Chapter 5: Mental Health w/ Dr. Gonzalez

Throughout this historic pandemic, there have been many changes to our social and work environments that have been far from our baseline. Work from home, has led to greater isolation and less ability to socialize with our coworkers and friends. This has undoubtedly affected the mental health of people all over the world, and this topic came up during chapter 4 of our COVID interview series, when Dr. Allen spoke about the mental health crisis emerging in Mariposa due to the stress of this pandemic. This inspired us to reach out to a mental health professional, specifically Dr. Tania Gonzalez, our very own director for Counseling and Psychological Services (or CAPS) at UC Merced. In this interview, we delve into the mental health impacts of this pandemic on undergraduate and graduate students at UC Merced, and the importance of maintaining laughter and routine as we come out of this experience. This is chapter 5 of our COVID interview series, in which we interview a series of professionals on different topics related to the pandemic. This is our final chapter in this release series, and we hope you have enjoyed hearing from many perspectives to gain greater context for what we have all been experiencing this past year.