We have worked hard to do our bit to help during this pandemic. My role as one of EFPA’s Vice Presidents, along with EFPA’s Communications Officer Ruth Mozagba, has been to coordinate our response. One of the first things we did was develop our  EFPA Psychologists’ Support Hub about the COVID-19 crisis. The information in the Hub is the result of teamwork from our colleagues from all EFPA groups, member associations, and partner organisations. 

He told me: “At first, getting into 100% home office and online work was certainly an absolute challenge for all of us. My school is also the largest psychological service provider in Switzerland with offers in all application fields of psychology. All of the two hundred staff members have shown great commitment and have certainly achieved more than they should have. Now we must consider which of these changes we want to secure in the long term.”

His focus for EFPA has been on strategy, and ensuing continued momentum for delivery. “For EFPA, the strategy was well defined before Corona: Together, we wanted to strengthen our external presence, make information more easily accessible both internally and externally, develop cooperation between our associations and with external associations, make internal processes faster and more effective, and make an important contribution to improving the quality and diversity of psychological services. Because of the lockdown, we had to work differently but still pursue our strategy. And today we are much better positioned in all strategic points than we were six months ago. Never before have our meetings been so well attended, never before has there been so much support for our activities! We are better networked internally and also very well positioned externally. Psychology is in demand and psychology helps! Completely in the sense of our strategy.”

Christoph is sure that he makes more appointments now, because there is no more travel time. It is still hard work for him however: “After a series of video meetings I am really exhausted. But at home I can arrange breaks differently and live healthier. One more thing I would like to secure for the long term.” Living by Lake Constance on the Swiss German border Christoph is well tuned into the importance of nature and work life balance as he sits in his study at the window, surrounded by his books. 

Ole said:  “Our operations lean heavily on meetings, be it training for groups of 20-30 people, conferences of around 100 participants and congresses of upwards of 400 attendees. Meetings with politicians and government representatives account for other face-to-face arenas. By a stroke of luck, we already had in place not only the tools for digital meetings, but also a certain level of training when the pandemic hit us.

“Our association has chosen to concentrate its efforts on:

1. Supporting our members (students, private and public practitioners, and members in specialisation)
2. Assisting the authorities (Directorate of Health, Ministry of Health, Parliament), proactively and reactively
3. Advising the public (children at risk, isolation, digital therapy, etc.)

The overall opinion of our secretariat is that digital meetings certainly have shortcomings, but still work satisfactorily in many settings.”

Asked about the impact on the psychologists who are members of his association, Ole said: “Our members have seen a drop in patient contacts, now slowly returning to normal, as society opens up. The pandemic has spurred exploration of new approaches to digital therapy and provided valuable experience in remote patient contact.” Electronic delivery of services has been the subject of an important EFPA survey generated by our Project Group for e-health, and led by EFPA Convenor Tom Van Daele.  

“In the case of facing COVID-19, it meant that it was not so difficult to isolate from other countries as we are already somewhat distant. Luckily, we were one of the countries where the government took firm measures early on and this is evident in the results where things have now returned to “normal” and we have zero or close to zero new cases daily, thus making us one of the safest destinations right now. At the same time, as a culture, we are used to being with each other, spending time with family and friends daily. Social distancing and other restrictions have had their toll, but one thing is certain – relying on family or friends in times of need has been one of the greatest assets, even at times when there may have been weaknesses at systemic level.”

Eleni works in higher education and has a key role supporting her students in their training.  She has been challenged with switching suddenly to online teaching. “While we pride ourselves with technological advances and knowledge, online teaching is a different ballgame. Especially during a crisis. Even though we shifted quickly to using digital tools, dealing with students’ emotional reactions took significant time away from actual teaching. Some class discussions ended up focusing on how we are keeping up, discussing self-care and support, and how to get through the prolonged uncertainty. On a positive note, students noted the enjoyment of having no travel time to campus, but at the same time the pressure of dealing with the increased workload, time management studying from home, and staying motivated.”

Digital learning and teaching was a topic identified early on as an area for developing understanding of need and subsequent guidance by EFPA’s Board of Educational Affairs led by Convenor Ioulia Papageorgi.  Their survey on online/distance teaching of psychology is open until end of July.

A particular challenge for Eleni has been supporting her students in their clinical work remotely.  She said:  “I had to deal with finding alternative and ethical ways of providing supervision and services, securing continuity and quality of care, coordination between supervisors, training sites and trainees, as well as helping trainees deal with their own reactions to the situation. One thing that helped was having resources handy from various associations via the EFPA COVID Hub, as well as colleagues all over Europe to brainstorm with, share ideas and solutions. This is one of the things that helps with not feeling cut off from the rest of the world when living on an island.”

Anna describes how six webinars dedicated to psychological issues related to COVID-19 conditions were organised.  “Experts from Europe and beyond shared their data, opinions and experience in organising helplines, online psychological therapy, mental health systems, digital education, community engagement, and ways to influence responsible citizens behaviors. The webinars were attended by 606 participants 99.9% mentioned that these webinars were useful to them. The webinars have been video recorded and are available in  EFPA COVID-19 Resource Hub.”

Anna heads a language department at Lomonosov Moscow State University, so was able to access resources quickly to translate some of the webinars into Russian, Spanish, Italian and French.

Anna then went on to talk about working life in Moscow during Covid-19. 
“In Russia, organisations (both corporate and governmental) and many psychological departments in schools and universities transferred their activities online relatively fast, considering that some elements and tools were already in place and had been successfully used before the pandemic. Also, there were mutual support on individual and organisational level in online work, services, and education to maintain sufficient results. Many of that was supported with information, digital resources, and expertise of the Russian Psychological Society, which provided assistance to governmental agencies, hospitals, emergency services, and education.”

Anna, characteristically as those who know her will recognise, was able to find the some positive consequences of the situation: 

1. Some essential transformations which were postponed for a long time, had to be implemented, e.g. digital modes of work and information exchange, reduction of unessential and ineffective activities, etc. 
2. There was a shift in the modes of presentation in both education and corporate environment, making it more effective, informative and understandable. 
3. People had a chance to better network online and to demonstrate their hidden potentials and initiatives. 
4. There were some positive shifts in communication culture where people became more tolerant and caring. 
5. As it was very difficult to maintain business as usual, people and organisations had to become innovative in order to adjust and improve the situation. 
6. Of course there were many mistakes and wrong decisions but these were learning opportunities that have definitely advanced our expertise and hopefully this will lead to positive outcomes in a long run.”

As he announced it to us when it happened: “Early this morning there was a strong earthquake in Zagreb. Combined with the corona virus it is very difficult to manage the situation. I'm totally occupied with the current accident, I think as psychologists we can handle it well ...”.  We will be asking Josip to write a special article on the Croatian psychologists’ work and experiences in a future edition. 

Koen started his discussion with me with a somewhat rhetorical but nonetheless important question: 
"The COVID-19 crisis has the opportunity to promote psychology as a scientific discipline and the psychologist as the professional applying that discipline?  Why?  This unprecedented health crisis causes havoc on our health systems, economy and enlarges every default in our society. And the only thing that we have to protect ourselves against the virus is our own behaviour. Guess who is the leading scientific discipline on human behaviour? Correct!”

Koen spoke passionately about what psychologists need to be doing at this time, and how more needs to be done to achieve consistency of impact. He went on to say:  “We see that the impact of psychology on policy making throughout European countries varies. As the crisis progresses, and sustainable behaviour change is needed, the need for psychology will increase. It's the most preventive measure we can take and it will save literally lives, jobs and tons of money if policy makers would be prepared to take in psychological advice in their decision - making. 

Next to policy influencing directly on the virus, psychologists are also preparing for the aftermath. We expect a significant increase of mental health problems related to COVID-19. Both the impact of social isolation but also the economic aftermath will cause for a significant burden on our mental health system and social security spendings. We need to drastically upscale our mental health capacity and psychologists stand ready to provide the necessary health labor force with evidence - based quality.”

Koen hopes to engage all EFPA’s Member Associations in this drive for greater influence: “These are some of the positions our MA's can use and have used to improve the impact of psychology with policy makers."

"Friday March 13, 2020, a date I will never forget. Belgian government decided to put the country in lockdown. My colleagues Julie, Ivana and Ruth and I took already our precautions two days before and listed the things that had to move to our home office. We’d never thought that this period of homeworking would last that long.

From the beginning we took the good habit of having our virtual staff meetings twice a week. But it was obvious that the moment the schools were closed and children had to stay at home, the challenge would be to get a good work-life balance. I have to admit that our team, three young mothers and one grandmother, experienced a very very busy period.

Psychologists all over Europe were in the focus and our team together with a very active and focused executive council managed to create a hub, organized webinars, replied to many requests in this period.
I am very grateful for all the support, the enthousiasm to be visible on the European level, but also the patience if things went not that fast as expected. I wish you all very relaxing and healthy summer holidays and hope to see you – not only virtually – and welcome you in our offices as soon as the situation allows it."

The Corona pandemic is accompanied by unprecedented social exclusion of older adults as well as a resurgence of ageist stereotypes in many European countries which also increases health risks of older adults that are not directly associated with the pandemic. The EFPA, at the pandemic outbreak in Europe, and upon recommendations from its Standing Committee for Geropsychology, has published a public statement on COVID-19 related health advice for older adults. The statement aims at focusing both public and professionals' attention to the prevention of isolation and the promotion of help and support to older adults in the current situation.

Psychology and especially Geropsychology continuously provide the research-based knowledge, theories, and education about diverse psychological processes underlying human ageing. Geropsychologists are developing innovative approaches and practices that will improve the quality of living and subjective well-being in older age.

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic forced people worldwide to cope with numerous restrictions and adjustments of their usual life styles, with social distancing being among the most difficult. While confinement and protective measures applied to people of all ages, older persons were particularly affected and generally addressed as a risk group that needs specific shielding. This unnuanced communication can contribute to exclusionary tendencies, a loss of autonomy and social isolation. The most frequent psychological distress symptoms resulting from this situation are stress, fear and anxiety.

The most vulnerable population age group in relation to COVID-19 health risks, and in relation to social distancing are older adults. Many older adults are also more likely to have other health conditions. Also, many older adults live alone. The combination of mental health risks: stress, fear, anxiety and loneliness, with the risks of social isolation, all due to COVID-19 pandemic, may increase older adults' health problems and impair the quality of their life and well-being.

Raising awareness that older persons are particularly susceptible to COVID-19 health risks may help in strengthening their protective resources, e.g. social support and communication networks, especially for those who feel lonely in coping with the situation. Thereby, older adults should not just be seen as a passive and homogeneous group. Instead, most older adults have been actively supporting others during the crisis, and might dispose of specific resources, also due to their life experience.

If you have older relatives, or are professionally working with older clients, and wish to help them improve their well-being while facing the pandemic situation, read some recommendations at the following link to the EFPA position statement on COVID-19 related health advice for older adults 

Prepared by the EFPA’s Standing Committee for Geropsychology

Community psychology organises more than 1200 psychologists in six European Associations, and provides insight to achieve social justice, placing the cultural and political context at the heart of what psychologists do. With roots from unemployment research in the 1930's, CP has oriented itselftowards a systemic view of social and psychological problems.

By integrating individual, group and community levels of analysis, CP has developed a value based psychology in order to address the underlying causes of mental problems. CP offers education and research on how to analyse determinants of empowerment,participation and sense of community, and provides access to an active professional network, with an influence on public health and social policy planning. 

By understanding and changing the psycho-social processes through which inequality and  unjustice impact on individuals health and well being, CP can contribute to rebuild post-pandemic communities. The key message of the statement is to challenge the idea that a pandemic affects only the individuals, and promote the idea that well being is always connected to social and political contexts.  By strenghtening the bonds, trust and sense of belonging between people and institutions, CP is helping communities to recover after the crisis.