I am a Psychotherapist with Transport for London, where myself and my colleagues work therapeutically with many front line workers. Our usual clinical remit is to deliver therapeutic interventions to employees following incidents of trauma at work, but since the pandemic we are also supporting staff experiencing significant mental distress at this time. Typical referrals since lockdown commenced include those struggling with increased anxiety and/or depression; those who have experienced traumatic loss due to COVID-19; individuals who have been assaulted, including spat at, while on duty, and those experiencing re-triggering of previous trauma. I am also co-editor of the online journal Contemporary Psychotherapy. Our upcoming edition will include the section ‘Reflections on working at the time of COVID-19’, where psychotherapists share experiences of the impact of the pandemic, and remote working, on their practice, and potential implications for the future of their own work, and for our profession overall.

In Adelaide, Australia, public and private hospital services were quickly amalgamated and clinicians repurposed to combat the huge numbers of anticipated COVID-19 cases. All teaching, elective surgery and public outpatient services ceased. We worked from home, consulted by zoom and had teams on site. We couldn’t find hand sanitiser, toilet paper and cleaning equipment, while local manufacturing was rapidly ramped up. Social distancing and online shopping was the norm with a daily walk keeping us sane. After 440 people were infected, 4 people died, and 111,886 tests were done - no new cases occurred and eventually no one was infective. The coffee shops and schools opened, takeaways were available and we could go shopping without being scared of catching COVID. People looked after each other - not one health worker died. We are very thankful that we can work and live safely in our local economy.

When lockdown began, I figured I would catch up on writing. Instead, I became part of project to detect asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV2 to help reduce the epidemic. We designed a highly specific test that detected even little copies of the virus at a fraction of the cost of the official test, which was extremely limited in the national health system. Together with an 83-strong team of researchers, students, and alumni, we have run more than 5000 free tests and detected 450 positive cases. By detecting these infections early, we have helped avoid 30000 infections of which 6000 would have needed hospitalization and 1080 deaths. Despite its high population-density, ours is still one of the states with fewer cases in Mexico. The experience has been overwhelming, exhausting, and rewarding. I am proud to be a part of this effort. Every life saved makes the effort worthwhile!

I am helping a small private health centre in Togo where I now live as part of my work with Experts Comptables sans Frontières. The centre is based in a garage attached to a house, but we are in the process of finding the money to buy an adjoining plot of land so we can build a proper health centre. The facility is owned and ran by a nurse/midwife who was inspired to create the centre by the death of her father when she was 9 months old. COVID-19 will see many similar health centres in Africa disappear, as many people are out of work and cannot afford healthcare.