My name is Daniel Harbridge. I’m the Digital Communications Specialist at CMHA Kelowna and I’m a chronic nail biter.

I’ve always been an anxious person, hiding behind my dad as a youngster when I was being introduced to strangers, sitting at the back of the class in an attempt to avoid my grade 12 chemistry teacher quizzing students, and crossing the street to avoid conversations with oncoming acquaintances on days I was particularly high strung, all the time with my hands in my mouth, nervously chomping on my nails.

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Aaryn Secker, Manager of Learning and Development at CMHA Kelowna, joined AM1150’s Phil Johnson on Tuesday, March 17 (listen to the full interview by clicking the video player above) to discuss coping strategies people can employ to control their stress levels during the COVID-19 emergency.

Aaryn’s comments from the interview have been edited for brevity and clarity:

“Firstly, I think it is important to acknowledge that this emergency is a serious situation and there will be real consequences for our health and for the ways we work and for our economy. None of this is meant to minimize those consequences, but we know that too much anxiety leads to being overwhelmed and we have to find some of that balance for ourselves.

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