Mitigating the Effects of Uncertainty Through Community Leadership

Community leaders are an effective mechanism to foster and enable community support (Kirk & Shutte, 2004), especially during times of uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a practical example of the need to work together and support each other to overcome challenges associated with uncertainty. This global pandemic has impacted people's mental health, increasing the incidence of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, domestic violence, child abuse, and a broad range of other mental and behavioral disorders (Galea et al., 2020). Some of the public health measures to control pandemic and reduce the virus spread include social distancing, which also has increased feelings of isolation and loneliness, especially in more vulnerable groups, leading to an increase in the population's stress level and anxiety (World Health Organization (WHO), 2020).

How can community leaders help their communities during times of uncertainty?

According to the National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (2020), community leaders can promote critical actions that can help their community members to deal with stressful, uncertain situations such as the current pandemic; these are listed below:

1. Educate: Providing trustworthy information about how to deal with the causes of uncertainty helps to reduce the feeling of fear, anxiety, and frustration, which increases their sense of safety.
2. Empower: Teach community members how to use technology to support others and feel connected. Gaining new skills helps to build self-confidence and increase community efficacy in responding to the situation.
3. Connect: Social support is crucial during times of uncertainty, like in a pandemic where physical contact may be limited. Thus, staying in touch with loved ones and health care providers via phone, email, chat, online meeting apps, and video calls helps mitigate the mental health impact.
4. Keep Calm: Share with your community members strategies that help them keep calm—for example, practicing meditation or yoga, hearing music, talks, videos, or others that distract and relax them. These activities may help reduce stress levels.
5. Building community resilience: Recruit community volunteers who can help other community members enhance their coping skills, establish goals, achieve emotional and social balance, and employ diverse types of problem-solving activities.

How can community leaders be affected by uncertainty?

Uncertainty like that caused by the pandemic intensified the regular stress that community leaders have due to their roles and duties in community development. Community leaders usually set an example for their communities in terms of decision-making, integrity, and efficiency. Still, even the most influential leaders may feel emotionally and physically tired and stressed when faced with uncertainty. According to the American Psychological Association (2020), community leaders might experience hard times working under stress during uncertainty because of the following:

• Time pressures reduce the level of concentration and limit creativity.
• Having a sense of lack of power in a crisis may make community leaders rigid. It may affect their ability to keep the overall situation under control.
• Stress can cause abruptness, irritability, and impatience with other people, impacting their ability to build social relationships. It may affect their ability to create a welcoming atmosphere and be open to new ideas.
• Stress can lead to negative emotions, which can reduce trust and confidence among leaders. Community leaders must keep a positive attitude, especially when the rest of the community lacks hope.

We summarized the Hub West Virginia Community (2020) recommendations to help community leaders to create an impact while working with volunteers and community members:

• Uncover people's needs: Listen and understand people's needs and make a list of those to find strategies to meet 'people's needs.
• Maintain active relationships with community members: Isolation is hard; keep connected with your community through calls, emails, video calls, or open space meetings.
• Keep the community informed and updated about the contingency situation with reliable sources.
• Organize community teams to meet people's needs: Serve as a connector and a motivator to support community projects to meet people's needs.
• Be inclusive and welcome new ideas: Bring your knowledge and skills to the table but allow others to bring theirs as well.
• Keep your community members optimistic and realistic.
• Celebrate small successes with your community volunteers.
• Promote leadership programs in your community.
• Be accessible and reliable. 

Tips to support community leaders' self-care

The American Psychological Association (2020) discusses aspects that community leaders should consider when taking care of themselves to reduce and manage stress. Some of these are summarized below:

• Recognize the physical warning signs of stress: Pay attention to aspects as stiff muscles, headache, stomachaches, teeth grinding, quality of sleep, as well as other aches and pains. Physical symptoms remind you to stop and take care of yourself.
• Take a break before making decisions or announcements: Leaders can incorporate 5-10-minute breaks each hour to assess stress signals and emotional needs. Making decisions imply calm and reflection. A person under stress can have difficulties making or communicating a public decision.
• Prioritize self-care: Leaders need to be in good condition to help others. Thus, they should prioritize restorative activities such as exercise, recreation, and maintain a healthy diet; it is crucial to be recharged, recovered, and fueled to work.
• Create a sleep routine: Good sleep is critical for a good performance; thus, leaders should practice a pre-bedtime routine, for example, turning off social media, email, or news updates and taking a shower to relax the body and be ready to have a better sleep.
• Build a trusting social network to support you: Leaders need to take breaks and time for themselves; thus, delegating some responsibilities to trustworthy people is crucial.
• Include breaks to keep family well-attended: Leaders have families to attend as well. They need to have time to keep connected with their family members and their needs. Thus, schedule times exclusively for them.
• Recognize a celebrate small victories: All effort counts. Behind any success are people who did their best to reach the goal. It needs to be recognized.

Resources

American Psychological Association (2020) Stress management for leaders responding to a crisis.

Galea, S., Merchant, R. M., & Lurie, N. (2020). The mental health consequences of COVID-19 and physical distancing: the need for prevention and early intervention. JAMA internal medicine, 180(6), 817-818.

GOARN Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Coordination Working Group. (2020). Tips for engaging communities during COVID-19 in low-resource settings, remotely and in person. 

IFRC. (2019). Tool15 feedback starter-kit.

IFRC. (2020). Hotline in a box – full toolkit.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (2016). A Red Cross Red Crescent guide to community engagement and accountability (CEA). ICRC and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Kirk, P., & Shutte, A. M. (2004). Community leadership development. Community Development Journal, 39(3), 234-251

National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. (2020). For providers and community leaders: Helping people manage stress associated with the COVID-19 virus outbreak. PTSD: National Center for PTSD Home.

The Hub West Virginia. (2020, July 30). 5 tips to become an impactful community leader. The WV Hub.

UNICEF. (n.d.). Minimum quality standards and indicators for community engagement Handbook. 

World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Building trust within and across communities for health emergency preparedness.