Rachel:
I would just like to introduce you to Jan Moskowitz, who is a clinical social worker from the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center. And we are so fortunate, at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, to have an incredible relationship and partnership with the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center, who really are answering some of your questions. And a lot of those are around anxiety and depression, and how do we cope during these times? It's a tricky thing that we're all dealing with. We're all sort of stuck in our homes. And Jan, so just thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking the time.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. It's great to join you on my first ever live Instagram. So, thank you all for tuning in and checking us out.
Rachel:
Yeah, totally. And this is the first time the foundation has done this as well. So please, put questions in the comments section, let us know what you want us to talk about. But we have actually had quite a few questions come in already, and a lot of people are asking things around tips to help with depression when stuck inside, or they're feeling lonely, what can they do? Or they're having trouble breathing, what does that even mean? And so, I think we're going to try and touch base on a lot of those different things today, but Jan, before we even start can you just give people a little bit of a background on your world, where you are? I know you are in New York City right now. And I hope everyone is safe around you and in your family, but yeah. Can you just give a little bit of a background on what's going on in your world?
Jan Moskowitz:
Sure. So everyone, I'm Jan. I am a licensed clinical social worker. I am at the Weinberg Family CP Center. I've been here for just under two years, and I provide individual psychotherapy with our adults and young adults with CP, some parents and caregivers, and hopefully expanding to children and adolescents soon. So Rachel, as you mentioned, I am in New York. We are in the hub of COVID right now. As you guys can tell, somewhat I am working from home, as we all are, at the Weinberg Center. We are still pretty active. All of our docs are doing telehealth. I'm doing telehealth with my patients, and we're trying to remain as open for business as possible in light of what's going on. We are social distancing, we are staying home, we are trying to do our part in flattening the curve, preventing the spread, and really trying to do what we can individually so that we can get back to our normative lives and really open up the doors again and see everyone in person.
Rachel:
Sure. No, absolutely. It's definitely a strange time, I feel like for all of us, but it's sort of this moment where we're all in this together. And as you've said, what part can we contribute to? Staying home is what we can do. And so, I think let's just try and dive straight into it, though. We've got some pretty big topics to talk about today, and we want to make sure that we're here helping you try to get through this time. And so, let's sort of just start off with the big ones, like thinking about anxiety and depression. And I think it's wonderful that we're talking about it and not trying to sort of sweep it under the rug and say it's not existing and that we all just have to cope.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's great that we're having the opportunity to talk about this. I feel like there's so much in the news and in media about COVID, right? But typically, it's about the physical symptoms and there's not much addressing the emotional aspects of what this does to us as individuals, to us as a community, to us as a nation. And it's important. I think for those of us who struggle with clinical depression and anxiety and how this is exacerbated, and those of us who don't, and are maybe experiencing these emotions and these feelings for the first time. And that could be quite scary if you've never kind of had that rush of panic or you've never really felt that sense of dread inside of you and the lack of motivation to get out of bed every day. So, it's a new feeling for a lot of people and I think we have to address it. We have to address it on the large scale for the people that they're every day exacerbated, and for those who this is brand new.
Jan Moskowitz:
And it's real. And it's real, and depression and anxiety can manifest in your mind and it can manifest in your body. And kind of like what you said, I know we got to question already about symptoms; is this anxiety? Is this COVID? And these emotional aspects can often resonate in our physical bodies. So it's important to talk about it and kind of figure out, where is this coming from? What is it that I'm experiencing? Is anyone else experiencing this also? Because I feel like there's also a sense of, am I alone in this? And that's a scary feeling, when we're all isolated by ourselves. It's hard to connect and find out, where is this coming from?
Rachel:
And so with that, so being in isolation, and we did get this question. I am having trouble breathing. Is this COVID? Because obviously, that's one of the respiratory signs of COVID, but also, am I having an anxiety or a panic attack or? What does that look like? And is there a way at home that you can sort of tell the difference?
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. Yeah. So, this is actually one of the most common questions that I've been getting. Am I feeling short of breath? Am I just breathing heavily? Is this something different? Is this panic? I've never panicked before. And I think it's really important to notice your symptoms and notice what's normative for you. So, if you notice that you're breathing kind of like this over and over again and you can't calm yourself down, well, is that the only thing that's happening? Or do you also feel fatigue? Do you also feel feverish? Do you also have a headache? Do you also have body aches? And if the answer is no, then this is your one symptom, then maybe let's try to control that breathing and see if that's a reaction to stress and anxiety. If there are other symptoms that are coming with this, like a fever, like a cough, like a sneeze, then maybe it is something to get checked out by your doctor.
Jan Moskowitz:
Of course, I'm not promoting rushing to the doctor's office right now, rushing to the emergency room. To be honest, that's not a great idea, but maybe call in. Call your doctor. And I think the big thing too is, what's your baseline? What's normal for you? Is this normally how you breathe? Is this normally how you handle high, intense stress or anxiety? And not only is this normal, how long has this been lasting? Is this something you've been experiencing for three days nonstop and you can't catch your breath? Or is this something that's kind of coming and going maybe when you're triggered, maybe when you're watching something? And really kind of noticing patterns. I think that's the one thing with mental health and physical health that we overlap in; it's this idea of, what is the pattern? And is this normative for you? And figuring out, if not, then where is this coming from?
Rachel:
And I suppose that's a good thing, because for some people this could be normal and you might identify, "Okay, I do have anxiety and depression and I can feel these moments where it's coming on." But for a lot of us who haven't been put in this situation before, we're feeling things that we've never felt before. We're potentially thinking things that we've never felt before. Can you just sort of touch base a little bit on that? And I suppose, is it normal? A lot of the time, it's hard. You go through Instagram and people are saying, "Use this time to do things you've never done before. Be thankful that you're not sick." And sometimes, that's really hard because you're sitting at home, you're on your own and it just doesn't feel great.
Jan Moskowitz:
Right. Right, and I totally agree. I think, yes. To answer your question in the most blunt sense, yes, it is normal. This is something that we've never seen in our lifetime, right? We have never seen a global pandemic. So yes, it's normal, but it's also unexpected. So, we can't prepare for this influx of emotion. We can't prepare to feel anxiety if we've never felt it before, because some of us deal with immense stress and they've never felt anxiety. A lot of people, for instance, I have a good friend who stress cleans. That's her thing. But at this point, she can't even clean. She's almost frozen. And she was thinking, "Well, this is stress. Why am I not reacting like I normally react?" This is not a normal stress. This is something that's completely out of anyone's conscious awareness up until recent.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yes, I think it is normal. I think we can get inundated with that overly positive social media response. "Use this time to find yourself. Enjoy this time." Well, yes, that's great, but you also have to find the time to feel your feelings. And I think sometimes that message is lost within this kind of false sense of positivity. I think there's a happy medium. I think we can do both things. And if you're one of my patients out there who are watching, you know I always talk about this, this notion of holding two feelings at once, which is a skill to learn and it's very hard to do. But it's the concept of, you could be happy, you could be sad, all wrapped into one. So we can feel grateful, or whatever word you want to use, for this added time that we're given, and [inaudible 00:10:32] it doesn't have to be an either/or. And I feel like making space for holding both of those emotions is the most impactful thing and ultimately, the most beneficial for you.
Rachel:
Can you just expand on that? I think that's amazing. And I think to be able to know that you don't have to be happy, you don't have to be sad, that you can be both and you can try and take that moment for yourself to acknowledge that. Can you just talk a little bit more about that and what skills people use to do that, and how? Because for me, I'm like, "Oh my God, how do I do both of those things?"
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. Yeah. It goes back to that feeling of... it's really wrapped in the whole notion of grief and loss, right? Where we can, sometimes if there's an older adult, maybe we have a grandparent that's in their late 90s. And this is a good way to think about it, where you're obviously devastated that your grandparent may have died. But at the same time, you're like, "Well, they lived a really great life and they got 99, 100 years." And we don't think about that as holding two emotions, but we are. We can feel a sense of gratitude for having them in our lives for so long and then being able to experience so many things, and be devastated of the loss. So I think the big concept is changing from an either/or frame to an and frame. So, I don't have to be sad or angry. I don't have to be angry or happy. I can be a little bit angry and a little bit happy at the same time.
Jan Moskowitz:
It is hard. It is not something that I could just like, "Yeah, go feel both feelings," and you can just go do. It is something that you actively have to work on. I think tip number one is acknowledging those feelings. Sometimes we're so good as human and putting up this front, right? Showing up to work every day, showing up to an appointment, going out of your way for friends, and we don't acknowledge our feelings. So I think step one in holding any feeling, nonetheless holding more than one, is acknowledging what those feelings are. Saying, "You know what? Right now I am angry. And I'm also glad that I'm not the only one that's angry." So those are [inaudible 00:12:55] two emotions, and being able to acknowledge it and say it kind of makes it a little bit more real, because if we don't, we often just completely funnel... or have tunnel vision, excuse me, and focus on the one feeling.
Jan Moskowitz:
And as we know, the main feeling, the easiest feeling, is always anger. No matter in what aspect of your talking about, anger is the number one feeling I've heard throughout my career. And a lot of times, anger is really just masking other feelings. It's masking confusion, it's masking anxiety, it's masking feeling overwhelmed. And once we can kind of hold both emotions, we can start to pull apart what that angry actually is.
Rachel:
And so that brings up an incredible point, because obviously during this time there could be a lot of different things that are causing you to feel the way that you're feeling. I know for me, for example, if I start going down that rabbit hole of reading too much information.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yes. Yes.
Rachel:
It's really easy, right? Because you're getting it from everywhere. I get notifications to my phone about what's happening in New York City every day. I open up an app and it tells me about what's happening in the news, and then I turn on the TV and it's doing that as well. And so, I am getting overwhelmed by all this information. I don't know what's real, what's not real. And then it's really hard because I also then are hearing stories and I'm just feeling sad. I'm feeling sad, and I can't go and give my friends a hug that need to be hugged, and I can't go do those things that I would usually do. And so it's hard to work out where it's all coming from, and can it come from all different places? And how do I look at coping with that, I suppose? It's that feeling of being overwhelmed.
Jan Moskowitz:
For sure. For sure. I agree. I think the internet is a wonderful tool and our biggest enemy. We can completely, like you said, go down the rabbit hole of saturation with information, and then you get conflicting opinions and you don't know where to look, and then that's when the anxiety really kicks in. So I think my number one tip for everyone, and I've started to do this myself because I realized that I do not practice what I preach. And I've started to really try to, is limit exposure to news coverage. I'm not saying don't watch. I'm in New York City, I'm in the epicenter. I need to watch. And I work in a hospital, so I need to know what's going on. That being said, I remember the first few days where I was working from home, I had CNN on in the background and I was just, I felt it spiraling. I felt my anxiety coming up. And what I've done is I now I allow myself one hour to watch the news. And it's typically either 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM, depending on my day, but I give myself one hour to watch it and then I turn it off.
Jan Moskowitz:
And I think that's a huge tip that I can give to everyone, because like you said, the news is scary, the news is overwhelming and it's very hard when you're getting all of these messages and you don't know where to look. I would also say, being that I work in a hospital, we get all our information funneled from the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, and that's where I would recommend that people look. This is coming from health professionals and it's guiding our practices in the healthcare field. And because that's where I am I feel like, you know what? That's what I need to follow. So, the other stuff I feel like it's a lot of noise. It can make you anxious. And like you said, not only anxiety, it can also trigger that depression. It can trigger that feeling of dread, of sadness, and it's like any other kind of mass casualty event where you're just hearing all of these horrendous stories. And that's very hard to deal with, and it's a struggle.
Jan Moskowitz:
And again, going back to our previous conversation of finding light, and then you have these social media stories that are finding the positivity, and that still is very confusing. And oftentimes, it poses an incorrect juxtaposition for us where we're anxious, we're depressed, but then we're supposed to be happy and find the silver lining, and our brains can't switch that fast. So my biggest, biggest tip for everyone is limit the amount of exposure you have to the news coverage. Whatever news you watch, whatever you trust in, follow that or check the CDC website. I would say that's the biggest, I feel like that's the most comprehensive at this point. And yes, it is changing. We know that; that the news changes every minute, but at least it's changing in a consistent fashion if you're monitoring one news source.
Rachel:
Yeah. No, absolutely. I think that's great advice because it's, is so overwhelming and you can get different stories no matter where you're turning. And I love that sort of this whole juxtaposition that you sort of touched on, because I suppose it's three, going back to their-
Jan Moskowitz:
I'm so sorry. You froze for me. I don't know if everyone heard that. If you could just repeat a little bit.
Rachel:
Yeah, sure. Am I back?
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep, you're back.
Rachel:
Okay. Yeah. So this whole idea of this juxtaposition, sort of what we were talking about, even feeling two feelings. I like how you said that even feeling those two feelings, you don't have to switch so fast.
Jan Moskowitz:
Correct.
Rachel:
And as you said, feeling those two feelings is a really hard skill to learn. And being forced to do it because you're seeing the news, and then you're seeing a wonderful social media post from a friend, doesn't feel great. So giving yourself that moment to take the time, giving yourself the moment to take the space, I think it's really important. And we know a lot of you are... thank you all for all your comments as we're going through. Please, if you have any questions let us know. And with reading this question right now, "So, I'm mostly feeling depressed about the uncertainty of when this will end and not feeling like I can look forward to much. Is that..." Oo, and it looks like you've just frozen as well. Jan, can you hear me on your end?
Jan Moskowitz:
I'm so sorry. I just came back. It told me I had poor connection. I think I'm back.
Rachel:
Oh. No worries.
Jan Moskowitz:
Are you back? We're all here?
Rachel:
Yes. Yes.
Jan Moskowitz:
Okay. So, I think we were mentioning-
Rachel:
We're all here. Sorry.
Jan Moskowitz:
I think you were mentioning the comments below that I see as well.
Rachel:
Yes. So, their emotion-
Jan Moskowitz:
About feeling depressed about the uncertainty.
Rachel:
Exactly. And we also have this other question that came in prior as well, is that, "I'm really upset about missing my graduation and my parents are telling me, 'Be thankful that you're not sick,' but I'm really upset. I'm missing this really big milestone in my life and I can't get it back, and I'm feeling bad about that." And I also do love this idea too. I'm uncertain about the future, I can't plan anything. I can't go, "All right, I'm going to plan something for August," because we don't know what August is going to bring. I'm going to plan something even to the end of the year; we don't know what that's going to do. What are your thoughts and recommendations and maybe tips on how to sort of think about these different things?
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. I think the interesting thing is they're two separate questions, but they're actually similar in the fact that it's really acknowledging a sense of loss. And we often think about grief and mourning in the eyes of a death, but there is grief and mourning for all kinds of losses. And like you said, the loss of planning for the future, kind of like this question came through. The loss of normalcy, the loss of being able to plan, the loss of knowing what's coming next. Those are real. And same thing with the graduation. And again, kind of like what we talked about where one person is like, "Well, be grateful. You still graduated. You'll have another." That can be often a little bit demeaning because these are big milestones. It could be anything. And I think what we have to really do is acknowledge that this is a loss. And kind of like we said about holding these two emotions, is holding that and feeling really upset about it.
Jan Moskowitz:
There are certain things that you can do in terms of grief and loss. I think number one is acknowledge it. Acknowledge that this is important to you. This is upsetting, and this is different. This is not what you planned. No one prepared you for this, and now you're stuck with this reality. Things are canceled, I can't plan for the future. And to be honest, this sucks. We have to call a spade a spade. And I think the second thing is going along with acknowledging this new reality. Also, remembering how things were. Some people are afraid to do that because the idea of reminiscing brings back the past and will make you more sad. I agree and I disagree. I think, yes, it can make you more sad but I also think it could bring some kind of peace and make sense of things. "Well, I remember when we were all in class together and talking about how we were going to decorate our graduation caps." Because that's still acknowledging the loss, saying, "This was our plan, and now our plan has changed."
Jan Moskowitz:
And number three, I think, like we've been talking about this whole time, is feeling those feelings, saying, "I'm pissed. This is not what I wanted. I wanted to do X, Y and Z. I wanted to plan a vacation," or, "I had a vacation planned and now I'm not," and realizing that all of those feelings are okay. They're just, they're valid and they make sense. And then I think the fourth part is not necessarily to cope with that loss, but begin to explore coping techniques. And what does that look like? This I get all the time. That looks very different to every single person. So, is that self-care? Maybe. Okay, but what is self-care to you? Self-care to you, Rachel, is different than self-care to me. Self-care for patients who are immobile or are a community that are immobile is very different than self-care for people who are more ambulatory and more mobile.
Jan Moskowitz:
So I think there are a lot of differences but self-care, in and of itself; what makes you feel good? What puts you first and makes you feel okay and happy and at peace and comfort? And I think one of the biggest coping strategies is try to adjust to the new norm. And this is a big one. Yeah, sorry?
Rachel:
Yeah. Sorry, I was going to say, can you give us, because obviously we've sort of spoken about, a lot about now, how we're all feeling and that we are in this together. Can you give us your five top tips on how to cope and what to do? And can we walk away from this feeling even a little bit better than when we first logged on to this? And I think that's what we all want. And to all of you who are listening, if you don't have somewhere to go to connect, we are going to be doing more of these lives. We've been seeing how many people want them and are asking for them. We're going to try and do them on a range of different topics. And we will get Jan back. If you want Jan back, we'll get Jan back as well. But what are your top tips? What can we do at home to help ourselves? Or how can we connect out and reach out to others so they can help us as well? What are your top tips?
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. So I think number one is keep a routine, whatever that means. I think mental health often falls to the wayside when we are all over the place. So a routine is, I mean, especially eating and sleeping, right? The whole adage of working in a hospital; you can't take care of anyone else unless you take care of yourself. How do we take care of ourselves eating and sleeping? It's our main go-to. So as much as you can, try to go to sleep at the same time, around the same time you were pre-COVID as now, at the same time you were going to wake up.
Jan Moskowitz:
I know for me, for instance, I live in a tiny New York City apartment where my bed is next to my couch, is next to my kitchen. My routine is I make my bed every day. It is very easy for me not to and just lounge around, but it keeps me accountable for my day. I make my bed, I hop in the shower, I start my day. Humans in general, we thrive in structure, we thrive in routine. Maintain whatever structure or routine works for you. If you can mirror things in your life pre-COVID, do it. If you can't, that's understandable. A lot has changed. But create a new routine, what works, something that you can do day in and day out. Try to keep this as stable as possible. Of course, give yourself weekends, right? Weekends are weekends. If you want to sleep in, great. You still deserve a weekend.
Jan Moskowitz:
I think number two is maintain communication. I follow this exercise blog on Instagram and one of the trainers said this amazing quote. I don't know if he stole it or if he made it up, but I'm going to now steal it from him. I'm not claiming to make it up. It says, "We are socially distant but virtually connected." And I think that's so important. We are in the 21st century. We can do Instagram live, we can do Zoom meetings and FaceTime and all these different mediums where we can still connect with people. I think the hardest thing is a lot of people... I work with a lot of young adults, and a lot of people talk about friendships, and they come and go. And it's a lot of this, "But I'm always the one to reach out." These are different times. So if you're the one that's always reaching out, that is frustrating. But right now if you feel like you need that extra support, it's okay to be the one to reach out. Stay connected. Stay connected with friends, stay connected with family.
Rachel:
And as I said to everyone, stay connected with us if you need to. Honestly, if you are feeling lonely and isolated, stay connected with us on our page. Send us a DM. We have people who are monitoring all our social media all the time, and we will talk. We will have a chat. We love connecting with all of you. And so please, if you've got questions, if you've got thoughts, if there's anything that we can help with, please let us know.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. Absolutely. I think the third one, although I poked a little fun at it earlier, is really try to embrace new things if you can. Like I said, sometimes the concept of, "Oh, we have all this time. Do new things," it could be overwhelming. But if you're giving yourself an hour out of the day or 30 minutes out of the day, try something new. And I understand that we all have different limitations and restrictions, and I'm not saying go out and buy a piano and learn how to be a pianist, but within your capabilities, within your realm. If you want to do a puzzle, if you want to learn; if you usually get assistance in brushing your hair, but you really want to try to perfect the fine motor skills in your maybe less dominant hand or more effective hand, maybe that's the skill you work on. And it would be more on your terms rather than on the terms of a physical therapist. It's less work and more, you are trying to build your own skill.
Jan Moskowitz:
And I think the fourth one, and this one is challenging, but in any way that you can do it, I think something really positive that has come out of this is this idea of supporting the greater good. It sounds crazy when people say to me even, "What are you doing?" I'm not necessarily a "frontline" worker. I'm not in the hospitals, I'm not manning the emergency rooms, but for me, helping the greater good is I'm staying home. Right? I'm doing my part. It can be, if you know somebody that can't get groceries, and maybe you can't physically go get them groceries, but maybe you know somebody who can. Maybe connecting them to that person.
Jan Moskowitz:
I know money is tight for many people. Money is tight for me. I typically don't like eating out. I don't like ordering in very much, but now I'm like, "You know what? Restaurants are losing a lot of money." So last night I said, "You know what? I'm going to treat myself and support a restaurant." I ordered in. And then I added a bigger tip than I normally would. I might regret that in the future. But I feel like that's something little that I feel like I can do, because I'm not on the frontlines. And even if it's just helping one person, if it's saying, kind of like you said, Rachel, "Reach out to us. We're here." Even if that's connecting with a friend who you know might be struggling, saying to them, "Reach out. I'm here." Just finding somebody that you feel like you can support.
Jan Moskowitz:
And I think the last one is really, connecting with yourself. These kind of meditation, grounding techniques that really can help with depression. It can help with anxiety. It can calm you back to yourself a little bit. I know we talked about often getting inundated with news media and what's going on, and our fears and our worries, and kind of bringing back who we are. One of my favorite kind of grounding techniques, I'll just share it for a few minutes. Super easy to do. And you can [inaudible 00:32:54]-
Rachel:
Okay. Are we going to try and do it together? Or are we going to, you'll talk us through it first and then maybe try it?
Jan Moskowitz:
I'll talk you through it, because we might not want to do it. Might get kind of boring. But whatever you can do within your limitations, and I'll talk about different modifications that we can do. So, it's super easy. It's called five, four, three, two, one.
Rachel:
Okay. I can remember that.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep. Five, four, three, two, one. The goal is that we're going to focus on our five senses rather than our minds, because our minds kind of go all over the place. So, you start with five. So what you're going to do with number five is you're going to note, if you can, if you are verbal, if you're able to say it out loud, saying five things that you can see. This can literally be anything. Example, "I see Rachel right now." Right? "I see a pen right in front of me." It literally can be anything that you see. So, that's number five. Four-
Rachel:
So, you said that saying out loud. What if I can't potentially say it out loud? Can I think it? Can I think it in my head to say, that's some sort of idea?
Jan Moskowitz:
Absolutely. Typically, we say "say it out loud" just because it makes it more real. If that's a limitation of yours, think it in your head. That's totally fine. The goal is really to overly focus on these senses. And sometimes when we say things out loud, it pushes us to focus a little bit harder.
Rachel:
Yeah. Definitely.
Jan Moskowitz:
So, going down to number four. Four is that we're going to say, "Five..." I'm so sorry. Four. "Four things that we can feel." This one can be challenging for our population. This does not have to be literally tactile. It does not have to be grabbing a pen and saying, "I feel a pen." This can be, "I feel my butt against my wheelchair. I feel my stomach growling. I feel my eyebrow twitching." Anything that you might possibly... You can even say, "I feel like my pants are a little too tight." Anything that is connecting your physical body to something that you feel. So, that's number four. Number three is three things... Let me just warn you. The next two I feel like are the hardest. Three is three things that you can hear. This is hard. I know, especially for me, I live alone. So it might be... I live in New York City. I hear the wind against the buildings outside. I hear the humming of my refrigerator. Literally anything that passes through you.
Jan Moskowitz:
Two is two things that you can smell. This one is challenging because what if there's nothing to smell? Or what if there's not... like on all the Instagram memes, everyone's making banana bread. I'm not making banana bread. I don't smell banana bread. So I'll often, talking about adaptations and modifications, think about two things that you wish you can smell, or two things that are your favorite smells. Fresh pizza is one of my favorite smells in all the land. So I focus on, what would that smell, smell like? And then the one thing, the number one, the last one, is one thing that you can taste. Again, there might be nothing in your mouth. You might have just brushed your teeth, so maybe, "I taste some leftover Colgate." Or again, "I would love to taste some pizza right now." So, those are the modifications. It doesn't have to necessarily be something that's right there, but you could change it to something you wish you could.
Jan Moskowitz:
So it's five, four, three, two, one. Five you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. And that helps ground us because the five senses are the most grounding thing that we can do, and we're hyperfocusing on our bodies rather than the anxieties that are swirling around in our minds.
Rachel:
And just so everyone knows, we will put all of that on our Instagram stories as well, so we will sort of outline this for you so you can literally follow it. And we'll also put it on our Instagram post, which will go through these five, four, three, two, one moments.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep. And the other thing I would say is, if you're into meditation, I think that's a great tool. It's easy to do. You can do it anywhere. That also, kind of like the concept of holding these two feelings, is something you have to practice. Meditation does not come easy to everyone. Some people, it does, some people, it doesn't. For me, it does not come easy. I have to practice. Talking about keeping a routine, I've put that in my routine, that I'm trying to do it at least two times a week because I know I'm not very good at it.
Rachel:
And do you have any place... because obviously, I've done a little bit of meditation. Sometimes I go online to sort of learn some things. Is there great apps to follow? Is there anything that you would recommend for people to go download?
Jan Moskowitz:
Yes. For sure. So-
Rachel:
Someone just here said the Calm app is awesome. I agree with you, the Calm app is awesome.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep. That's on my list. Yep.
Rachel:
Yeah, okay. Great.
Jan Moskowitz:
I use calm. I use Headspace, and I use Shine. All three of those have free versions, because I don't think it's necessary to pay for an app because there's so many free ones. Just a little plug for free things. Also, for any viewers out there that are medical professionals or who have NPI numbers, Headspace is offering one year of free access to their full platform, if you have an NPI number. So if you don't, however, you can do the free version, which is still pretty great. I must say, it's not super restrictive. You could still get a quick meditation out of it. So those are just the three that I personally have used, and that's why I plug them the most.
Rachel:
And I know we've had a couple of then other questions going on here that I definitely, we are not ignoring, but wanted to wait sort of to more at the end. So, we have one question is, is it possible to make a telehealth appointment with you or someone at the Weinberg Cerebral Palsy Center? So, what is the process on doing that? And who is it available to, who isn't it available to? And if you can't, what other things are out there?
Jan Moskowitz:
Sure. Sure. So disclaimer, I am only licensed in New York and New Jersey. So unfortunately, if you are out of those states I am not licensed to provide psychotherapy. And I do participate with insurance panels, so we would obviously just make sure that your plan accepts telehealth and therapy, and that I par with your plan. You can absolutely always reach out. You can call us at the CP Center. We'll put our number on, but it's 212-305-2700. And I am currently the only one providing individual psychotherapy, but typically, once somebody calls, I will reach out, call you, figure out what you're looking for. Again, confirm that you're in New York and New Jersey and your insurance, and then we go from there.
Rachel:
And you're providing, obviously, telehealth appointments. But I know you and I have spoken about this before. This isn't new for you, by the way.
Jan Moskowitz:
Correct. Yeah. I actually have been doing telehealth for a little over a year now. Telehealth is such an amazing platform, especially for people with mobility limitations. It's very challenging, and for those of you who have come to visit us at the CP Center, we're all the way up in Washington Heights. It's a hike. It's a hike, the trains aren't great up there. And as we all know, Access-A-Ride is not the most efficient means of transportation.
Rachel:
Absolutely.
Jan Moskowitz:
So, we've really pushed for telehealth. So I've been doing it for about a year, and I don't know if my patients would say otherwise, but I think it's been a great experience. I do like to, pre-COVID and hopefully, post-COVID, do like to do, every now and then, in-person sessions, just because I think there's something really intimate about being together physically. That being said, I've had patients that I've only seen in person once and our relationship is video chat, and it's really great. It's effective, and you can do it in your pajamas.
Rachel:
Yeah. No, that's sort of the one [inaudible 00:42:06] that I do love now, I must say. Not having to actually get changed out of pajamas.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. Just, you can shirt up, you're good.
Rachel:
It can be that [inaudible 00:42:14]. However, I am now going to take your advice though for maintaining this routine, and I am going to get up every day and get changed. I start my day very early because I have young children. You might have actually just heard one wake up.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep.
Rachel:
I'm actually, in the background. And sometimes I am definitely not getting changed, so that is great advice; to maintain my routine, to actually get up and do those different things.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yeah. I saw this great meme.
Rachel:
Now, what if I'm not in New York or New Jersey. And-
Jan Moskowitz:
Oh, sorry. Say again?
Rachel:
What if I'm not in New York or New Jersey, what can I do? Because if I'm feeling, and we really want to acknowledge, if you are feeling depressed or anxiety and you're feeling like you're not coping, we are really recommending that you reach out to somebody, because we don't want you to be isolated and in your home.
Jan Moskowitz:
Right. Correct.
Rachel:
What can we do? What's out there for people?
Jan Moskowitz:
So, there's a few things. Number one, I'm glad you mentioned it; if you feel like you are not coping and you are in a crisis, please, please, if you are in New York City, call NYC Well. They are crisis hotline, 24/7. You can call, you can text. We're going to put this up on the site also. To call, it's 1-888-NYC-WELL, W-E-L-L. You can even text WELL to the number 65173, and they have licensed professionals 24/7 to help you through a crisis. Of course, always call 911 if NYC Well is not sufficient to you, if you are in immediate need. If it is not immediate and you feel like you are coping, you just need a little extra support, there is actually, through the Office of Mental Health, there is a COVID-related support hotline. This hotline is open 24/7 from, I want to say either 8:00 AM or 10:00 AM, to 8:00 PM. I will double check with you all and get that on CPF website, so yeah.
Rachel:
Yeah. And we'll make sure we put it on, we're going to do it on the post. We'll put it on stories, and we want to make sure that all these details that you have.
Jan Moskowitz:
And we'll have it on ours as well, but the OMH hotline is 1-844-863-9314. Just want to caveat that they are not there for ongoing individual therapy. They are there for just to kind of listen, to help if you're in a-
Rachel:
In deployment.
Jan Moskowitz:
... not a crisis, but let's call it a pickle. You just need some extra support right now, they are there. They are also wonderful in that they have access to tons of supports and they actually have a resource hub where they type in your zip code and can find appropriate resources by you. If you are not in New York or New Jersey, and I know we have a lot of viewers and followers who are not, I recommend looking at the CDC website, seeing what's out there. Also, I tell my patients and our families this all the time; a great website is psychologytoday.com. It is all vetted, licensed therapists, and you can search in your geographic area. You can search by zip code and you can search by insurance. So, that's a great resource as well.
Rachel:
And as we said, we will make sure that we've got all of that up there for all of you. Someone also asked the question, what Instagram do I reach out to? You can reach out to @yourcpf. You can reach out to @weinbergcpcenter. Both of us will answer any questions that you have. And if it's something that we can't answer, we can absolutely find someone who can. So, please reach out to either of our Instagram handles or Facebook, any of those emails, whatever you need to do.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yep. Exactly.
Rachel:
But I just want to say thank you. Right? I wanted to say thank you for taking the time to have this chat with us today. And I'll have to telehealth you, Jan. Oh, Tucker.
Jan Moskowitz:
Thanks, Tucker.
Rachel:
We love you, Tucker. We hope this has been helpful. We want to do more of these, as I said. We feel like these are going to be really important, not just during this time but for all the time. One of the things that we've heard is, "Okay, great. Everyone now is being pushed to do these telehealth things, but we have been asking for this for so long." This is something that we've listened to and we are going to make sure that we continue these coming up, but... Elena, thank you. And thank you everyone who's joined us and listened. As I said, if anyone has any other questions, you can always leave them in these comments. And I'm sure we're going to be getting Jan back, so.
Jan Moskowitz:
Well, I would just like to thank you, Rachel. Thank you to CPF. Thanks for having us. And I really want to thank everyone that's tuning in. Like I said at the start of this, it's really important that we talk about our mental health. It's really important that we realize that this is a very trying time on all of us. I always disclose to all of my patients that the best therapists are in therapy. And I will say, I am so thankful for my therapist at these times, because this is hard. This is really, a really a hard time, and it sounds cheesy but we are all in this together. We are here to support one another. And I really just want to echo what Rachel said; we're here. Reach out to us. And if I don't know the answer, I will direct you to somebody who does. But whatever we can do to help make this time a little bit more tolerable, that's our goal.
Rachel:
And please everyone, watch out onto our Instagram pages and Weinberg CP Center Instagram pages with what's coming up next. We are going to try to do two or three of these a week. Big task for us because this is something new, but we really want to be able to give you the information that you need. So in the post that we do today, leave what you want to hear us talk about, and we are going to be here for you. But I just want to say, thank you everybody.
Jan Moskowitz:
Thank you.
Rachel:
Have a wonderful evening, and we will all talk again soon.
Jan Moskowitz:
Yes. Thank you all.
Rachel:
All right. Thanks. Bye, everybody.
Jan Moskowitz:
Bye.