Our Stress Management Program
Our stress management
program is designed around the notion of "balance". Stress is generally
present in life, but it is relatively easy to cope with minimal
amount of annoyances or difficulties. When the pressure is low,
our natural coping mechanisms and resources are not being challenged
and we can function well without much effort.
As the stress level
increases, we find it more difficult to cope and slowly our natural
resources become depleted. The result is a decrease in our ability to meet
the demands of day-to-day living and may feel that we are "running on
an empty fuel tank". The figure below
shows this bi-directional relationship
between stress and coping:
In order to restore balance there are
generally three strategies that we can implement:
1) Avoid the
stressor and stressful situations.
2) Change the stressor to reduce its
impact on our functioning.
3) Improve our coping techniques to meet
the demands of the stressor.
Most of the time it is difficult to avoid
or to change stressors and we have to adapt to living with environmental
pressures.
This leaves us with with the last option,
improving our coping mechanisms.
Our Stress Management
Program
Our
stress management program is based on the three "I"s: Investigate, Invent
and Implement. We are normally able
to
deliver our program in 8
sessions with successful
results.
Investigate
In order to
deal with stress we need
to know the sources of stress and how we naturally cope with it.
Often long term stress is so inbedded in our lives that we loose awareness of it.
Investigation is important to discover the onset of
the stressor (e.g., starting a new job or a relationship, having
children...etc.) and the length of time we spent in a stressful
state.
Equally important is
knowing our natural way of coping with stress. Often these coping
mechanisms are harmful and in the long run maintain the
state of stress. They may include drug and alcohol misuse,
letting anger out on others, procrastination or making our life
revolved around the stressor (e.g., overworking).
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Invent
Not all coping strategies that are meant to be
positive and useful will work for everyone. We are individuals and
therefore we need to find and focus on individual coping strategies that
will work. In fact, we often need to invent strategies
that can restore our inner balance.
Of course there are
people who know exactly what would work for them, they just fail to do it
(e.g., sporting activities, yoga or socialising). In this case, we
can work on motivation and ways to resume engaging with past
coping strategies. However, for most people with changed
circumstances they require changed coping techniques.
Inventing coping strategies requires
imagination and willingness to try something new. This is not
the same as "trial and error", rather an exploration of various
ideas and "wishes" people often have. They may include activities
that one always thought about doing, but never tried, or activities
that emerge in stress management sessions. For example, one of our
psychologists always wanted to scuba dive, but he was terrified of
water. He received a "learn to dive course" for his 40's birthday
and ever since completing the course he has been using diving
successfully as a form of stress relief.
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Implement
Implementing coping
strategies is the most difficult, but also the most
rewarding part of the stress management process.
Chances are that after an initial trial of new strategies, people
will fall back into old patterns. This is normal part of change.
The implementation
stage of our program focuses on reenforcing and maintaining new
behaviour patterns. The last 2 sessions are often arranged 2 to 3
weeks apart to allow ample opportunities for practicing stress
management techniques. This is when we "fine tune" the strategies,
aiming for long term change.
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QUESTIONS?
CONTACT
US ON 8068 8661
OR
MAKE AN ENQUIRYONLINE
An APS certified practice, call with
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