Daybreak Activity Centre did not slow down for a minute during this pandemic.
The peer support center provides cultural education and recreational activities for adults with mental illness in the Tantramar area.
Executive Director, Melody Petlock, says that she is busy making sure that members of Daybreak are not alone.
MP: Mental health doesn’t shut down because of a pandemic. So although we were unable to have in person activities, starting around the middle of March, we never actually stopped. So right away we switched to pretty much daily telephone calls with anybody who wanted that, we hopped on Zoom and got ourselves an account but that wasn’t limited, the free accounts are only so much time, we got an account so that that would be good to have unlimited length of time in meetings. We already have various private support groups, so those carried on on various media or virtual platforms. That’s what we were doing for a while and we started putting together care packages. I was running around. I was probably busier than ever driving around dropping off food packs, snack packs, cards so people could order things. We started moving to what we call driveway visits. So I would go around and I have a six foot social distance stick and lawn chairs and I would go around and literally visit with people in their driveways.
Daybreak has over 60 members and sees 15 to 25 members on a regular basis.
Mental health and illness are a common topic of discussion during COVID-19 as most people are experiencing isolation and stress.
Petlock says that Daybreak is looking to help with those added stressors.
MC: For folks with mental illness, I know from experience reporting and researching that a lot of the time routine becomes a big part of, like therapeutic routine in a way, and COVID-19 has disrupted, I think it’s fair to say everybody in the entire world’s routine. How have you navigated basically in like making a new routine for folks who really need it?
MP: Yeah, well, that’s been very challenging. For the most part, it’s been more or less just trying to encourage and kind of coach people to have those routines within their homes and their bubbles. Some people who really need to get out, really need to do things, we’ve tried to have sort of certain days and times when things can happen. It’s definitely challenging. I’ve also been pretty impressed though, some of these people have some big mental health challenges, but I think people have been remarkably resilient as far as figuring it out. For some people just coming out of their houses is a big deal. It’s part of what Daybreak is there for, is to reduce isolation. Our motto is we’re better when we’re together. So encouraging people to come out and all of that. But I think for some people, it’s been a bit of a relief not to have to do the emotional work they have to do to come out every day. So there’s a balance there.
MC: You may or may not be able to speak to this, but where you engage with a community of people who deal with mental illness, has there been any difficulty in them receiving treatment and or other care now that coronavirus has kind of shaken the medical world?
MP: Ah, well, I think again a lot more doctors are doing like phone consults, which I think is nice for some people who don’t actually like to go out. Especially earlier, now I feel like maybe it’s not as easy to access some of the online things, but I haven’t heard any complaints. I was actually impressed earlier in the game. There were a number of things going on online, including counseling services that were opening up and doing phone consultation. I had people who had been waiting, in some cases, years to get a counselor and suddenly it was a lot easier to get them in touch with somebody. So that was maybe one of the positives that came out of all of this was people being able to do phone intakes and maybe because the pressure is on, people were getting a chance to actually have some therapeutic counseling more quickly.
Petlock is managing most of the programming along with a few assistants.
She says help is always welcome as long as it is done safely.
MP: If people wanted to donate hand sanitizer and disinfecting products, that’s been one of our big expenses. Masks, gloves, all that stuff, all that PPE. It’s become a new budget line, the budget is going way over on that stuff. So if people want to donate things, that would be the kind of thing that would be helpful. Anybody who wants to volunteer get in touch with me. So just like members, I try to work with people who are interested in helping and we figure out what they’re interested in doing and try to make a match. There may be some limit as far as volunteer work directly with members just because of the numbers issue and the social distancing issue. But people are crafty, and they want to volunteer to come up with ideas for things we can do and even make little activity kits and things like that. I would welcome that kind of help.
Daybreak Activity Centre is located on 62 Main Street, behind the Sackville Commons.
Melody Petlock can be reached at (506) 536-7475 for questions, volunteer opportunities, or if you would like to help out and donate some sanitizing equipment.
She can also be reached by email at daybreaksackville@gmail.com.
By Meg Cunningham
