124 ~ Janet Rhoton ~ Staying Mentally Healthy During a Pandemic

She's Bold with Beth Whitman

** If you find yourself struggling and need something to lift you up, the Be Bold Facebook group (for ladies only) has been a wonderful way for us to encourage each other. Normally we post the things we’re doing to Be Bold but over the past few weeks, we’ve been posting each day the things that we’re doing to stay happy and healthy right now.

There are some great ideas that others have shared so please join us!

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Today’s guest is Janet Rhoton. Janet’s been a mental health professional for 40 years and has worked in a variety of capacities, as you’ll hear in this episode. Janet is a friend of mine and we recently connected because a mutual friend of ours passed away. While our friend did not die of the coronavirus, I believe her death was a result of it, as Janet calls it, it was a death of despair.

And this kind of death has been a concern to me since this whole virus thing started to go down. I’m so concerned about how people are going to make their way through this situation when people are feeling so much fear and uncertainty and we have a crashing economy.

While Janet and I were corresponding with each other about our friend’s passing, I started to realize that with her deep background in the field of mental health, she could really offer some great feedback and information to listeners.

This health crisis is affecting everyone in one way or another. And, as Janet says, we’re already seeing a rise in mental health issues that are being triggered by or are a direct result of what’s going on right now. And we’re going to see those issues far and wide, from health care and other essential workers dealing with PTSD, to those in the service industry who feel pressure to work in unsafe environments just to keep their jobs, to those who have had to remain in abusive homes during the lockdown to those struggling financially. It’s going to be rough for a long time to come.

I hope this episode with Janet helps either those in need of help now or in the future or helps you to identify someone who may need help. This is a time when we all have to be watching out for each other.

Janet lists emergency mental health services at the end our conversation (and you can find them below) and I’ll link to those in the show notes as well.

With that, please enjoy this conversation with Janet Rhoton.

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Get Help211.org Disaster distress helpline - 1-800-985-5990 U.S. suicide hotline - 800-273-TALK (8255)

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Be Bold,

Beth