7: Jeff Laubach
Behavioral Therapist
Jeff Laubach is a behavioral therapist with his own practice who works primarily with children and adolescents, though he has family and adult clients as well. Jeff lives with his spouse and their 14- and 15-year-old children, but he was the only one to keep working throughout the entire shutdown. At the beginning of the pandemic, Jeff’s clients mostly disappeared for a month because they were used to coming in to see him and didn’t want to do transition to virtual appointments. However, when it became clear that the pandemic would not be ending any time soon, work picked up for Jeff and has been incredibly busy ever since. Before the pandemic, Jeff was already working hard at about 50 to 60 hours a week, but at the time of the interview he was spending an average of 70 hours a week in his office.
At the time of the interview, Jeff was conducting about seventy five percent of his appointments virtually and twenty five percent in person. It is difficult because there are many of his clients for whom virtual therapy is just not a good fit, especially for young children. Jeff brought his youngest clients back into the office first once it was safe to do so and has been slowly expanding from there. Jeff has been incredibly cautious about risking himself, his family, or his clients to any potential COIVD exposure. He never contracted COVID himself, but is quick to acknowledge that, despite all of his precautions, remaining uninfected depended hugely on just luck as well. More of his friends, family, and acquaintances than he can count have contracted COVID. He knows that he was very fortunate.
One of the biggest changes Jeff has noticed with the pandemic is how, “everybody’s baseline has moved.” His clientele hasn’t necessarily changed due to the pandemic, but peoples’ issues have become much more severe. Those who were just barely managing to get by before are not any longer. There is so much more anxiety just with being so isolated and alone. People are struggling to figure out how to reintegrate with other people and fully reenter a largely social society. Jeff recalls many people he has spoken to who tried to go to the grocery store for the first time in six months only to suffer panic attacks. Many students who reliably earned As and Bs before the pandemic are failing this year because they’re having so many focus and organization problems as a result of adapting to online schooling methods.
Jeff’s approach to therapy and his philosophy haven’t changed too much. One thing in particular that really strikes him is the lack of physical connection. Though technology has been somewhat of a saving grace for people during this time, it is still so hard not being able to see and touch people. Usually when the weather gets better and people can go outside business slows down for him a little bit, but that hasn’t been the case yet. Jeff thinks that the pandemic has really highlighted, not necessarily that the mental health system is broken, but that it is incredibly fractured. The shortage of mental health providers has been a huge issue for many people, with many clients calling Jeff saying that they can’t get an appointment with another provider for three months. He hopes at least though, that the pandemic has shown both clients and insurance companies how effective telehealth services can be. Though initially skeptical of virtual appointments himself, Jeff has found them invaluable, not just for people in a pandemic context, but for clients with transportation issues, specifically his teenaged clients.
