Global & Virtual

The whole world is groaning under the coronavirus pandemic, and the toll on mental health is great.

Since the pandemic began, we’ve been collaborating with other fine organizations and checking in with healthcare workers, church leaders, and international facilitators. In short online sessions, they’ve shared about their experiences and ways they’ve been coping.

Pastors in Liberia said they used lessons learned during the Ebola crisis.

Increased workload, fear of bringing the virus home to family, and the lack of protective gear are common stressors. In one country with less than 200 deaths from the virus, a pastor told us there had been 3,000 reported suicides as people struggled with fear and despair.

Yet, in the midst of this, most are discovering ways to find joy. Many were happy to have more time with family, enjoyed playing with their children, others reported growing their own food and regular exercise reduced stress.

Although our in-person training seminars are cancelled for now, we’ve been listening and offering guidance as we can. Facilitators from seven nations participated in a virtual “bridge” course to bring everyone up to date with newer materials.

In person, the full seminar is 40 hours. We were already working to get the materials into an online course, beginning with French for West Africa. English was recorded in September, and is now being edited. These online programs will be fully-available at the beginning of 2021.

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