As the Covid-19 pandemic has swept across the world, disrupting capitalism’s hitherto ceaseless gears of production, the Great Slowdown has brought our collective state of delirium into sharp focus.

There’s a remarkable similarity between the maze people find themselves navigating when they’re experiencing mental and emotional distress and the collective labyrinth we are all now traversing.

The effects of the Great Slowdown are slowly changing all of us – and not just at an individual level. The entire global economic system is undergoing a dramatic renovation. But many still mistakenly believe that a return to the way things were before is possible.

James Scurry, co-founder of the mental health initiative Safely Held Spaces, shows how – just as painful mental and emotional experiences serve to transform us – a pandemic provides us with the opportunity to radically reimagine society and to Build Back Better.