By MADDY VITALE
Dealing with a pandemic, getting vaccinated or not and fearing loss, illness and isolation are concerns and feelings that often are topics of discussion at home, work and school.
But what about the fears, thoughts and concerns about getting back into the routine of life, or as it is better known these days as “the new normal?”
Samantha Kurtz-Seif, Ocean City’s director of Social Services, was hired in March and has been addressing those concerns since then.
She has focused on reaching out to clients and the community in ways that society is becoming very familiar with – using Zoom.
She is hosting her third Zoom forum at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30, called “Getting Back to ‘Normal:’ Coping With Re-Entry Anxiety.”
To join the discussion, which is for all ages, attendees can go to the OC Talks! Coping With Re-Entry Anxiety event page at https://fb.me/e/13AQDCq31 on the day and time of the event.
“My goal when I came into this position was to create a department for everyone in the city that focuses on mental health, public health and bringing awareness to the community about our resources,” Kurtz-Seif said in an interview Monday.
Kurtz-Seif explained that as the world begins to get back to “normal” after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some people are feeling uncertain and anxious.
“This forum was planned back in May,” she said. “In my personal interactions, it seems that there are a lot of people who are feeling anxiety about things opening up. I really wanted to cover this phenomenon. I don’t think it is something that people want to talk about.”
She pointed out that although the Delta variant has created even more fears and concerns during the pandemic, she believes that there is no plan to stop reopening the world.
“We are not going back into lockdown and we are going to have to learn how to live with the variant,” she pointed out.
The three panelists during the Zoom discussion are Ashley Crooks, Ashley Steelman and Stacie Tomlinson from Counseling by the Sea, located in Ocean City.
Kurtz-Seif said that the panelists will focus on coping mechanisms.
“We are going back into the world, and we have to learn how to get back into the new normal,” she said.
She emphasized that people of all ages should be able to take some good information from the forum.
“All three panelists have worked with children and adolescents,” she said. “They definitely have that expertise.”
Martin Fiedler of Just Right TV Productions sets up and handles the Zoom events for Social Services and acts as the on-line moderator.
Kurtz-Seif said that the forum will be recorded so that anyone who missed it or saw only part of it could watch it later.
Questions for the event may be submitted through the city’s Division of Social Services Facebook page or people may send them in during the Zoom event.
The questions have started to come in.
“A lot of the questions I have been getting are the dynamic about getting vaccinated. Some people are saying they want to go back to normal, but they aren’t sure about the vaccine,” she said. “Others say they got vaccinated and others haven’t, and they want to know how to deal with people who are against the vaccination.”
This will be the third forum Kurtz-Seif has hosted at the division.
The first was in June and focused on gay pride, while the second one was about sun safety.
Kurtz-Seif, formerly the program manager at Gilda’s Club of South Jersey, said she wanted to reach out to the community virtually because it was basically the only way she could do it due to the pandemic.
“At my last position, everything we had done was in-person. Our whole model was in- person and then COVID happened,” she explained. “I had to learn how to create our interactions and discussions through Zoom.”
And it has been successful.
On Sept, 22, she will host a hybrid event on Facebook focused on Senior Health.
“When I started in this position at Social Services, I knew I wanted to have town hall discussions and virtual events,” she said. “I think that even when we go back to in-person, I still want to keep a virtual component as well.”
