Online Recovery Meetings
https://unityrecovery.org/digital-recovery-meetings
Offering online recovery support groups which will be available four times daily at 9AM, 12PM, 3PM, and 9PM EST.
https://www.12step.org/social/online-meetings/
Offers a variety of online meetings and various other outside resources
Offers online meetings with specialized topics with a variety of meeting formats (i.e. chat, text, e-mail, etc.)
https://www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/…/on…/online_meetings
Offers a variety of online communications, including chat rooms, message boards, etc. They also offer online media and online meetings with specific meeting topics (i.e. cocaine anonymous)
https://www.intherooms.com/home/
Offers online meetings with specialized topics. They have multiple modalities, including 12 step, non-12 step, over all wellness, and overall mental health.
Provides online meetings using Zoom. They already have a set schedule for all 7 days of the week with various speakers already scheduled.
Offers a recovery chat rooms using text chat. They also provide other recovery resources such as testimonies, readings, etc.
Offers daily online meetings with 24/7 text chat with other members. They also offer a variety of extra resources, such as meditation for NA, relapse prevention, and other recovery-oriented resources.
Mental Health Resources
As published by the Office of Mental Health
The outbreak of COVID-19 around the world has led to the spread of fear and panic for individuals and communities. In addition to following physical precautions guidelines, individuals should be taking care of their psychological well-being.
This guide includes tips for the following populations:
For Everyone
For Individuals Receiving Mental Health Services
For Parents, Including Parents of Children with Pre-Existing Anxiety Disorders
For Caregivers of Elderly Individuals
For Mental Health Providers
For Everyone:
Reduce anxiety by reducing risk. Ways to reduce risk include practicing good hygiene (e.g. sneezing and coughing into your elbow, sneezing into a tissue and immediately throwing the tissue away, wash hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, etc.). In addition, create a plan in case your regular routine is disrupted, such as setting up remote work and alternative childcare arrangements. Setting out a plan can help reduce anxiety by taking charge of the things you can control.
Manage your information flow by choosing reliable sources and establish boundaries on checking for updates. Getting regular, factual information is important. However, continuously scrolling through social media or constantly refreshing the news is likely to lead to increased anxiety. Pick a few trusted news outlets – such as the state and local health authorities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or World Health Organization – and commit to checking once or twice a day for updates.
Monitor your anxiety levels. Anxiety is a normal response to a stressful situation and can provide adaptive benefits in many situations. However, when faced with mounting uncertainty, your brain can go into an anxiety spiral that is no longer helpful. Knowing the difference between typical and atypical stress is important. Monitoring your stress level will let you know when you need to seek additional help. o A typical stress reaction may include: temporary difficulty concentrating; irritability and anger; fatigue; stomachache; and, difficulty sleeping.
An atypical stress reaction may include a persistent and/or excessive worry that doesn’t lift and keeps you from carrying out your daily tasks. If you experience significant changes in your energy level, eating patterns, or sleeping patterns, difficulty concentrating on normal tasks, prolonged and overwhelming worry and hopelessness, or thoughts of self-injury or suicide, seek out immediate help at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text Got5 to 741741.
Practice good self-care, including exercise, eating healthy foods, and sleeping an adequate amount at night. If possible, spend some time outside. Avoid staying up late to monitor the news.
Virtually reach out to different types of support networks, such as family, friends, colleagues, faith-based communities, and social organizations to strengthen your overall feeling of connection. Isolation and loneliness feeds anxiety.
Find meaningful tasks and roles within your support network to channel your anxiety, such as coordinating deliveries of groceries to those unable to leave home, curating kids’ activity ideas for parents working from home, or video calling or calling those who might feel socially isolated. Supporting others is beneficial to the supporter as well.
Find or create spaces that are not focused on COVID-19. Start a social media thread about other topics, ask friends to discuss other topics, or watch your favorite TV or movie.
Savor small positive moments, amplify positive stories, and stay optimistic. Try to cultivate a mental wellness practice, such as writing in a gratitude journal, or talking nightly with your family about moments during the day that were fun or enjoyable.
Take an opportunity to practice mindfulness when managing anxiety. Mindfulness tools like grounding exercises, sensory modulation, and deep breathing may be helpful.
For Individuals Receiving Mental Health Services:
As soon as possible, work with your mental health provider on a coping plan. Think about helpful coping skills you can practice daily and be mindful to those coping skills that you may turn to that are otherwise harmful to your safety and well-being. For example, if you know that music, walking outside, reframing your thoughts, and connecting with others are helpful, think about ways you can incorporate those into your daily life. If you know that you might struggle with ruminating, self-injury, substance use, or other strategies that might be harmful to your safety and well-being, identify alternative coping methods with your provider. Write out a plan to help prepare you for heightened anxiety.
Work with your mental health providers on specifically managing anxiety and ask them to help you come up with practical skills that you can rehearse.
Work with your mental health providers on alternative options if your routine services are disrupted. These might include using telemental health services, getting prescription medication, or engaging in supplemental mental wellness activities.
Seek positive peer support. Connect yourself to others who understand your experiences and can assist in problem-solving. If social distancing increases feelings of isolation, look into online peer supports or peer hotlines.
For Parents, Including Parents of Children with Pre-Existing Anxiety Disorders:
Think about and rehearse scripts for talking with your kids about COVID-19. Kids take cues from caregivers about how anxious they need to be about a topic. Seek out resources and media to assist in your preparation.
Talk about the situation openly. Most kids elementary-aged and up have heard about COVID-19 or coronavirus. Avoiding the topic or providing blanket reassurances is more likely to feed anxiety. If kids bring up the topic, let them know you are glad they brought it up. This increased the likelihood that they will come to you with further anxieties or questions.
Don’t give more information than is requested. Part of a developmentally appropriate approach is to answer the question your child asks, but not necessarily more than that. Check to make sure they understood your response by asking them to repeat back what they heard, and let them know you are open to more questions. Reassure your child that it is normal to feel scared or anxious.
Help your school-aged child and adolescent set boundaries on their information flow in the same way you are setting your own boundaries. Help them identify factual sources of information and set appropriate intervals to check in. Encourage them to use their media literacy skills to question the messages they are getting from various information channels. Consider limiting media exposure or consuming media with your child so that you can be available to interpret and explain information.
Keep as many routines intact as possible. For kids who may be out of school and/or have extra-curricular activities cancelled, it is helpful to keep other routines, like mealtimes and bedtimes. To the extent possible, for kids who are at home for longer periods of time, set up a structure. Collaborate with your child to come up with a loose schedule, such as an outdoor activity and lunch prep in the morning, and a movie and homework time in the afternoon.
Find fun ways to maintain contact with individuals your child is separated from, such as elderly grandparents or classmates at school. Set up opportunities to maintain and even grow connections, such as reading a book to grandparents on video call or sending postcards to friends.
Encourage physical activity and time outside, where possible. Both staying active and having opportunities to be in nature are helpful with mitigating anxiety and building resilience.
Use this as an opportunity to teach distress tolerance skills that will be helpful to your kids in any situation. This is a great time to learn about purposeful breathing, guided imagery, distraction, and other skills.
For Caregivers of Elderly Individuals:
Facilitate ways for the individual to maintain social connections. As the elderly have been told to isolate as much as possible, it is likely that social isolation and loneliness may take a toll on physical and mental health. Set up and provide technological assistance for family and friends to stay connected to the individual. Consider coordinating a group of people to check in on a rotation so that the individual feels the support of a network.
Encourage the individual to stay as active as possible, for both their physical and psychological well-being.
Help the individual find ways where they can help others, such as calling others to check in on them or entertaining grandchildren on FaceTime. Having a purpose and role can reduce anxiety.
Consider practical ways you can relieve an individual’s anxiety, such as volunteering to order their groceries online or offering to walk the individual’s dog(s).
In a time of high anxiety, it may be hard for the individual to select reliable sources to get information and updates on COVID-19. Curate a list of reputable media and write them down for the individual.
Practice self-care and be compassionate to yourself. While caregiving is a demanding and rewarding role at the best of times, being a caregiver during a time of heightened concerned is particularly stressful. If possible, find a way to take small breaks, rotate responsibilities with others, and practice your own mental health strategies.
For Mental Health Providers:
Place a priority on self-care, including getting adequate rest and exercise, eating healthy food, maintaining social connections, and taking time away from service provision as possible.
Prepare for heightened anxiety in the individuals in your care and prepare your own toolkit on skills and scripts that might be helpful.
Work with your colleagues to prepare back-up plans for crisis management, such as telemental health or alternate therapeutic arrangements, so that you are prepared if there is a disruption in services. Work with your supervisor and colleagues to rotate functions and cross-train as much as possible
Set up peer supports, such as peer supervision and consultation, to connect with others who are in a similar situation. Setting up spaces to discuss the toll of vicarious trauma and anxiety is an important part of self-care.
Seek out professional help as needed. Remember that provision of mental health care during a crisis is challenging and it is critical that you address your own stress and anxiety.
Food Resources
With the ongoing changes regarding COVID-19, please check beforehand with each resource to see if they are continuing provision.
If you are in urgent need of food, call 311.
Food Pantries:
Fresh Pantry Project Each week during the height of the season, farmers from 35 Greenmarkets donate their fresh fruits and vegetables to local food pantries, homeless facilities, soup kitchens, and community centers in all 5 boroughs. Website http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/freshpantry
NY Common Pantry New York Common Pantry works toward the reduction of hunger and food insecurity through an array of programs that function to establish longterm independence for those we serve. Our wholeperson approach starts with food provision through the distribution of nutritious, fresh food pantry packages in Choice Pantry and hearty balanced breakfast and dinner in the Hot Meals program. We then go further to address the reasons for food insecurity with case management services through the help of Help 365, which assists Pantry visitors in gaining access to resources, and Project Dignity, which connects homeless visitors to resources. The third vital element in our wholeperson approach is education offered through our Live Healthy! program. Live Healthy! teaches children and adults about the importance of a nutritionally sound diet and active living, as well as provides them with the skills necessary to make healthier choices for their families. Program details http://www.nycommonpantry.org/programs.html
Several Food Pantries in NYC http://www.foodpantries.org/st/new_york
Food Access:
NYC Probation is currently offering "grab-and-go" food for the public at:Living Redemption Youth Opportunity Hub (LRYOH) 302 West 124th Street, New York NY 10027. Staff is there Wednesdays and Fridays from 1pm to 4pm
Fresh Food Box GrowNYC's Fresh Food Box Program is a food access initiative that allows under served communities to purchase a curated selection of fresh, healthy, regionallygrown produce; the best of what’s seasonally available. Fresh Food Box customers can take advantage of the cost benefits of buying in a group, and enjoy the quality and variety of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share, with the flexibility of weektoweek purchasing. Website http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarketco/foodbox
Food Bank NYC Food Bank For New York City has been the city’s major hungerrelief organization working to end hunger throughout the five boroughs for more than 30 years. Nearly one in five New Yorkers relies on Food Bank for food and other resources. Food Bank takes a strategic, multifaceted approach that provides meals and builds capacity in the neediest communities, while raising awareness and engagement among all New Yorkers. Website http://www.foodbanknyc.org/aboutfoodbank
Directory of Soup Kitchens and Homeless Shelters http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgibin/id/cityfoodbanks.cgi?city=New%20York&state=NY
Selected Distribution Sites:
Bronx Defenders 360 161st St, Bronx, NY 10451
Christ and St. Stephen’s Food Program 120 West 69th St, New York, NY 10023
Encore Senior Center 239 West 49th St, New York, NY 10019; hours: TTh 92pm; call (212) 5812910
Met Council Center *BY APPOINTMENT ONLY* 120 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10271; hours: MT 95pm; call (212) 4539532
Jan Hus Presbyterian Church/Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program 351 East 74th St, New York, NY 10021
Salvation Army Manhattan Citadel 175 East 125th St, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10035
Macedonia Church Assembly of Life Food Pantry 340 East 106th St, New York, NY 10029
Holy Cross Food Supplement Program 329 West 42nd St, New York, NY 10036
Programs:
FRESH FRESH gives benefits to those renovating or looking to open new grocery stores. Seeks to promote the establishment and retention of neighborhood grocery stores in underserved communities throughout the five boroughs. Website http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2009/fresh.shtml FRESH Food Store Areas http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/fresh/index.shtml
Communities for Healthy Food NYC Integrating access to healthy and affordable food into every aspect of our comprehensive community development work – through resident outreach, nutrition education and cooking classes; creating new or improved healthy food outlets and generating foodsector jobs. Website http://www.lisc.org/nyc/programs/green_and_healthy_neighborhoods/communities_for_healthy_food_nyc.ph p City Harvest Founded in 1982 as the world’s first food rescue organization, City Harvest (cityharvest.org) is dedicated to helping feed the nearly 1.4 million New Yorkers facing hunger. City Harvest will collect 55 million pounds of excess food from restaurants, grocers, bakeries, manufacturers, and farms, and deliver it free of charge to 500 community food programs across the city this year. In addition to helping meet the immediate need for food, City Harvest takes a longterm approach to fighting hunger by partnering with residents, local organizations and businesses through Healthy Neighborhoods programs which increase the availability of affordable fruits and vegetables in lowincome communities and provide the nutrition education and resources to maintain a wholesome, foodsecure diet. Website http://www.cityharvest.org/
SNAP The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as “food stamps”) provides food assistance for nearly 1.8 million lowincome New Yorkers including families, the elderly and the disabled. The program helps families and individuals supplement the cost of their diet with nutritious foods. To apply in New York https://www.mybenefits.ny.gov/