Life Interrupted: Now What? Seeking Less Stress, More Silver Linings and Some Solutions

The pandemic turned a magnifying glass on us all, revealing stress fractures, hidden strengths and motivation to reassess our lives and what’s essential for our community.

In the past 15 months, we’ve all experienced a global pandemic that has been traumatic for so many who have lost family, friends, time and missed milestones. Now that vaccines are rolling out and case counts are dropping, we’re easing out of hibernation but remain deeply affected by all that’s happened.

SEE ALSO: Isolation, Financial Troubles and More Than a Year of Anxiety Strained Our Mental Health

During the first intense months of stay-at-home orders, we saw mental health concerns soar in our community. We’ve learned survival techniques and explored caring for ourselves as well as those around us. We’ve watched for warning signs. And we’re still comparing notes on coping strategies as many familiar activities restart. We’ve spent more time thinking and talking about what kind of future we want for our workplaces, families and communities.

We’ve seen some good: many have a higher appreciation of our neighborhoods and are helping each other more. We spent more time outdoors and in our own homes even as our work and home lives spilled into one another. We witnessed a cleaner environment and smaller crowds, but more visible homelessness, fewer jobs and smaller paychecks in tourism-reliant Hawai‘i.

So where should we go next? While COVID-19 upended our lives, left a path of loss and isolated many, it also prompted more of us to re-evaluate what’s most important, especially as lockdowns sent us inside our houses and into our heads. How can we keep the good things we’ve encountered and ditch what we don’t like?

We ask community experts for their insights. Join us Thursday, June 17 at 1 p.m. for the latest virtual talk story in HONOLULU Magazine’s free virtual mental wellness series: Life Interrupted: Navigating What’s Next, Alarming Trends and Silver Linings. Sign up for the Zoom session here and get answers for your questions.

Mahalo to Dr. Jason Keifer, Brain Health Hawai‘i and the Kāhala Clinic for joining us as presenting sponsors for this year’s webinars. Our series began in May, which is Mental Health Month to help draw attention to the issues, nudge us toward solutions and illuminate resources available to all of us. And thank you to our silver sponsor: Hawai‘i Association of Independent Schools; and mahalo to our community partners Mental Health America Hawai‘i and NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness)–Hawai‘i.

SEE ALSO: Hawai‘i Experts Share Strategies for Getting Through Pandemic Exhaustion

Our panelists bring a wide range of expertise from the community and mental health:

Kimo Carvalho, works at Lili‘uokalani Trust youth services center. Previously with the Institute for Human Services, Carvalho is an innovator and leader in Hawai‘i’s homeless, mental health and human services community. He works to serve the most vulnerable and disadvantaged Native Hawaiian youth who are over-represented in homelessness, juvenile justice and foster care. He was raised on the Big Island of Hawai‘i and is a former beneficiary of the Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center in Kailua-Kona while raised in Hawai‘i’s foster care system. onipaa.org

Dan Chun has been the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu since 1994. Chun received his M.A. from University of Southern California in cinema production, M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in Communications from Lewis and Clark College. He and wife Pam have three children (Noelle, Dylan, and Quinn) and two dogs (Max and Molly). Chun and Pam founded Hawaiian Islands Ministries in 1983 which has trained more than 75,000 church and nonprofit leaders in many practical topics including mental health. fpchawaii.org

Claudia Crist, who serves as chief executive officer of Sutter Health Kāhi Mōhala, is passionate about promoting public health through partnership, innovation, leadership excellence, and aloha. Previous roles include Director of Strategic Operations at Sutter Health’s Mental Health Services and Chief Deputy Director of Policy and Programs at the California Department of Public Health. sutterhealth.org

Kanoe Enos is a co-founder of ‘A‘ali‘i Alliance, a partnership of consultants committed to systemic change and creating a better quality of life for the residents of Hawai‘i. He is rooted in the Islands as an advocate for the natural resources, peoples and cultures that make Hawai‘i special.  He holds a master’s degree in social work. aaliialliance.com

Dr. Jason Keifer is a Honolulu psychiatrist specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry. He leads the Kāhala Clinic and Brain Health Hawai‘i, where he has been helping kids, teens, adults and families for nearly two decades in both public and private sectors. He is committed to advancing the health and development of every person he works with, focused on the pursuit of the best health outcomes possible. brainhealthhawaii.com

Moderator: Robbie Dingeman is editor at large of Honolulu Magazine, telling the stories of Hawai‘i. The award-winning journalist has worked in daily newspapers, television and magazines. Co-author of two books, she serves as co-artistic director of the Gridiron show, which raises money for internships for the Society of Professional Journalists.

If you can’t stay for the whole session at that time, come back to our website where we will make the sessions available to watch or listen to at your convenience.

SEE ALSO: Listen, Ask for Help, Reach Out to Others, Say Kūpuna Caregivers