For a little over a week, coronavirus precautions have meant the couple are both working from home, where their twin daughters and Cameron’s retired mother also live.

“We’re like colleagues, partners and friends,” Eryn says.

“You have to play different roles for each other, which I can imagine is going to be pretty tense after a few months.

“We’re talking about how are we going to look after our mental health, which I’m sure is on everyone’s mind.”

Eryn, an environmental consultant and Cameron, a coffee company production manager, are trying to think ahead, so they’re ready to confront challenges head on.

“We’re anticipating a lot. We’re still quite new to it and we’re thinking, ‘what happens after a month of doing this?’” Eryn says.

“We have to remember that we’re partners and in love with each other, as well. It’s not just about getting stuff done.”

Eryn and her family are bracing for the unknown. (Supplied)

Jennifer Petriglieri, an expert in organisational behaviour at France’s INSEAD Business School, says working through this pandemic is “probably going to be stressful”.

“There’s some data around other big crises and what we see, it’s kind of a joke, but nine months after, there’s a lot of babies, and there’s a lot of divorces,” she tells ABC RN’s This Working Life.

“These situations tend to polarise couples. It can be something that draws you together and it also can be something that pulls you apart.

“The question is what makes the difference, right? That’s what we’re all interested in.”

‘If it goes on and on, it’ll get harder’

Local council research and planning manager Geua Montana only found out that she’d be working from home the night before it started.

Her husband, Jack Furphy, had already been working from home for several weeks, and was set up in the spare room of the couple’s home.

Geua Montana is learning she and her husband work in different ways at home. (Supplied)

That left Geua with “the next best set-up” — the bedroom.

She says that’s a challenge because “my work’s always in my bedspace”.

“If it’s four weeks, it’s probably be OK. But if it goes on and on, it’ll get harder,” Geua says.

It makes a delineation between work and home life blurry — but Dr Petriglieri says that’s a distinction couples need to make clear.

She acknowledges it’s not easy.

“How do we separate our relationship from work, from me time, from couple time — particularly when countries are getting to the stage where they’re on effective lockdown?” Petriglieri asks.

“It’s not just that you’re working from home, but you’re socially isolated. You’re not allowed to meet with other people, per se, or go out and have a normal social life.

“Maintaining those boundaries — where does work start and end, and where does life start and end — is extremely tricky.”

Geua has a very social job managing a team, and is used to interacting face-to-face with different people throughout the day.

Working from home is a tough change.

“I’m really missing colleagues [and] being able to be face-to-face with my team, and just the day-to-day chat that you get with being in the office,” she says.

She’s trying to remedy that by filling her breaks with things like jogging, which she says helps.

“I’m now thinking of ways I can have my breaks and not just feel alone,” she says.

‘We’re pretty much scheduling shift work’

Eryn says for both her and Cameron, structure, socialising and finding time to themselves are hugely helpful when “the normal routines that you have kind of go out the window a little bit”.

They’re focused on creating new ones.

“We’re blocking out times of the day for both of us to exercise or to go and have time in quiet corners, somewhere on our own,” she says.

The couple is using a shared online calendar, through which they book out different rooms in the house.

“Our jobs both require a lot of communication so we’re both trying to schedule out who can have a quiet room at what time, what meetings [we have] and how are we going to manage it,” Eryn says.

Their kids are still in childcare — for now — but the calendar addresses the prospect of that changing.

“We’re pretty much scheduling shift work. One of us is going to do 7 to 10:00am, and then three-hour blocks throughout the day,” Eryn says.

And they’re not letting catching up with friends slip.

“We’re booking in little FaceTime drinks and dinners with friends and stuff like that to try to break up the conversation,” Eryn says.

Finding the upsides

Getting through the next few months will come down to being there for your partner, and them being there for you.

“Figure out how you’re going to support each other,” Petriglieri says.

And Geua says there are positives to all of this as well, which are worth noting.

“Jack normally gets home at about 6:45pm and sometimes there is stuff that keeps him in the office even later and he can’t leave until it’s done,” she says.

“So an upside is, when that is the case as it was twice last week, he doesn’t have the 50-minute commute [afterwards].”

He’s around more, particularly at family dinner time, which the couple appreciates.

Petriglieri agrees there are positives to be found in the current climate, as stressful as it is.

“There are so many individuals and couples I know who have said in the past, ‘If I could just work from home a couple of days a week and test it out’ — this is your opportunity,” she says.

“Grab it and see what emerges from it, and see what emerges from working together.”

– ABC / Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Maria Tickle