Dealing With Mental Health During Protest: Therapist Recommends Finding Connection And Practicing Self-Care
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It's been two weeks since the death of George Floyd. Countless protests and the fallout from Floyd's death that have filled computer screens and social media accounts for 14 days can be troubling for your mental health, according to therapist Destiny Robbins.
"We are being re-traumatized but on the second side of that, we are also being desensitized. So there is a part where this is becoming the norm," said Robbins, owner of Healing Solutions Therapy.
Robbins specializes in addressing trauma and depression. Since Floyd's death, Robbins said she has had numerous calls from new clients asking for help and resources to process.
"We don't want to lose hope and we don't want to deal with this alone," she said
As many people are looking for ways to process their emotions, Franzetta Cheathon, a Rancho Cordova resident, said she has had a hard time dealing with her emotions.
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"It's heart-wrenching because we saw a murder on tv that was taped by someone's cell phone," she explained "It has almost brought me to a depression. A sadness so deep that I just want to shut everything out. It's awful, it's awful. He was crying 'mama' that tore at my heart and all the hearts of mothers of sons."
As images, protests and the graphic video of Floyd's death circulate, people of all races and ages are demanding change. In Rancho Cordova, two high school seniors organized their own march Monday.
"Voice these thoughts and emotions. Your voice is your most powerful weapon," said Cordova high school senior Khyra Clark to a group of her peers.
Clark and her best friend Rylie Dimas organized a protest from city hall to the front of the Rancho Cordova Police Department.
"To know that you are not the only person feeling these emotions. Feeling the extreme happiness as a community and to know that people have your back, but to also feel the extreme sadness and fear and hurt that we even have to be our here protesting that someone's life actually matters, that shouldn't be a question," said Dimas.
As people continue to process, Dimas and Clark are finding purpose in protesting.
"I'm glad that we took this death, even though it was so savagely done, into such an amazing thing and we can be his voice," Clark said.
