Therapist offers tips for coping with California wildfires, COVID-19 and unrest

Wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, unhealthy air, COVID-19, high unemployment, police violence — many people are feeling existential dread.

“This is a multi-faceted and emotional experience that we’re all going through collectively,” says Dawn Delgado, a therapist at Inspire Evolve Counseling. “But the interesting thing is that we are all going through it in different stages. … It’s normal to be having a full range of emotions and some days that are easier to cope than others,” she says.

Delgado says a helpful coping strategy is to accept that the future is unknown. “Now we’re six months in and it’s starting to set in. We’re in this gray area. And the only thing that’s certain is uncertainty.”

But it’s no small feat that we’ve survived this far, she adds. “We’re still here. We’re still looking for that acceptance and that hope. And even if there have been slip-ups for some people … that’s a normal part of the process because we are human. Every day … is a chance to turn it around. Maybe listening to this conversation could be a chance to turn it around and kind of get back on track.”