Fellows mentioned in this story: Sondra Leiggi Brandon, Cohort VII

From Honolulu Magazine:

Everyone has changed. We don’t know what COVID-19 will throw at us next. Or when. We’re still struggling with how we feel about work, achieving life balance and relating to other people even as we look forward.

That’s the broad analysis from Honolulu mental health experts we asked to help us navigate the rest of 2022 as we mark May as Mental Health Month. The consensus: Many of us feel fragile, worn down by the widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—lingering health problems, loss and isolation—layered on top of unrelated mental health concerns we had before. There is some good news: Although we can’t flip a switch that turns off our anxiety and stress, experts say we’ve become more resilient, which makes us better able to handle whatever comes next.

Resiliency allows people to adjust to setbacks rather than being overcome by them, says Sondra Leiggi Brandon, who serves as vice president of patient care, behavioral health and pharmacy at The Queen’s Medical Center. “Resiliency is also about finding your strengths when challenged and we’ve all been forced to do that in many ways the last two years,” she says.

Continue reading at honolulumagazine.com