The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is both significant and unknown. That’s why Jewish Community Services (JCS) bolstered their already wide range of services, including counseling and therapy. Three brave community members reflect on how they came to tackle their mental health struggles with the help of the JCS team, led by Claire Fultz.

Sara

I’m a 35-year-old mother of two beautiful young children. My story could easily be your story. Balancing the pressures of working full-time and owning my own business – it’s a lot to handle and I was feeling really overwhelmed. To make matters worse, I was also watching my husband sink deeper into his own depression. I didn’t know how to help him. And I was struggling too.

I knew I needed help. We both needed help.

I was so fortunate to connect with a counselor through Jewish Community Services. Therapy helped me realize that me not sharing was not the best way to go about things. Actually, keeping my husband in the dark was probably more harmful than helpful for his depression. And it was definitely adding to my own anxiety. With my therapist’s help, I began to be more honest about my struggles and started to communicate more openly with my husband. Not only did my anxiety decrease when I started to talk more about it, but I also felt more connected to my husband than I have for a long time. Our relationship is better now than it was before. And, my husband is doing better too. We’re so grateful to JCS for caring and for helping us through this hard time.

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The Associated Contributors are writers from The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.