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Professor Jude Mary C茅nat is the lead author of .
The online guide features educational modules that aim to equip mental health professionals to manage the psychosocial health of communities affected by infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.
鈥淚n order to protect ourselves from COVID-19, people have had to learn and adopt a series of behaviours that are normally associated with mental health disorders,鈥 says the researcher. 鈥淲ashing our hands dozens of times a day is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, other behaviours are related to depression, while some social distancing measures are associated with social phobias.鈥 [鈥
鈥淪ince some provincial authorities are moving to reopen schools, there is, for example, an urgent need to reinforce the psychological first aid skills of school personnel,鈥 says Professor C茅nat, to help them identify students who will need to be referred to a specialist. Teachers and support staff returning to school would feel much less stress if they felt better prepared to support students whose mental health may have suffered during confinement. 鈥淪ome children may have had to deal with parental violence or witnessed domestic violence,鈥 adds the psychologist, who sees deconfinement as both a challenge and an opportunity to help some people find psychological balance with the proper tools.
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