((PKG)) ALONE TOGETHER -- MENTAL HEALTH   
((TRT: 09:18)) 
((Topic Banner: Alone Together: Mental Health))  
((Reporter/Camera: Esha Grover, Vero Balderas)) 
((Producer/Editor: Jacquelyn De Phillips))  
((Map: Fairfax, Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia; Cherokee, North 
Carolina; Asheville, North Carolina))   
((Main characters: 4 female; 3 male))  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Text on screen: As the pandemic upends daily life in the United 
States, isolation and uncertainty takes a toll on mental health.)) 
((Madeline Arnold, Student, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Social life is crazy because I want to see my friends. It’s really 
hard to have friends right now.  
We have to like make sure you FaceTime each other or just like 
give like a text like, “Hey, how have you been?” Because we 
haven't talked in like two months.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Dave Arnold, Chef, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Her life has shrunk so greatly, just basically to her bedroom and 
the house. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Madeline Arnold, Student, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Being basically locked in your room all day, doing schoolwork. It’s 
just very stressful to look at a computer all day, and then do two 
hours of homework, and then eat dinner, and then go to sleep 
exhausted. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Sheyahshe Littledave, Author and Publisher, Cherokee, 
North Carolina)) 
I love books, but I just, I can't sit down and just stay in one spot 
and just read, you know. So, I think there has been, and I've had 
trouble sleeping. And sometimes, I still have trouble sleeping. I 
tend to be a worrier by nature anyway, so. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Sherrie Arnold, Information Technology Professional, 
Alexandria, Virginia)) 
The ability to focus has certainly been a challenge. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Henry Johnson, Peer Recovery Specialist, Fairfax, Virginia)) 
The biggest thing that it’s done is it’s made me realize how much 
social pressure, seeing people in person, is a really good thing for 
our health. I’ve noticed that if I’m not seeing people for five days 
in a row, I am forcing myself to shower, I’m forcing myself to 
brush my teeth. You know, I am oftentimes forcing myself to 
change clothes. You know, keeping up basic health routines and 
hygiene is one of those things that takes conscious effort at this 
point.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angela Conner, Senior Therapist Supervisor, 
Alexandria City Community Services, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Mental health is your ability to manage your emotional,  
physical, cognitive state of mind. It is being aware of your 
thoughts, being aware of your emotions, and being aware of your 
behaviors, and how those all intertwine, and your ability to 
manage that and recognize that sometimes they do go out of 
whack. Sometimes they are more severe than others depending 
upon factors.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Madeline Arnold, Student, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
So, talking through a therapist really helps because they're kind of 
like removed from the situation. They aren't your family. They 
aren't your friend. And sometimes it just helps to vent and just 
say, “This really sucks! And I'm going to talk about it for an hour.” 
And they're going to say, “Yeah, it does suck and we're all going 
through this.” It really helps to know that it's not just like us going 
through this. Like the entire world is going through this, and that 
we all most likely have the exact same problems.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Sheyahshe Littledave, Author and Publisher, Cherokee, 
North Carolina)) 
Early on, I actually sought counseling because my anxiety was, it 
was really bad. I was having trouble sleeping and just wasn't 
rested. So, it was basically just talking it out, a lot of my concerns, 
because we tend to keep things bottled up. So, just being able to 
like freely talk about that, no judgment, nothing. We went through 
like exercises I could do at home if I'm getting like worried or 
stressed about stuff. And then just kind of going with the motto, 
you know, “I can’t control what everybody else does, but I can 
control what I do and essentially what my kids do, and how we 
keep ourselves safe and keep our family safe.” 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Henry Johnson, Peer Recovery Specialist, Fairfax, Virginia)) 
The biggest psychological change that I've noticed in myself since 
the beginning of the pandemic has been loneliness. And I am 
someone who is hyper-social, and it’s been really hard not seeing 
people, not being able to interact with people, except through 
these, you know, electronic devices in our pockets. 
((Sherrie Arnold, Information Technology Professional, 
Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Virtual doesn't cut it. Being together physically does make a 
difference. And I don't think I knew, at the start, how much impact 
that would have on me. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Dave Arnold, Chef, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
Now, everybody views everybody else as a source of danger or 
something could happen if we get too close. And also the wearing 
of the mask. You can't read people's emotions, how they feel or 
sometimes even recognize the people because you don't have all 
those cues.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Nicole McKinney, Paramedic, Buncombe County 
Emergency Medical Services, Asheville, North Carolina)) 
I was considered essential and so many people were not. And 
that was a huge blessing for me, and I use that blessing to help 
other people through a really hard time because so many other 
people were suffering and were, you know, on the verge of losing 
their homes and their cars. And that was personally very hard for 
me. So, we made sure to eat out, to tip well, donating, whether it's 
money, clothes, food, whatever we could do. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Kevin Mahoney, Peer Support Specialist, Mountain Area 
Health Education Center, Asheville, North Carolina)) 
Things that I've learned since the pandemic was that addiction 
behaviors, as a disease, really doesn't go away. Even though I've 
been in remission, as soon as I was isolated in my apartment, the 
way my brain went, “Here I am, 13 years in recovery, and all of a 
sudden, I'm not accountable, except to myself.” And people who 
have less recovery are even less accountable going, "There's 
nobody gonna know.” And I figured if my brain was going there 
after all this experience and all the coping skills and mechanics 
that I’ve acquired, what was going on with the people that I’m 
serving, which, as I found out very rapidly, a lot. 
We were already in an epidemic. We were already in an addiction 
behavior epidemic wrapped in a pandemic.  
AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] and NA [Narcotics Anonymous] 
meetings were suspended. They got up to speed virtually but 
there was that gap there where you couldn’t...that’s a huge 
support system for people. All that went away. Not a lot of internet 
up in the mountains. There’s not a lot of phone coverage, the 
homeless factor, somebody living in a tent. Your recovery family 
and your recovery community is kind of out of reach. Then I’m 
stuck with, “How do I get a hold of this person?” So, I have to try 
to go visit when I can.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Sheyahshe Littledave, Author and Publisher, Cherokee, 
North Carolina)) 
Over the course of time, I learned that there was a rise of 
domestic violence, especially when people are stuck at home, 
and they're stuck at home with their abusers, and they don't 
necessarily have those outlets and resources. So, I created a 
blog. It's called “Ogadvnvisdi” and that's Cherokee for “We are 
ready.” And it's to empower indigenous voices to kind of share 
story about what it was like surviving domestic violence, just so 
people have a community in place to share. You know, we're in a 
pandemic. There's not, you know, we can't go and meet people. 
You know, we've got to protect each other. But what can I do? 
And for me, the only thing I could do was create this blog, create 
a community for people to share. But in doing so, understanding 
that I have to be vulnerable as well. Just in dealing with the 
aftermath of surviving domestic violence, you know, I just hope 
people know it’s okay. It's okay to reach out if you need that help.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Madeline Arnold, Student, Alexandria, Virginia)) 
I'm a singer-songwriter. So, that has really helped, just like even if 
it's putting a note in the note apps on my phone, just like get 
those emotions out and get it on paper. Throughout this whole 
COVID thing, me and my mom, we've never stopped doing 
horseback riding. We go every single Saturday. And it's all 
outside. It’s all social distanced. And that's the one thing that we 
have continued to do throughout this whole thing. So, that's really 
helped knowing that like that’s the one stability thing that I have. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Nicole McKinney, Paramedic, Buncombe County 
Emergency Medical Services, Asheville, North Carolina)) 
The one thing that has grown the most with me is, I've grown 
farther more into my faith. It has definitely allowed me to really 
dive in and get closer to God. And I'm very thankful for that. And 
it's hard because like you have such a terrible time in the world. 
But I just truly believe that in all bad things comes good, and you 
just have to be willing to look for it because it's right there. 
((NATS/MUSIC))