Psychosocial Counseling Challenges During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has created many obstacles for genetic counselors to overcome, including a unique set of psychosocial challenges. In this blog, some of our second-year students share their experiences and challenges with counseling during the pandemic. 

 

 

“Though I’m glad our clinical rotation sites are taking all necessary precautions, I’ve found that reading psychosocial cues from clients is so much harder when everyone is wearing masks. I’ve been more likely to ask direct questions about how a client is feeling rather than reflecting their emotions with statements like “It seems like you’re feeling…” because I can’t tell how they’re feeling at all! During my previous cancer rotation, I wore a face shield during sessions and could barely see the pedigree as I was taking it, which made for some messy pedigrees and lots of white out. On the flip side, I’ve built some great rapport with clients over our shared frustrations with our newly masked lives!” -Kaylee Williams

“I am definitely thankful for our clinical rotations to return to the in-person setting, but it has certainly come with some difficulties. To reduce the chances of spreading COVID at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, everyone is required to wear a mask, and the genetic counseling students, such as myself, are only scheduled to come in once or twice a week. This brings about some unique challenges. For one, asking classmates or supervisors questions takes more effort because you aren’t all together like how it was before COVID. Secondly, trying to read people’s facial expressions is nearly impossible when they are wearing a mask, so I find myself trying to listen to the tone of their voice as an indicator as to how they feel. But on the other hand, I still feel like I can make a connection with the people I meet, the conversations just might revolve around masks a little more now!” - Michael Gosky

 

“COVID has definitely thrown a wrench into our training and into everybody’s lives. I’ve taken to asking all of my patients directly how they’re feeling about the current pandemic. It’s a good way to get a feel of what I need to think about when I’m counseling. Some of the questions I think about: Are they extremely stressed or handling things relatively well? Are they feeling isolated from their support systems? What challenges are they facing with healthcare services? Knowing the answer to some of these questions helps me figure out what I can do for the patient.” -Chelsey Walsh

“The pandemic has created many challenges for everyone and in my training as a genetic counselor. Although I am thankful that we were able connect with patients through telemedicine during the summer months, I found that telemedicine comes with a unique set of psychosocial challenges. Many of my telemedicine patients did not have a quiet space in which to attend appointments and were distracted in our sessions by other family members and various activities taking place at home. I worried about how much information the patients were hearing and retaining throughout the session, so I was frequently asking patients about their understanding and using the teach-back method. Since returning to in-person rotations, I have encountered other challenges with everyone wearing masks and social distancing during sessions. Although necessary, masks make it harder to interpret patient facial expressions and for me to offer minimal encouragers to patients. In addition, social distancing with patients in the office changes the dynamic of the session to feel less personal initially. I find that contracting and building rapport are especially important during the pandemic to overcome the awkwardness of being physically separated in appointments.” -Kaitlyn Scola