Supporting Mental Wellness in a Time of Crisis—the War in Ukraine

A few months ago, Dr. Sherry Kelly, a widely recognized neuropsychologist, was a guest on 45 Forward, talking about how we can maintain mental wellness in an age of social media overload—on top of the social isolation, trauma and anxiety brought on by a deadly pandemic.In today’s episode, Dr. Kelly rejoins our conversation, along with an eminent physio-psychologist Dr. Gerard Meyer, the CEO of the Mental Wellness Society International, to talk about another dire mental health crisis: the daily struggles of families in Ukraine, trying to cope and indeed, survive, amid the uncertainties of war. Drs. Kelly and Meyer are members of a tireless corps of professionals who are working with their colleagues in Ukraine to support families in need of daily support and services. Each week, they offer a range of programs, services and training to help caregivers, teachers, health care providers and volunteers. In today’s conversation, they’ll describe their efforts to bring people together, coordinating with other relief initiatives and humanitarian organizations to help families prepare and focus on crisis responses and strategies to mobilize them to action—what they can do to make things right. In a broader context, Drs. Kelly and Meyer will also talk about the vision of the Mental Wellness Society: to unite experts in making mental wellness a global movement, promoting mental wellness as something more sustainable in our daily lives, than a reactive, treatment-based mental health practice.