COVID-19

If you had your money on “zombie apocalypse” in the office pool…I’ve got some bad news for you.

Greetings fellow Atlantans…Atlanteans…ATLiens…whatever we are.

We’ve survived a Snowpocalypse, a Snowmageddon, and our major freeway literally burning to the ground at rush hour. We’re ready for this.

It’s time to keep calm, stay smart, and do our part to help out ourselves and the most vulnerable and at-risk members of our community.

Our state & local governments and healthcare systems are working hard and encouraging all business owners (that means me) to take strong steps to prevent the spread of the virus, protect our most vulnerable, and reduce the burden on our world class health care system so that our hard working docs, nurses, and medical staff can do their thing to provide the best possible care to those who need it the most.

One of the best ways to decrease rapid spread of coronavirus (other than washing your hands like you just touched fuzzy leftovers in your fridge, coughing into your elbow like Bela Legosi at a midnight drive-in movie, and keeping your grubby mitts away from your face) is to engage in “social distancing” measures, meaning avoiding large crowds, working from home if you can, and keeping a distance of 6 feet from others whenever possible (so quit knocking over your neighbors at the Costco to bogart the last few rolls of TP off the store shelves, dude).

As of today, March 13 (and probably through May, to be determined), I will be holding all clinical sessions via phone or by SimplePractice Telehealth Video Chat through my SimplePractice online client portal.

While there’s nothing quite like the unique experience of in-person therapy, online video telehealth sessions are an easy and viable way to a̶v̶o̶i̶d̶ ̶A̶t̶l̶a̶n̶t̶a̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶f̶f̶i̶c̶, I mean, help us protect ourselves and our families, flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19, and do what’s right for ourselves and our community.

If you want a quick, easy to digest summary of why social distancing is important, even if you’re young, healthy, not in a high-risk group, delusionally invincible, or boosted to the hilt with elderberry juice supplements, please see the following article from The Verge.

I will be in touch to send you a unique access link to the Telehealth by SimplePractice video portal. It’s easy and you can access it via the browser on your computer or even on your phone (please note if you want to use your phone you must first search for and download the “Telehealth by SimplePractice” app for iOS or Android.)

Some quick tips about your Telehealth session:
1. Find a quiet, private place. (Not A Quiet Place like that movie with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt…haven’t you already been stewing in enough apocalyptic anxiety lately?)

2. Headphones/ear buds tend to help a lot. (This ain’t Daft Punk…electronic echoes are NOT COOL.)

3. If you happen to have a wired connection available (what is this, 2004?!?) try that, although most wireless network connections are fine (just as long as the rest of your family isn’t quaran-streaming Westworld Season 3 at the same time.)

4. Be prepared for possible interruptions or dropped calls. It’s not usually a problem, but if it does happen, there is a very easy workaround which involves hopping over to a phone call for uninterrupted audio.

More questions? SimplePractice has created a handy guide to walk you through the process that you can access here.

Please let me know if you have any questions at info@jareddefife.com and I look forward to virtually seeing you for the next few weeks.

Thank you, take care of yourselves, your loved ones and your neighbors, wash your dang hands, stop stockpiling hand sanitizer like it’s going outta style, and stay healthy!