The COVID-19 pandemic has radically shifted how almost every therapist works nowadays, in ways both expected and unexpected. Although we’re all in this together, no two stories are the same. Here, three therapists share what this new normal looks like for them.

We have a biological need to be in connection with others that’s being challenged right now. Even if we’re staying at home with others—children, a partner, a mammalian pet—our nervous systems are asking to be cared for in a way that we're not used to doing.

By Janina Fisher - Given the way our lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, a lot of our clients will exhibit signs of depression. Here are some simple Sensorimotor Psychotherapy interventions that can help those who are feeling depressed and alone—and that are easily worked into a video session.

By Alicia Muñoz - In the last few weeks, as the specter of contagion has rapidly grown more ominous with each news cycle, an unthinkable professional reality has emerged for therapists, one that favors technophiles over technophobes. I’m a technophobe—through and through—and a therapist.

By Susan Pollak - I particularly like the suggestion to use the time we spend washing our hands during this pandemic to build up mindful compassion in ourselves. So, rather than sing the rather insipid “Happy Birthday to Me” song for 20 seconds, why not repeat these compassion phrases instead? I’m finding that this simple version helps my clients feel more connected and less helpless as they go through their day.

In this highlight from the 2020 Networker Virtual Symposium, therapist and author Lori Gottlieb talks about maintaining our mental health amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the concept of "both/and," and the difference between productive and unproductive anxiety.

By Stephen Lyons - I spent my first weeks in therapy recounting my recently-ended marriage: the spreading contagion of lies, fights, and broken promises. I'd never told these stories to anyone, ever. Each scene seemed a searing indictment of my abilities as a husband and father. But Sara simply listened, asked questions I'd never asked myself. Her role as a protective friend startled me into action.

By Lynn Lyons - Why are our children so anxious and getting more so? It seems puzzling. After all, we live in the age of “helicopter parents” and ubiquitous child professionals. But too often in our anxiety to stop the anxiety, we surround the child with an anxiety-reinforcing system fixated on protecting the child from any twinge of the dreaded disease.

Our brain has hundreds of strategies for resisting emotional pain. But according to psychologist and renowned Buddhist teacher Tara Brach, resisting pain only increases our suffering. Here, she proposes a different solution.

By Margaret Wehrenberg - I’ve begun to put aside my idealized view that unless people overcome their difficulties once and for all, therapy is somehow a failure. Evidence continues to accumulate that many people who have anxiety and depression suffer bouts of it all their lives, even after a good response to therapy.