
    • Dance movement therapy in Beijing - Dr. Ilene A. Serlin 
    • Website: International Whole Person Approaches Resources
    • Report from the International Whole Person Approaches Working Group | Ilene Serlin
  • Recommended Resources
    • The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Transforming Health Care to Create Whole Health: Strategies to Assess, Spread, and Scale the Whole Person Approach to Health

Crisis Intervention Teams/Trauma Consultation

• Mission statement: The Crisis Intervention Teams/Trauma Consultation working group's mission is to provide varying resources depending on crisis stage to individuals and organizations in emergent crisis affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly emergency/crisis responders (e.g., fire dept, police dept, EMTs), other essential workers, and mental health providers registered through state crisis registries.  The group is also working on the development of a new framework of providing crisis management and emergency services to meet the unique needs of the current COVID-19 pandemic and evaluating current models of crisis intervention services.  In addition, the working group is reviewing systemic barriers, gaps, and resources currently available.
• Chair: Falu Rami

Higher Education Students

• Mission statement: The Higher Education Workgroup is comprised of student leaders across the country. We are dedicated to building on the strengths and resiliency of the student and trainee community to provide resources and support during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Co-Chairs: Ayli Carrero Pinedo, Rita Rivera, &  Denise Carballea
• Resources
  • Recommended Scholarship
    • Emerging Adulthood- Volume: 9, Number: 5 (October 2021), includes articles such as
    • “Increased Stress, Declining Mental Health: Emerging Adults’ Experiences in College During COVID-19” by Halliburton et al.
    • “A Qualitative Study of COVID-19 Distress in University Students” by Farris, Kibbey, Fedorenko, and DiBello
    • “Changes in Depressive Symptoms, Physical Symptoms, and Sleep-Wake Problems From Before to During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Emerging Adults: Inequalities by Gender, Socioeconomic Position, and Race” by Williams et al.

The Research Initiatives Working Group (RIWG)

• Mission statement: The RIWG is committed to compiling a collection of currently available knowledge base on the psychological impact of Covid-19 in a multidisciplinary and international perspective. The goal is to inform students, researchers, policy makers, practitioners, stakeholders, professionals and relevant scholarship on the multidimensional impact of Covid-19 and related psychological treatment, prevention and intervention resources. To this end, RIWG advances the knowledge base through a repository and dissemination of newly published materials and resources such as peer-reviewed articles, reports, calls for papers, funding opportunities, conferences, webinars, symposia as well as a Covid-19 research map with scholars conducting relevant work in international, multidisciplinary and global settings.
• Co-chairs: Radosveta Dimitrova and Rita Rivera
• Resources
  • Working Group Original Content
    • “How APA is helping COVID’s overlooked populations” by Tori DeAngelis 
    • “The Research Initiatives Working Group at the APA Interdivisional Task Force on the Pandemic.” by Rita Rivera
  • Recommended web links and news articles
    • Global Integration Updates Special News, May 2020 Issue 47- Staying Sane during COVID-19: Mental health resources for ourselves, others, and the world.
    • Includes a compilation of related articles from the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association, CDC, and more.