MATER Staff Turns to their Mindfulness Therapy Research to Navigate COVID-19 Stressors

“We knew that when we transitioned to being virtual, that the therapist not being there on site as the women got their medication would be breaking a physical link that kept women in their therapeutic treatment,” she says. “All of us felt like we were caught in a very stressful situation. We treat a high-risk population who we knew were more likely to be exposed to COVID because of their living conditions. And we had the stress of not wanting to feel detached from this physical structure of being there when they come in and need us.”

The team decided that the MATER staff would apply some of their research findings to help them manage their own stress. Staff and leadership met weekly using virtual MDfL sessions to enhance communication during virtual work and counseling, and to provide a supportive meeting space during this unprecedented time.

MDfL sessions provided a space for both sharing the fears associated with the new virtual therapeutic platform and to think creatively to mediate risks. Says Dr. Abatemarco, “With the majority of MATER’s nearly 70 employees suddenly working remotely, we had to improve communication and help staff manage the stress that the abrupt changes to their work—and home—lives caused.”

“Necessity breeds innovation, and we were dealing with COVID,” says Dennis Hand, PhD, associate director of MATER. “Mindfulness has been very helpful for re-imagining what’s possible. In my mindfulness practice, I find that it really opens me up to alternatives and helps me make space for other things.”

Dr. Hand is also the principal investigator for a new study funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Drug & Alcohol Programs known as SUPER – Supporting Engagement and Recovery in Families Affected by Stimulant Use. SUPER provides and evaluates the effectiveness of comprehensive support services for pregnant and parenting women who use cocaine, amphetamine and/or methamphetamine.

Study participants in SUPER will receive care management for physical and behavioral health care, including prenatal and well-child care; mindfulness-based relapse prevention; mindfulness-based family support; mindfulness-based parenting; contingency management; employment coaching and support; and connection with community support systems.

Dr. Hand is hopeful that this project will have similar success in helping mothers who use stimulants as MATER has had with programs for mothers using opioids. “We’re going to learn a lot,” Dr. Hand says. “We’re going learn how to treat stimulant use disorders and identify some of the similarities and differences. So I think we’re going to continue to develop our success with this carefully, thoughtfully and studiously.”

The MATER staff’s mindfulness sessions, which were evaluated over a course of 30 weeks, began last April. Every Monday, staff received an email describing the weekly theme, and the email included a recorded mindfulness-dialogue reflection and meditation. Staff then received a reminder mid-week, and attended a live, one-hour session on Fridays via a video conference. The agenda for each session included a review of the prior week’s themes, an opening meditation, a brief MDfL didactic presentation introducing a theme and a poem or music, discussions of each stage, and a closing meditation for discovery of surfacing insights and reflections.

As part of their own research, two MATER research staff attended each session and took detailed notes on attendance, content, quotes, body language and facial expressions. Key overarching themes identified from the sessions included the desire for connection, control and discovery and the acknowledgement that there is fear. Researchers substantiated these overarching themes from subthemes, creating a theoretical framework describing the experience of staff during the pandemic. Staff acknowledged a perceived loss of control and shift in their perspective on how they care for themselves, realizing through the pandemic that there is a fundamental need to take time to energize and restore themselves to continue providing great care to their clients.

Overall, Dr. Abatemarco says, staff expressed increased connection to their peers through this shared experience and felt safe talking about their anxieties and discomforts with transitions from pre- to post-COVID-19 life. Insights from their own research equipped MATER staff to develop better coping skills and mindfulness practices.

“What we’re striving for is deeper and more courageous conversations with each other,” she notes. “What we learned in mindfulness is that if you really care for the staff, you’re really improving the quality of care to the patient.”