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Doctors or any other Healthcare professionals alike experience a multitude of stressors and are at greater risk of psychological distress than general population even in normal circumstances. COVID-19 outbreak has increased the pressure multifold by making work life even more stressful for the healthcare professionals on the frontline. The gradual surge in patients requiring treatment, excessive time demands, inadequate equipment and life support systems, perceived risk of infection and morbidities have put a strain on almost all the healthcare professionals during this pandemic exposing them to psychological traumas.

Dr. Dale Borglum

The tragic irony though is that most of the healthcare professionals struggle to open up about their mental distress in fear of being stigmatized. This inhibition is further underpinned by feelings of shame and professional failure and associated worries about licence restrictions. These trigger a reluctance in medical professionals to seek professional help or counselling for their own phycological well-being. Safeguarding the morale and mental and physical well-being of frontline healthcare professionals and presenting them with an avenue to release their grief and anxiety is of paramount importance and can prove to very productive to ensure that the snowball impact on their mental health does not spiral for an uncertain period.

“We were deeply dismayed to see the recent findings about grief and collective trauma this pandemic has brought upon us. Especially the plight of the healthcare professionals on the frontline who in spite of going through the phycological morbidities and trauma themselves are feeling obligated to continue working,” says Saumya Lohia Agarwal, Founder, Ekaanta.

A unique experiential program on Grief and Compassion, the session titled “Grief: The Garden of Compassion“, was conducted by Dr. Dale Borglum, the Pioneer in Mindfulness and The Conscious Dying Movement. The session was specially curated for frontline healthcare professionals from all spheres. Inspired by the preciousness of human life, Dr. Borglum, in this exceptional journey, spoke about Conscious Grieving as a helpful psychological intervention and its role in navigating anxiety and grief and bring mind to a centred calm.

Speaking about the concept of conscious grieving, Dr. Dale Borglum says, “In grief, we tend to become the emotion, and disengage from reality. Compassion helps us connect to our hearts again. Conscious grieving can help softening the hearts and one can dare to love again. The sole purpose of this program is to encourage each one to let grief come in occasionally, and not get lost in the story but to be aware of how it feels inside.”

About Ekaanta: Mindversity on the Ganges

Ekaanta: Mindversity on the Ganges, the New Mindfulness center is an epitome of a solace flung far out ‘at one end‘ and is a true testimony to its name that is derived from Eik = One + Uhnt = End. Surrounded by thick foliage of the Uttarakhand forests at foothills of Shivalik range of the Himalayas and right at the bank of magical Ganges in Haridwar, this Mindversity is enriched with soothing natural elements that re-calibrate the mind to find calm, cheerfulness and fresh perspectives effortlessly.

For further information on Ekaanta, please visit ekaanta.in.