Jamie Pitts, Co-Founder of GreatAuPair offers au pairs health and wellness tips to maintain a positive outlook amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
www.greataupairusa.com/
If you just joined the call, welcome! My name is Jamie, I am one of the founders of GreatAuPair. It’s a privilege to be able to speak to you tonight and to offer you support during this challenging time. Before my husband and I started GreatAuPair back in 2001, I used to be a counselor. So, I am going back to my roots tonight to share with you some ways to help maintain a healthy mindset during this current crisis that we’re all facing.
Please know that any recommendations that are shared with you are offered with your health, safety, and well-being in mind.
I’d like to start out by thanking you for all of your efforts to comply with the federal and local mandates to stay at home. We know this is not easy and we appreciate every sacrifice you’re making. We also appreciate your willingness to cooperate with your host family’s requests to do your part to keep yourself and your host family safe. The goal is basically the same for everyone in the world right now - We’re all trying to do our best to help curb the person-to-person spread of this virus.
We understand that you have questions. We all have questions because these are uncertain times. And your families back home may have questions and concerns. So, I hope you’re speaking with them often and letting them know that you’re okay and that you and your host family are safe and sheltering in place at home.
When the virus began to spread in the U.S., we were all advised to stay at home and that’s what we’re doing. If we’re staying home, we are out of harm’s way. It’s important to abide by the stay at home mandates because we need to stay healthy, to protect ourselves, our host families and also to protect the most vulnerable in our communities, which at this point also includes our healthcare workers. The safest place to be is at home, not out and about, and traveling. So, we’re going to talk about how to maintain a healthy mindset while being required to stay at home. I have a short PowerPoint presentation that I would like to share with you, so I am going to switch the screen over to that presentation now.
The primary message that we want to relay to you is that GreatAuPair is here to support you. Our intention is to provide you with helpful information that addresses your concerns and provide tools to assist you during this time of uncertainty.
Our objectives for tonight’s call are to briefly review the current guidelines, to acknowledge the challenges you’re facing, to provide tools and perspectives that will make it easier for you to cope and maintain a healthy mindset and last but certainly not least is to help you remember that we’re in this together and we’re going to get through this!
We had a call last Friday with the ECA which is the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It’s the division of the Department of State which governs the cultural exchange programs and they basically shared that due to the current flight restrictions, border closures and the greater risk of exposure when traveling, it is not recommended or considered safe to travel at this time.
Also, as you may have already heard this past weekend, President Trump and the Corona Virus Task Force extended the social distancing guidelines until April 30th. So, the best course of action is to stay at home and follow the local and federal guidelines as well as the guidelines of your host family.
One thing you have to remember is that this is temporary. So, we need to stay present and take this one day at a time. One of the best ways to reduce our worry and anxiety is to remain in the present moment, not focusing on the past or future, just taking life moment by moment, day by day. I know it feels like everything has been placed on hold for now and we are all making a lot of sacrifices. And at times it feels like this is never going to end. But before you know it, we’re going to be past this and back to our normal lives. However, right now we are all being called to serve, to do our part. If everyone works together and does what’s asked of them, this will be over sooner than later.
We realize that social distancing and staying at home is challenging for many people. That’s is because we’re human and humans are innately social. So, it is understandable if you are feeling challenged by what is being asked of you at this time.
We’re aware that it’s difficult to replace in-person face-to-face interactions with friends and relationships; however, we need to be flexible right now and find alternatives during these unusual circumstances.
Positive social interactions - even remote interactions - can help reduce stress and loneliness. So, be sure to have video calls with your friends and loved ones who you can’t be with in person right now.