In a second conversation in this special series about COVID-19 and how it is impacting the mental health treatment field, Virgil spoke with Ross Ellenhorn, PhD, founder of Ellenhorn, a program based in Boston, NYC, and North Carolina.
Their conversation opens with much-needed humor and they go on to discuss:
- The responsibility residential programs have to keep their residents safe right now
- Whether Ellenhorn is continuing with admissionsFocusing the therapeutic work on maintaining psychological health and stability
- How crisis gets us to think more about the welfare of others
- How having a common enemy (the virus) unites peopleHow social distancing is calling us to organize ourselves and actually behave in very socially connected ways
- The way this pandemic is forcing the mental health field to innovate by offering increased tele-health care
- How Dr. Ellenhorn’s staff are pulling together using virtual meetups to support one another and their clients
- And lastly, Dr. Ellenhorn describes how emergence – a term that describes how species act in a pattern to protect themselves and their most vulnerable – is occurring all around the world right now and we’re “flying together in flock” more today than before this crisis.
n–nnVirgil spoke earlier in the week with with Eric Levine, EdD, Executive Director of CooperRiis Healing Community in North Carolina, about how residential treatment programs can best respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find that episode on all our podcast channels and blog as well.