International Stress Awareness Week Day 4: Talking about your stress and seeking support Your wellbeing is important and prolonged periods of stress can have physical and mental health impacts. It’s important to tackle this and seek support. Starting with how to have conversations about your stress, whether this be in work or your personal life, is a crucial first step to seeking support. If stress is ongoing or impacts your ability to function in your day-to-day life, then reaching out and talking to those around you is important. Talking to others means that you may be able to get help to plan actions to help you tackle your stress. Talking to your GP is a good place to start. It you’ve tried all the self-help techniques you can and are still experiencing a level of stress that is unmanageable for you they may be able to help. The Mental Health Foundation has a guide on how to talk to your GP about your mental health so you know what to expect. Your GP may offer psychological therapy (also sometimes called “talking therapy”). In the first instance this is likely to be offered by a counsellor. This is also something you can access through the Iris Care Group Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). They offer a 24/7 confidential helpline at 0800 030 5182. You can also call this number to access up to 6 free counselling sessions through the EAP. If you aren’t comfortable contacting them yourselves, get in touch with your manager or HR who can do the referral for you. Talking to your manager about what is causing you stress is also a great place to start. If this is work related, then your manager will help you tackle the problems you’re having. This may be through offering you additional support like training, or by helping you reorganise and prioritise your work. Even if the stress you’re experiencing is in your personal life it’s still important to talk to your manager. They’ll be able to offer you a listening ear and may be able to offer you additional support while you’re at work. HR and/or the Wellbeing Officer are also available to help you with stress. They will be able to look at how to reduce your stress at work and offer you support. This may include signposting you to additional external resources where you can get some extra help.
Rachel MacMillan is the HR Wellbeing Officer. You can reach her via email or phone at:
07703 542828 rachel.macmillan@iriscaregroup.co.uk
International Stress Awareness Week Day 4: Talking about your stress and seeking support Talking is a form of seeking support. Even if it is to just offload for a moment and have a vent. Opening up a conversation about stress can be hard, especially if you don’t know what may be triggering your stress. But even if you don’t know what’s causing it you know how you’re feeling and talking about this is one tool you can always use to help alleviate stress. The below organisations are also places where you can seek support.
Shout is a 24/7 texting service free on all major mobile networks. It can be hard to talk and sometimes easier to message. If you’re struggling to cope and need immediate help you can text: 85258. Samaritans is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. You can talk to someone about anything upsetting you on 116 123. Mind has a good guide on how to access therapy or counselling and exploring your options.
Stress can quickly feel like it spirals out of control. In these situations, you don’t need to deal with it alone. There are support networks around you. You can also talk to your friends and family to build up a network of support. Your friends and family may be able to offer other solutions to what is causing your stress or just those additional places to turn to. Have a think about what support you currently have to manage high levels of stress. Make a note if there are other places we’ve mentioned today that you would also like to be able to turn to. On your stress exploration worksheet write down the contact details of your support network. This could include your manager, the number to text at Shout and the EAP as well as a close friend or family member.