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Initiative promotes resilience throughout pandemic

Journal of Business - 11/14/2020

How Right Now offers resources for coping

UNITED WAY-Many Americans are suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of whether they contract the virus.

As millions of Americans continue to adjust to the isolation that comes with social distancing, many are struggling with overwhelming feelings as well as personal and family crises related to the pandemic.

A survey from How Right Now, a new initiative to address people's feelings of grief, loss, loneliness, and worry during the pandemic, found four in 10 reported experiencing anxiety and over a quarter reported feelings of isolation or loneliness and depression.

Recognizing the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on people's mental health and well-being, some prominent nonprofits, as well as celebrities and professional athletes, have come together to support the How Right Now initiative. The aim of the initiative is to increase people's ability to adapt and be resilient throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. How Right Now, which is made possible with support from the CDC Foundation, provides information and tools to help reduce stress and offers resources for coping during this time.

The CDC Foundation, an independent public charity established by Congress more than two decades ago, helps mobilize philanthropic and private-sector resources to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's critical health protection work.

"We know people want actionable steps they can take to support their mental health and well-being during this time," says Amelia Burke-Garcia, program area director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

'We recognized early in the development of the How Right Now initiative that the best way to address the needs of these groups would be to work directly with organizations that serve them to provide information and support related to emotional health," Burke-Garcia says

While there are many groups of people who are facing mental health challenges during the pandemic, there are several specific groups that are disproportionately affected, including:

*Adults over 65 years and their caregivers.

*People with preexisting mental and physical health conditions.