Mental health post-Fiona: Some tips from an expert on how Islanders can cope

In a matter of hours early Saturday morning, post-tropical storm Fiona downed hundreds of power lines and thousands of trees, while washing away wharves and destroying buildings and livlihoods. Both the original shock and living with the grim new reality are taking a toll on some Islanders' mental health.

UPEI psychologist Dr. Stacey MacKinnon spoke with CBC Radio's Matt Rainnie on Mainstreet Wednesday to offer some post-Fiona coping advice.

MacKinnon said dealing with the stress of living through the storm and all the resulting damage would have been difficult enough on its own, but it's even tougher given what Islanders had already been dealing with.

"COVID and the economy and all the challenges we've been through leading up to this — this is almost insult to injury that we have to move forward dealing with a magnitude of catastrophe like we've had with Hurricane Fiona," she said.

MacKinnon offered the following advice:

Allow yourself to feel

When you're in survival mode, MacKinnon said everything shuts down except the focus on what you need to do to get from this moment to the next.

"That's a really positive, healthy survival task, to be able to do that," she said. "But once those immediate threats are over, then that's when the emotion comes back again...

"For some people it's a good cry ... What I used to do was go down to the beach and just kind of scream my lungs out until I felt better."

Come together as a community

MacKinnon said it's really easy to be isolated physically during times like this, but you can also be isolated emotionally. It's really important to reach out to each other, she said.

"Maybe that's on social media for those who have power, maybe that's a cell phone call if you've got service."

Regardless of whether you have power or a working phone, there are a variety of ways to come together as a community, she said.

The research shows that inside-out, backwards ... when you are feeling at your lowest, help others.— Dr. Stacey MacKinnon

"At our house, we were where you came for coffee. We had an ability to brew coffee ... maybe you offer somebody a shower," said MacKinnon.

"Lending a hand with somebody who's trying to clear their debris from their home, or in the case of one neighbourhood that I know of in Cornwall, they've lost all the meat in their freezers ... There's no way they're going to be able to refreeze them, so everybody's bringing their barbecue out and cooking what they have and sharing it.

"When you think about those small things, it's not going to be the big moments. It's going to be those small moments of connection that are going to matter."

Help other people 

MacKinnon said nothing makes you feel better than helping others.

"The research shows that inside-out, backwards ... when you are feeling at your lowest, help others. And in doing so, others will help you and everybody feels better."  

She especially stressed the importance of reaching out to people who may not be in your own circle, but are isolated and living alone.

"You may not know your neighbour. That's OK; you can knock on their door. You can ask, 'Is there anything that you need? Can I help in some way?' We have to reach out now ... and help others who we may not know. At this point, you might even make a friend."

Be kind and patient — to others and yourself

Patience and kindness have been important for the last two years as we've dealt with COVID-19 and the unpredictable economy, and MacKinnon said those virtues are even more important now as Islanders deal with Fiona's aftermath.

"So we don't get mad at ourselves because we've been eating baked beans mixed with hamburger on a Coleman. And we don't get upset with ourselves because maybe we've been drinking too much coffee," she said. 

"We'll get back to all of those healthier habits once we can. And at that point ... we're likely to be a little more grateful for what we have. There's nothing like a six-day power outage to make you really value a hot shower." 

'We can move forward'

MacKinnon said it's important to acknowlege the reality of our situation — it's bad and it hurts but "we can move forward as long as we do it in slow, steady steps. We can come back not just to where we were before, but we can create new things that will make our lives, both personally and as a community and as a province, even better," she said.

"But it takes time, it takes patience, and more than anything else, it takes community and kindness."