Finding Refuge in Uncertain Times: On Navigating Fear & Hopelessness
Please note that this blog post reflects the author’s perspective is not a substitute for individual therapy or support. If you need immediate support, please connect with your local crisis support (such as calling or texting 9-8-8 within Canada) or emergency services (such as 9-1-1).
Over the past few weeks, a recurring theme has surfaced among many of the clients I support: feelings of fear and hopelessness. The weight of global events often amplifies these emotions. Fear, when it arises, can be incredibly stressful for our adult selves. It can also stir up younger parts of us—those inner children who hold the felt memories of being helpless or alone.
In therapy, our goal isn’t to bypass or invalidate the reality of these stressful and often perilous conditions or experiences. Instead, we aim to cultivate curiosity about the automatic patterns that arise within us. This curiosity creates space—space to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively, space to keep our thinking brains online, and space to stay present with our emotions and suffering, even when they’re difficult to bear. By tending to the younger parts of ourselves that feel scared or out of control, we can re-engage with our lives from an adult place of values, aspirations, and purpose rather than mere survival patterns.
For some, recent events and world changes may evoke a deep sense of threat—as if survival itself feels uncertain. And this can feel and be more present in some members of our communities, like those who are trans or undocumented. In these moments, therapy can help anchor us in the present moment, using tools like mindful breathing to ground ourselves and build emotional and somatic practices of weathering storms. This process helps prevent overwhelm and fosters the emotional muscles needed to navigate big waves of feeling.
However, therapy is only part of the whole of healing. As my colleague recently reminded me, if people feel like they’re holding in all of their pain so they can only share with us next therapy session, then we’re not doing our job. In other words, my role is also to help you discover and cultivate sources of refuge within your daily life. I firmly believe that therapy can be one such refuge—and one that is important and meaningful. I also believe that there are many others: the rhythm of your breath, the solace of nature, the vastness of the sky, meaningful connections with loved ones past or present, engaging with communities that reflect and take action aligned with your values, or even the simple act of taking a walk—whether slow and reflective or brisk and energizing.
In our sessions, I strive to hold space for your pain with care and attentiveness, so that we can build a space of refuge together and be curious about what practices or supports you can build or cultivate in your daily life. One of my anchors that helps me in holding this space is the aspiration and practice of reflecting on interbeing and compassion. You can know that I am working to hold space for all that you bring while staying rooted in compassion for your journey.
One of my greatest teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh, offers words that guide and ground me in global times of uncertainty and fear. While I don’t impose these words onto my clients, they serve as a compass for myself as a person, social worker and therapist and inform the active softness I bring into our work together. Here, active softness and compassion go hand in hand with facing hard things and taking mindful action. I’d like to share a short excerpt with you, so you might better understand the orientation I bring to our sessions:
remember, [dear one],
remember:
[humankind] is not our enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is compassion—
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
In moments of fear and hopelessness, know that you can build places that help you to center and anchor–in and beyond the therapy room.
Together, we can work to create these anchors, to face the waves of life with presence, and to remain connected to what truly matters to you.
About the Author
Sabrina Sibbald (MSW, RSW) is a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist. She supports adults in Burlington, Toronto, and across Ontario to overcome anxiety, people pleasing, and trauma so they can move forward in a way that feels true to who they are.
