LOVE in the time of Covid-19: a brief mental health intervention to overcome loneliness.
Manaan Kar Ray, Ka Ki Chow, Theo Theodoros, Marianne Wyder, Anne Steginga, Rosemary Sorrensen, Paul Hickey, Geoff Lau, Kieran Kinsella, Chiara Lombardo
Author Information
Manaan Kar Ray: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia. ORCID
Ka Ki Chow: Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, Australia. ORCID
Theo Theodoros: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia. ORCID
Marianne Wyder: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia; The Hopkins Centre, Griffith University, Australia.
Anne Steginga: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
Rosemary Sorrensen: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
Paul Hickey: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
Geoff Lau: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
Kieran Kinsella: Addiction and Mental Health Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
Chiara Lombardo: Research and Development, Mental Health Foundation, UK; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, UK. ORCID
OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak and its containment through public health strategies has resulted in a parallel pandemic of psychological distress. Increased loneliness and social isolation are associated with adverse health outcomes, yet there is a gap in brief interventions that specifically target loneliness. This article introduces a brief intervention to strengthen connectedness, LOVE. In a systematic way, this solution-focused approach encourages openness and sharing of current struggles with the existing circle of support. There are four steps in LOVE: ist people in one's life, rganise them on the helpfulness-availability matrix, erify what they know to map them onto circles of trust and ngage them through self-disclosure. CONCLUSION: The article details each concept, its importance, the pragmatics involved and top tips to guide practice. The memorable acronym provides logical sequence and structure. It is time efficient in training and delivery, with no former mental health knowledge required so there is potential for wide application. It facilitates collaboration between health professionals and people in distress and promotes empowerment and self-resilience. Adapted from the safety planning component of PROTECT, a pre-existing suicide prevention framework, LOVE has to be fine-tuned as a brief intervention in the wider context of the pandemic.
