North Andover Support Services director talks mental health, the pandemic and the holidays

Dec. 15—In addition to joyful Christmas carols, family gatherings and festive light displays, the holiday season tends to bring some unwanted deliveries — like depression, anxiety and other challenges to mental health — to some.

And this year, the usual "holiday blues" are met with an ongoing pandemic that has ravaged the nation's resources and laid bare the needs of our mental health system.

"There have been a lot more really significant needs than we could have anticipated and a much greater demand than I think anybody anticipated," North Andover Community Support Director Deanna Lima said.

The town's Community Support Department — housed in the North Andover Police Department headquarters on Osgood Street and lead by Lima and supported by Case Manager Crystal Clunie — was initially conceived by former Selectman Phil DeCologero as a tool in the battle against opioid addiction in town.

But Lima's role has been a baptism by fire, literally. When she started, the Columbia Gas explosions had the town in a state of devastation and fear.

And as that situation was winding down, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged to further test the mettle of the 375-year-old community.

"Initially, it was the chaos, the fear and the unknown, so it was people needing information, reassurance, guidance," Lima recalled. "And very quickly, it moved into people needing basic needs, which is how we got to open the food bank and help folks with food, household supplies, getting connected to resources being provided in the community."

That was the first year. As the pandemic aged into 2021, we started to see the breadth of psychological, social and emotional impact the pandemic has had.

"People started to exhibit signs of anxiety, depression, and at that point people had been quarantining and isolating for a long time, so using other means of coping that aren't necessarily health, like alcohol and other substances, indulging in behaviors that aren't healthy. And the effects of that catch up," Lima said.

Indeed, the addiction epidemic that dominated headlines before COVID-19 has only worsened in its wake, with addicts unable to attend in-person counseling and support meetings and the isolation of quarantine creating scores of new addicts in need of help.

"After that first year, year and a half, the need has become social and emotional support. And people don't always know that that's what they need, don't know how to ask for that, don't feel comfortable asking for that, so that need manifests itself in a lot of different ways," Lima continued.

"And often it manifests itself in challenging behaviors. You see kids acting out, you see adults acting out," Lima concluded. "That's what we continue to see is the ongoing stress that the pandemic has had on folks, and people really adjusting to a new normal."

And the pre-pandemic problems that created the need for her position — especially addiction and the issues it brings — require even more attention than before in that new normal.

"There's less access to treatment because of the pandemic, and definitely far more barriers," Lima said. "The social support that is critical to success in treatment has been decreased by the pandemic."

While some have adapted to virtual support groups and online therapy, others have not. And Lima said a big challenge with addressing addiction during the pandemic has been the normalization of substance abuse over the past 21 months.

"You see it on social media quite frequently, it's very prevalent, the use of alcohol and all kinds of substances," Lima said.

To mitigate holiday season anxiety and depression during the ongoing stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lima suggests managing expectations.

People tend to imagine and stick to ideas on how they want holiday photos and parties to be, how they want kids to behave, how much they can spend on gifts, and more. But reality, especially this year, will always beg to differ.

"You have to be realistic about what can happen," Lima said. "We're in a very different time right now, and celebrations aren't going to look how they used to look, and people aren't going to have the same responses that they once did, so you have to be realistic about those things. Human behavior is difficult to manage, so you can't expect more than what is reasonable, especially from children and folks who are disregulated anyway."

And with the political climate of the past year, politics is bound to come up in many family discussions. Lima suggests avoiding confrontation and being open and honest about our own comfort and limits when it comes to political talk.

"Most people have someone in their family or social circle that triggers them and gets them excited, and it's important that we learn how to disengage from conversations and discussions that are triggering, but in a healthy way," Lima said. "It's important to model that for children and for others, to say 'It's OK that our opinions differ, 'I would rather not discuss this,' or 'This isn't the time or place.' But acknowledge it. Don't pretend that it doesn't exist."

Anyone in the community who needs help navigating services can reach out to the North Andover Community Services Department via the town website, and the department has a Facebook page as well.

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