By Anastasia Gentry, student news writer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Campbellsville University's Jan. 27 chapel service featured a panel discussion on depression and anxiety and how COVID-19 has impacted both.
Jamie Lawrence, executive director of ministry and church outreach and campus minister at Campbellsville University, was joined by Dr. Scott Wigginton, professor of pastoral ministries and associate director of marriage and family therapy at Campbellsville University, and Dr. Ken Hollis, associate professor/director of marriage and family therapy at the Louisville Education Center, during the service.
The group discussed the impacts COVID-19 has had on others pertaining to mental health, relationships and spiritually.
“It's an unusual situation,” Wigginton said. “We were affected spiritually and mentally, with the levels of isolation, with the pandemic,” he said.
With COVID-19, it is not an easy thing for anyone especially when it comes to having relationships with people because we are not used to taking the precautions, we now must take, Hollis said.
Hollis gave examples of how everyone can still attempt to do activities to better our mental health during this time. He said he has a client now who takes a 30-minute walk every day to help cope with his mental health.
Wigginton said there is also racial and political unrest going on amid the pandemic.
Hollis said new statistics on people watching the news show a correlation in the amount of news you consume and your level of depression.
As they all talk among themselves, relationships during a pandemic get brought up about how difficult it is in this type of situation that people are not used to. During a pandemic it is not the easiest thing to do is to create relationships or maintain a healthy one, Wigginton said.
“God built us for relationships; we aren't built for isolation,” Hollis said. “We need relationships, and we have started becoming creative on how to establish relationships,” he said.
Wigginton said mental health has taken a toll on a lot of people during this pandemic. He said many clients have talked about being lonely since it is hard to create relationships at this time.
Wigginton made a comparison to how we feel about our mental health and feeling lonely compared to Christ. “While Christ was in the fire, he had brothers in the fire with him as well, so we are realizing we aren't in COVID-19 alone.”
Lawrence, Wigginton and Hollis talked about how to manage our mental health and giving us resources on who to talk to. There is a counselor on campus, Erin Jarrett, director of counseling services, who is a resource for students.
All chapels are televised on WLCU (Comcast Cable channel 10 and digital channel 15), streamed on Campbellsville University's Facebook page and wlcutv.com and can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGOyyKyrGBpSx8-uXa4NRtw.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 13,500 students offering over 100 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional, and certification programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.