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Tips to maintain good mental health during pandemic

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(NBC 26) - Now that the Safer at Home order is going to last until the end of May, behavioral health counselors say it's ok to feel grief, anxiety and anger.

How you cope with the change however, is important to find out to help you maintain good mental health through this pandemic.

"I think it's important to remember we're experiencing collective trauma," said Catherine Langdon, a ThedaCare Behavioral Health Mental Health Clinician. "This pandemic is serious. It's more serious for some people than others, and it's ok to feel however you're feeling at this time."

She said how you deal with what's going on will impact how you function in the future, and it's all in what you tell yourself.

"First you want to acknowledge how you're feeling," she said. If you acknowledge how you're feeling then you can better deal with it. If you can't see it, then you can't do anything about it. So understanding why you're anxious or angry, what are you grieving."

While we're all in this together, however we may be in different boats, Langdon adds to do the best you can.

"Everybody has different barriers and challenges. You might be working from home which means you've lost your structure or you've lost your environment that is more conducive to being productive. So try and alter your environment to the best of your ability to let you be productive whether that's setting up a work station; taking more frequent breaks to cleanse your mind; helping your kids with their school work to the best of your ability, knowing you're not their usual teacher and you weren't prepared to do this. It's going to be ok, even if it's not perfect."