The COVID-19 pandemic led to abrupt and massive changes. We have learned to adapt to new routines and protocols in the workplace, at home, at school, and in public settings. However, we still wonder how we will function as a society as we continue to fight the pandemic and find our “new normal” all while dealing with potential feelings of burnout. All these changes and unknowns can make us feel stressed and anxious.

Practice these tips to help you get through the transition:

Be mindful of emotions. During times of stress, it is common to have a wide range of emotions. We may be anxious, frustrated, angry, or sad. These are normal human reactions. Emotions provide us with information that causes us to react so that we can take care of ourselves.

Identify and validate feelings. It’s hard to control emotions when you don’t know what you’re feeling. Sometimes, when you’re busy, distracted, or don’t have much time for yourself, you may not be aware of what or how you’re feeling. Try going for a walk, talking to a friend, or just sitting quietly. If you can pinpoint the feeling, you can acknowledge it. That doesn’t mean you have a bad attitude, or that the feeling lasts forever. It just means you have an emotional reaction and, like the weather, the feelings will eventually pass.

Engage with supportive people. Talk to a trusted person, such as a friend, family member, or counselor. If we openly share our feelings without being judged, we feel less overwhelmed. Sharing with others can make us feel more supported and less alone. Look for opportunities to be that supportive person for people you care about. Mutually supportive relationships are the most rewarding.

Practice stress-reduction techniques. One of the most challenging things about emotions is learning to express them constructively. For example, you may be angry about something, but it is inappropriate to transfer that anger to someone else. Manage and express emotions in a healthy way with activities that bring you joy, release negative energy, and incorporate exercise. Such activities may be journaling, painting, singing, dancing, exercising, or meditating.

Be kind to yourself. Instead of condemning yourself for having certain feelings that make you feel worse, be compassionate to yourself. Being kind to yourself when you have emotional reactions provides a calming quality that puts us back on the path to feeling better.

Look for possibilities. Look for what is possible despite the current circumstances. Do not dwell on how things used to be, focus more on what is possible. Change is difficult and resistance is a natural human response. You can change your mindset with practice. If you find yourself focusing on the negative, stop and make a conscious effort to find the good in the situation.

Help is available. Your program is completely confidential and here to help you and your household members 24/7/365. No situation is too big or too small. Give us a call or visit your program website to get started.

Source: Verywell Mind

Irvin Towson, VP of Talent Acquisition, oversees all the Enterprise, Magellan Healthcare and Magellan Federal recruiting. Based out of Virginia and with seven years spent at Magellan Health, Towson takes pride in his team’s track record of finding the best talent to join Magellan Health. Targeting more than 2,500 hires this year, he is focused on recruiting strategies and execution, as well as the upcoming Centene acquisition.  We caught up with him recently to get his thoughts on how Magellan Talent Acquisition makes a difference in the lives of our teams and our members. Read more to see how Towson uses Talent Acquisition to help make a positive impact.

Q: What sort of cool projects are you working on right now?

A: This year we’re committed to hiring 2,500 people, so that’s exciting and keeps everyone more than busy. I’m always glad when recruiting is in an active state; I think it’s good for everyone within the company. I like that we have an impact on the lives of people and real-world issues and I’m looking forward to expanding upon that, too.

Q: How do you sell Magellan Health to potential new hires during the recruitment process? Why is Magellan Health the best place to work?

A: We always talk about our ability to impact the lives of people that we support, including how the mental health aspects of our work have come into greater focus. Also, Magellan Health is truly a very collegial organization. Companies often talk about fostering collaborative, collegial environments, but it is embedded in our DNA. These selling points attract exceptional talent to the company, since so many people want to be part of a great company and doing work that matters. I’ll also mention our culture of support and encouragement of remote work. That allows us to identify and recruit the most qualified candidates, irrespective of where they are located geographically. It opens a lot of doors for the company and individuals who could be interested in joining us.

Q: What are your thoughts on how the culture is here at Magellan Health, and how does that culture impact the recruitment process?

A: The leaders of this organization connect with employees in respectful ways. It is not an overly autocratic culture, in which the needs and feedback of team members are disregarded. I see a tremendous amount of mutual respect on display daily throughout the company and this makes a huge difference in someone’s experience at work. Most people here at Magellan Health are very engaging and interested in input from others, no matter their level in the organization. The willingness of leaders to be open and connect with people is one of our distinctive features and it defines the work environment we offer.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: In my view, acquiring talent is one of the most important things any company does, and I never forget how important it is to do that better than our competition. I’m very passionate about what I do and what we do at Magellan Health. Great organizations attract and keep the best people. It is through the best people that we create superb outcomes for our employees and help leading humanity to healthy vibrant lives.

• Read more about working at Magellan Health here.
• Learn more about working for Magellan Health here.

For July Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Mental Health Awareness Month, we are pleased to share our e-interview with Dr. Tonicia Freeman-Foster, Ed.D, CDP, CHES®, PMP, co-founder and principal consultant at Kusudi Consulting Group, and change specialist at Change Matrix, on mental health for Black people and African Americans

Magellan: What are some sources of stigma related to mental health treatment in Black communities?

Dr. Freeman-Foster: One source of stigma stems from slavery where Blacks and African Americans were deemed to be strong so that they could do the work. There were adverse consequences, including death, for those who were deemed to be weak. Because of this, in so many ways we have internalized strength to mean that you have to be able to do the work. You must be able to always put on a smile, even when you are sad or not feeling well. We have internalized this to the point of when we are not feeling well, we feel the judgment of it as a weakness or being lazy. This is why the message “it’s okay not to be okay” is critical, and it’s critical that we as Blacks and African Americans say it, practice it, and live it. Mental health is health too.

Another huge factor is the intersection between mental wellness and faith. There is some belief that if you are feeling sad, then you probably did not pray enough, or you do not believe in God enough, or that you do not have enough faith. The belief that overall, you are weak spiritually. No one wants to be seen as weak, and so as a result we do not seek help. It’s important that we understand that we can do both simultaneously. We can seek earthly help for our mental wellness AND we can pray too.

Magellan: Tell us about your presentation Equity as an Expectation on August 30th at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Dr. Freeman-Foster: With Equity as an Expectation (information and free registration under Upcoming Events here), we will explore strategies to create an environment where people, no matter their demographics or life experiences, can expect that they will receive culturally responsive services in an equitable manner and have equitable outcomes.

The reason that equity is missing in a lot of our programs and services is because it has been allowed to be optional. I compare it to a grocery store. You have young adult services on aisle five, HIV services on aisle six, mental health services on aisle seven, substance use services on aisle eight, physical health on aisle nine, and then equity on aisle three. If we truly want to make a positive impact in all our interactions, then equity must be the shopping cart. It must be the first thing that you come in the door with, and the thing that everything builds on top of. It is about interweaving equity practices into everything that we do, versus having equity as an optional standalone practice. There must also be accountability measures in place for all team members, and a consistent process for reviewing progress, outcomes measures, and follow-up actions.

Dr. Tonicia Freeman-Foster has over 20 years of experience in cultivating hope, resiliency, and wellness through her work with underserved persons and marginalized communities. She is passionate about her work in assisting organizations and leaders in understanding how their beliefs and actions impact diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice for staff, clients, and communities. Dr. Freeman-Foster possesses extensive experience in matters related to mental health, substance use, child welfare, HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ+, youth and young adult, women, Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BIPOC) populations. 

Dr. Freeman-Foster is the co-founder and principal consultant at Kusudi Consulting Group, and she also currently serves as a change specialist at Change Matrix. In these roles, she provides training, technical assistance, and coaching to individuals, communities, and organizations throughout the nation. In her previous role, Dr. Freeman-Foster served as project director of the Florida Healthy Transitions program and led the development of an innovative peer-to-peer behavioral health model for youth and young adults. Dr. Freeman-Foster possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science Education (Community Health) from the University of Florida, a Master’s degree in Human Services (Organizational Management and Leadership) from Springfield College, and a Doctorate degree in Education (Organizational Leadership) from Argosy University. Dr. Freeman-Foster is a Certified Diversity Professional, Certified Health Education Specialist, Certified Courageous Conversations About Race™ Practitioner, and Certified Project Management Professional.

This is an excerpt from the Magellan Healthcare eMpowered for Wellness July 2021 newsletter. To read the full article, go here. For more information and resources to support BIPOC mental health, and to register for Dr. Freeman-Foster’s continuing education credits-eligible webinar, visit MagellanHealthcare.com/BIPOC-MH

Over the past year COVID-19, community protests and increased social awareness have highlighted the impact of racism on the mental health of Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color (BIPOC). On April 8, 2021 Rochelle Wolensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that racism, “directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans. As a result, it affects the health of our entire nation.”

Magellan Healthcare is committed to increasing awareness about BIPOC mental health, wellness, and the importance of recognizing and addressing concerns. Learn more about racism and mental health.

Racism is a mental health issue because racism causes trauma. Racial trauma is the ongoing result of racism, racist bias, and exposure to racist abuse in the media and everyday life. Racial trauma can affect many aspects of a person’s life, including their ability to have relationships, focus on school or work, and feel safe. People who experience racial discrimination and injustice can develop trauma that causes anxiety, chronic stress, depression, and other mental illnesses.

How racism affects mental health

For those who are affected by racism, it is important to remember that you are not alone. The push for social change is strong and there are many things you can do to protect your mental health during this time.

4 things you can do for your mental health

The following strategies can help you gain a sense of strength, build resilience and stay healthy.

Share your feelings—It is normal to be angry, to feel hopeless, to cover up your experience of racism, or to pretend that it has not affected you. Talking about your feelings is not a sign of weakness, but part of taking charge of your well-being and doing what you do to stay healthy. The simple act of talking to someone who makes you feel heard and understood can trigger hormones that calm the nervous system, reduce stress, and relieve the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Embrace your ethnicity and culture—Racism is often used as a weapon to belittle you as a human being and lower your self-esteem. You can counteract this and help deflect the pain of racism by developing a strong sense of your ethnic identity and strengthening your attachment to the community. Closer ties with people who share your experiences can help reduce the sense of isolation that often stems from racism.

Channeling your anger—No matter how justified your anger is, venting it uncontrollably will affect your judgment, reduce your chances of being heard, and negatively affect your health. Use your anger and channel it in a constructive way to bring about meaningful change. Join a community or activist group, engage in creative activity, or create a journal.

Take care of yourself—Because your body and mind are so closely linked, it is important to take care of yourself in times of overwhelming stress. You can improve your mood and your health by moving your body every day, learning ways to reduce stress such as deep breathing, making nutritious food choices, focusing on getting enough sleep, and finding a safe place to rest and recharge.

There are no easy answers to dealing with the pain of racial trauma. To move forward we need to take care of ourselves and our communities. We invite you to visit MagellanHealthcare.com/BIPOC-MH to learn more about Magellan events and other resources that are available to the public for BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month and to like and share our contributions on social media.

Sources: Mental Health America, HelpGuide.org, Medical News Today, Mentalhealth.org.uk

Read more about mental health topics.

Total cost of care is challenging to define. In general, we consider total cost of care to be the total cost of what it takes to treat a population. Is it direct provider fees and hospital fees? What about labs? Medications? Caregiver burden? Time away from work?

When I was in clinical practice—whether internal medicine or psychiatry out-patient clinics— I commonly saw what I called the Ziploc phenomenon—the arrival of a patient carrying a Ziploc bag of prescription drugs. We would spend time going through that bag to help me understand what the patient was actually taking. There would be medications from an ER visit, from an in-patient stay, and those that had been in the medicine cabinet at home. There would be brand names and generics of the same medication or different doses with different instructions. And despite all these medications, some patients invariably had ended up with higher total cost of care due to medication-related issues such as confusion, side-effects, falls, or just from not taking the medication at all because they did not feel better.

Typically, the total cost of care is the sum of in-patient, out-patient, clinic, ancillary, pharmacy, and all other types of direct care services and is defined as a per member per month expenditure. Members continuously enrolled in the health plan for at least a year make up the denominator. Groups who receive an intervention, like case management, are compared against a like-group that does not. The challenges really come when trying to attribute whether the intervention or some other occurrence made the difference in lowering the total cost of care. In order for comparisons to be statistically valid, techniques such as risk adjustment, case-matched controls, trend analyses, and regression analyses are used.

A couple of years ago, I took a role that focused on developing innovative clinical programs for Magellan Rx Management, a pharmacy benefits management company. The CEO challenged me with bringing forward clinical programs that looked different than what typical PBMs offered. I went back to my roots in med/psych and epidemiology. We drew on the interventions more commonly used in health plans. Surely, in the data, we could find the groups of people who needed support, whether in dealing with the Ziploc bag or in other areas at the intersection of medication and well-being. My teams focused on providing the right kinds of interventions to bring better clinical outcomes. As a side effect, we saw improvements in the total cost of care for those members.

Here are two innovative strategies to manage total cost of care

1. Having access to data is critical to address the total cost of care.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that PBMs don’t have access to medical claims or other data, including medical pharmacy spend. To hone in on the populations that could benefit from clinical programs, a combination of medical, behavioral, and pharmacy claims is necessary. My team works with a data science company, Arine, to support our work. Arine ingests all sorts of data, including the typical claims data and information from health risk assessments, social determinants factors, and remote monitoring data from devices such as blood pressure monitors. Arine’s technology includes hundreds of algorithms that can help identify individuals at risk for gaps in care, non-adherence, and even heightened suicide risk.

2. Identifying at-risk individuals and offering provider academic detailing services

Navigate Whole Health is one of our signature programs directed at improving quality and addressing spend. The original idea behind Navigate Whole Health was to find individuals who were prescribed potentially lethal combinations of opioids and other drugs, high doses of opioids, or poly-pharmacy with behavioral health medications. Using a set of algorithms running through pharmacy, behavioral and medical claims, we can identify individuals who fall into one of the target groups. With Arine’s support, we have expanded the number of algorithms we use to identify at-risk individuals and prescribers.

In fact, provider outreach with academic detailing is the salient intervention. The pharmacists providing the academic detailing have nearly universally found that the providers welcome our input. Our approach has never been threatening or punitive. Rather, the team approaches each case with an attitude of “How can I help you?” Many providers do not know all the medications an individual is taking, including prescriptions written by other providers, medications coming from an in-patient stay, an ER visit, or even the dentist. For one Medicaid client, the team’s work with providers resulted in significant reductions in combinations of opioids and benzodiazepines, reduction in the number of prescribers, and reduction in pharmacy spend, in-patient spend and emergency department utilization during the measurement period. This is one program that I unequivocally believe saves lives. And here is the thing, in doing the right thing, the positive outcome is that we also save total cost of care dollars.

I have a hard time supporting the logic that buckets cost in such a way that could adversely affect overall health outcomes. It is a privilege to bring forward clinical programs that save total cost of care dollars which in turn promote positive health outcomes. What is even better is knowing that these programs positively affect the well-being of those we serve.

Explore tips and information to protect your mental health and deal with grief and loss of loved ones due to the worldwide impacts of COVID-19.

When else in our lifetime can we say all people in all countries of the world have directly experienced grief and loss due to the same traumatic event? Now that we are living through the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the sad reality. Our very sense of normalcy has been turned upside down, we have lost loved ones, missed milestones and other life events, and faced social isolation. We all hear about the traumas that occur across our globe – 9/11, weather events, war – and we may be affected; but COVID-19 has profoundly touched and changed each of our lives in many similar ways. As our world is adjusting to a now improving, but still evolving, pandemic, here are some tips to protect our mental health.

Dealing with grief and loss from COVID-19

While it’s never easy when we lose a loved one, grief and loss during the pandemic has been exacerbated by the confusion, fear, and social isolation we have all experienced. The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, did not come with an instruction manual and we had to learn, very quickly, how it was spread, how it affected those who got infected, and how to avoid being infected. Confusion around all of these things, and how a family member or friend could have died from this virus, was inevitable. At the same time, fear of the unknown and for one’s own health and safety was inescapable. Due to the critical social distancing measures, we could not even visit our loved ones in the hospital, even if the worst was expected. We could not begin our grieving process by honoring those we lost with traditional funeral services. As we’re navigating the stages of grief during COVID-19, here are some things to remember:

• You may hear about the “stages of grief,” but it’s normal to bounce back and forth between the stages and not experience them in a linear way.
• No matter what you’re feeling, your feelings are valid, and you are entitled to them; avoid telling yourself you should be feeling one way or another.
• Grieving doesn’t mean you are forgetting or totally letting go.
• It’s important to build a support system.
• With grief comes growth.

Practicing self-care to cope with grief and loss

Grieving is an intensely personal process. We can start to feel better when we reach out to loved ones and professionals for support, but there is no one who knows us better than ourselves, and we can always be our own best advocate. Knowing that our lost loved ones surely would want us to be happy and not suffer, it’s important to prioritize our own self-care and compassion to unlock its immense healing power. Engaging in self-care activities – exercise, journaling, meditation, doing something creative, etc. – can help us build resiliency and mental strength, elevate our mood, process our feelings, and cope effectively. As we strive to take care of and make time for ourselves, the following are some tips to keep in mind:

• Understand that grief is an ongoing process; it requires our self-patience and kindness.
• Realize that helping yourself does not mean you are avoiding the experience, rather that you are embracing it.
• Treat yourself the way you would treat a close friend or family member who is going through the same thing.
• Be deliberate and purposeful in taking breaks to mentally check out and/or do something that makes you happy or laugh.
• Focus on the present to ease the burdens of, and make more palatable, all that must be done that day, week, month, etc.
• Grant yourself permission to feel, as it’s a natural part of the grieving process; understand it’s okay to be vulnerable.

We can find meaning in the losses we have endured through this ordeal. Our lost loved ones gave us many gifts, and we can pick up on those gifts in celebration of their memories. We can embrace life and do the things that make us happy. We can reflect on the changes and losses caused by the pandemic that forced us to reevaluate our priorities, taking with us the good and leaving behind the bad. And we must always remember to seek help when it’s needed.

Jennifer Foley is leading a triage team of trained clinicians on the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to connect members with a variety of services to promote whole health, including new virtual wellness and counseling experience. Foley, the interim senior manager of the employee Center of Excellence triage team, uses her experience as a former lifestyle coach with the EAP where she is responsible for managing clinicians and working with the account executives, sales team members, and executive leadership. Foley is based out of Davenport, Iowa, and has worked for Magellan Health since January 2012. As someone who is self-proclaimed “EAP for life,” Foley lives by the mission of focusing on overall wellness. Between her team, and help from various app partnerships, she can connect members with the help they need when they ask for it.

Q: What kind of projects are you working on now?

A: I manage a group of clinicians who talk to our members on the phone or over chat. We have a lot of amazing things happening with the core changes for the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). We recently had more services set up for our entire book of business, which is an exciting transition for us to be adding onto the services we offer for most of our companies. We focus on connecting with members and making sure they have the best possible experience in asking for help and a true understanding of all the services available to them to determine what their next best steps are. We are constantly growing and evolving to do that efficiently and effectively. Recently, we had someone call in and speak with one of our team members whose father had just passed away and explained that they were conflicted about it because he was their primary abuser and in prison for most of his life for that, so there was no relationship once he was released. They had learned of his passing because they were his primary beneficiary. One of this person’s primary stressors was that their father was a veteran, and they didn’t know what the next steps would be. My team was able to connect that person with the VA office and with the appropriate counseling. One of the best descriptions of my team is that we’re focused on overall wellness. We support you through the emotional impact and work together to get you to a place where you feel supported, connected, and have all the resources you need. We really do think outside the box and collaborate. That’s why EAP is so amazing, you’re able to look at the whole picture and work with companies who want to take care of employees and their family members to get their needs met.

A: Do you have any other examples of people you’ve helped that you could share?

Q: When someone calls in, they’re able to talk to us in that moment about whatever is going on. We use motivational interview techniques to really get to know them and understand what’s happening in their lives. Another recent call we had came from someone just over the age of 18 explaining that he was calling because a lot of people told him to; most important to him was his parents. We asked him why he wanted to call, he said he’s unsure how he feels about a lot of people telling him he needs help, and he was willing to talk about how he was feeling. That’s one of the amazing things about this, we’re not here to tell someone what they need to do, we’re here to tell them what their options are. He did disclose that he feels like he’s been drinking too much alcohol, he felt like he was using it as a coping mechanism. We were able to help connect him with a counselor, our online self-care platform, MyStrength that is intuitive and guides him through specific exercises to reduce his alcohol use, get him with our Life Enrichement Program that helped him find nearby gyms he could join and use exercise as a coping skill with his friends where he could also socialize without drinking. A lot of times when people think about the EAP they only think of counseling, and while there certainly is counseling, we also provide many other services like, lifestyle coaching, financial resources, identify theft resolution, legal consultations, life enrichment services, and the self-care wellness and resiliency platform. These services are often utilized together to provide the best overall support.

Q: Why is Magellan Health the best place for this?

A: I am EAP for life, I can’t think of a better way to spend my day than to work with these companies and help our members find their next best steps. Magellan Health stands out because our people are truly passionate about what they do. To be able to work with team members who care about what we’re doing and how we can help people means the world.

Q: What are your thoughts on the culture here at Magellan Health and how does it impact the work you do?

A: I do think the culture here is truly the best. It is the most supportive environment. We operate where mistakes can be easily made and miscommunication can happen. The team looks at it in an understanding way. We are all working toward the common goal of promoting overall wellness. Magellan Health’s response to COVID-19 was amazing. We made sure we had the best services to offer our members by bringing on a virtual platform that doubled the number of sessions held per month by recognizing this need in society. This makes me proud to be with Magellan. Just making sure we’re meeting every need on a plethora of services, I’m looking forward to that continued help and development. I’m so excited about our future and know the best is yet to come.

Q: Can you tell me more about the EAP’s app partnerships?

A: We partner with a few and then also have others that we recommend on the website. We work with the app BetterHelp; they’ve been a good virtual platform to partner with to provide additional counseling services. Prior to COVID-19, we offered traditional face-to-face services. We partnered with BetterHelp to be able to have online scheduling for therapeutic scheduled chats on Teams, video counseling, telephonic counseling, and texts. We’ve had about 6,000 sessions a month on this one platform. Being able to pivot and do what we need to do to ensure our members have the best care possible has made this a great partnership. MyStrength is another app-based program we’ve partnered with. Members can log into the app and create a profile. It helps them with pinpointing the things they might want to work on physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It meets what you need and tracks your overall progress. It’s very user friendly and recognizes if things become more serious, it will then refer you to Magellan Health’s clinician triage team.

Learn more about Magellan Health’s EAP here.

Read more about Magellan Health’s EAP here.

Think back to New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December 31, 2019. Maybe you had big plans that night to ring in the new year, or maybe you were spending a quiet evening at home. In either case, you probably had expectations about 2020 and hopes that it would be happy, healthy and prosperous…

Fast forward a couple months to February, 2020 when we began hearing more about a new coronavirus, COVID-19, originating from Wuhan, China that had made its way into the United States and was beginning to spread.

Changes caused by COVID-19

We started to see our world and our lives drastically change, experiencing loss and grief in several forms. For many of us, there were no more commutes to work, as we began to work from home if we were lucky enough to keep our job. There was no more getting the kids off to the bus stop or waiting in the drop-off line, as schools closed and switched to a virtual learning environment.

Parents lost the luxury of being able to fully concentrate on their jobs, as they were forced to take on the roles of teacher or daycare worker and daytime entertainer for their kids. Kids missed out on receiving the first-class education they depended on to feel prepared for the next school year or even college.

Healthcare workers risked their lives and those of their family to care for the people who were getting sick from COVID-19, worried they had been infected and wanted to get tested, or needed regular healthcare. Essential workers in grocery stores, post offices, public transportation, and other industries also became heroes as they continued to come to work to keep the country running, despite fearing for their own health and lives.

And there wasn’t a roll of toilet paper or paper towels to be found.

Social isolation

Across the board, we didn’t get to spend precious in-person time with our extended family and friends because we were doing our part to bend the curve and stop the spread of COVID-19. We didn’t get to go to the gym and may have fallen behind in our physical fitness. Our kids didn’t get to participate in their beloved sporting or other extracurricular events. Medical procedures were cancelled. Vacations were cancelled. Weddings were cancelled. Graduations were cancelled. Everything was cancelled.

Our dreams and plans were put on hold.

COVID-19 mental health toll

We certainly couldn’t have imagined this would be how the year would start off and end. Spring, summer, fall and winter, and all that comes with each, did not happen the way we have all become accustomed to for our entire lives.

And while we have done our best to adapt, the grief and loss of loved ones, financial security and social normality we have experienced over the past year has taken its toll on our mental health.

Where to go from here

We encourage you to watch a recording of our webinar “Coping with grief and loss during COVID-19” with Paula Hensley, MD, Magellan Healthcare senior medical director; Sagar Makanji, PharmD, Magellan Rx vice president, clinical strategy and programs; and Mark Santilli, PharmD, Magellan Rx senior director, clinical strategy and programs, as they share knowledge and tips for persevering after grief and loss due to COVID-19 and answer audience questions.

For additional COVID-19 resources from Magellan Health, click here.