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Managing Stress and Anxiety

19/1/2018

2 Comments

 
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Julia is referred to us as she is frequently in tears in the office...

Hugh is referred to us as he has been flying off the handle for no apparent reason...

Azaria has been referred to us as she feels she can no longer cope with work...


We are witnessing a perplexing, troubling but growing trend in our practice,  encountering people who are struggling to cope with everyday life and who experience stress and anxiety to a debilitating degree. What was an occasional feature in coaching assignments fifteen or so years ago has now become an almost frequent occurrence. And these are just those whose employers are sufficiently concerned to seek help.


​It should be said that as a professional coaching business we are particular about maintaining clear boundaries between coaching and therapy and refer clients to seek therapy when appropriate. Within that boundary, we have seen the need to deliver specialist coaching interventions to support these stressed and anxious clients. These draw upon a series of established and recognised models and techniques such as cognitive behavioural coaching, rational-emotional  behavioural cognitive therapy and resilience coaching and are delivered by appropriately qualified coaches and coaching psychologists.
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James, the founder of modern psychology, 1842-1910
We work successfully with those who are anxious and affected by stress but otherwise well. We focus on identifying unhelpful 'faulty' thinking, recognising our own role in creating our anxieties, and create new approaches and ways of thinking. Associated with these are often contributory/causative issues such as low assertiveness, low self-esteem/self-efficacy,  communication problems, and perfectionist tendencies. Coaching to develop in these areas supports the person in building and strengthening their resources so that they gain control and confidence and can address their anxieties.

Whilst we are delighted with the feedback we receive and more importantly to know the impact this work has on those who are struggling, we want to dig deeper. In particular, why is this happening? Is this pattern of greater stress and anxiety an accurate depiction of our society or merely our perception? If it is real, what's causing it? If we can begin to answer these questions we may be closer to developing preventative strategies before people experience the painful and debilitating impact of anxiety related stress.

We'd love your views - if you're a coach, manager, HR person etc, have you also seen this increase? If you've been affected yourself, what's your view about the causes, and how were you supported? Do leave your comments and if you'd prefer to contact us directly, email Sarah on sarah.jaggers@managingchange.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.

If you would like to discuss our approach to managing stress do get in touch. ​​
2 Comments
Lindsay
25/1/2018 01:51:38 pm

In summary:
- Trying to deal with problems/tasks at home while at work (if something goes wrong at home you usually need to call and try to sort it during work hours) and problems/tasks/catching up work matters at home
- Trying to deal with children/ageing parents on top of a full workload - dealing with them again generally requires phone calls and meetings during work hours with agencies that have reduced hours/staff/etc
- if there is shared responsibility for the above, competition between the sharers as to who is most busy/stressed/anxious
- and all the time on social media friends and colleagues seems to be managing perfectly with time for outside interests and a social life which proves how incompetent you are!

Reply
Sarah
26/1/2018 03:50:27 pm

Hi Lindsay - thanks for your comments. Yes, we're living with extra demands, a faster pace and ideals of perfection everywhere. Although one benefit from the kind of work we do is seeing that in reality we're all just doing the best we can and muddling through! We are keen to develop workplace initiatives that might help people see through these expectations and demands that we seem to be largely accepting. Your comment about competition at home between who is most stressed/busy etc is very interesting. This is often not acknowledged in our experience and yet the 'virtue signalling/humble bragging' that I think we all witness with friends and family seems common (and it's curious that people now brag about being stressed and over-busy when in previous times that would have been seen as a sure sign of not being very organised or effective - now it merits positive attention...). Have you/your organisation found effective ways of managing these demands/expectations?

Reply



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  • Home
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