Q: Coping with stress

Coping with Stress: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress/">advice to hospital staff </a> ${youtube}<a href="WFWvkjJ755Y">Coping with Stress associated with COVID-19: advice to hospital staff</a> | Also click here for a calming playlist of songs to listen to, curated by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/815457669/isle-of-calm-stream-6-hours-of-soothing-music?t=1612356563511">NPR radio show</a>. Here are some tips from the CDC regarding key workers and how to build resilience. We recognise it's been difficult to carry on as 'normal', when normal has changed. <img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/1d9eeddd5c45db00/tips-stress_rio0af.gif" alt="Stress tips" /> || Here are also some audio guides on Soundcloud for free, set up by the <a href="https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/mental-wellbeing/stress/struggling-with-stress">NHS Scotland</a>. <img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/1d9eeddd5c45db00/stress_1qsxz2f.gif" alt="NHS Scot Stress Podcast" />

Question 1

Coping with stress

Accepted Answer

Coping with Stress: advice to hospital staff ${youtube}Coping with Stress associated with COVID-19: advice to hospital staff

| Also click here for a calming playlist of songs to listen to, curated by NPR radio show.

Here are some tips from the CDC regarding key workers and how to build resilience. We recognise it's been difficult to carry on as 'normal', when normal has changed.

Stress tips

|| Here are also some audio guides on Soundcloud for free, set up by the NHS Scotland. NHS Scot Stress Podcast

Question 2

Free Webinars

Accepted Answer

These are webinars hosted by your local BLMK services to help you gain skills and learn something new. They remain anonymous and are led by one of the team from the Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes and Luton areas.

Topics talked about include Men's mental health, dealing with Covid-19 stress and ways to stay active during lockdown. For the moment all webinars are online but are easily accesible from these three websites:

Feel free to attend whichever suits your experiences the most.

Bedfordshire

Luton

Milton Keynes

| We had our first webinar! Click here to watch the replay.

Question 3

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)

Accepted Answer

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is the feeling of being anxious about almost everything and anything. Often, people affected by GAD will feel overly worried about a wide range of things relating to a variety of topics including health, money, work, school and relationships and sometimes may not even be able to identify a reason that they feel anxious.

GAD can cause a change in your behaviour and the way you think and feel about things, resulting in symptoms such as:

restlessness
a sense of dread
feeling constantly "on edge"
difficulty concentrating
irritability

Your symptoms may cause you to withdraw from social contact to avoid feelings of worry and dread. You may also find going to work difficult and stressful, and may take time off sick. These actions can make you worry even more about yourself and reduce your self-esteem.

You may also experience a range of physical symptoms including:

dizziness
tiredness
a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
muscle aches and tension
trembling or shaking
dry mouth
excessive sweating
shortness of breath
stomach ache
feeling sick
headache
pins and needles
insomnia

CBT can help you understand and change your thought processes and/or behaviours to help reduce the uncomfortable symptoms and help you manage worry more effectively.

${youtube}What is GAD?

Question 4

Free  Counselling

Accepted Answer

The Association of Christian Counsellors have set up a new service – a Covid 19 Crisis Counselling Support Service (CCSS) for NHS frontline staff, People working in a residential care home setting being directly impacted by caring for people who have Covid-19 and people who have been bereaved during the COVID-19 epidemic in the U.K.

The crisis counselling support service offers up to ten sessions of counselling on a no fee basis.

For further information on how to access this service, please click here

Question 5

Free Wellbeing apps

Accepted Answer

There are a number of free wellbeing apps available, these include Sleepio, Silvercloud cCBT and Headspace for Mindfulness meditation.

| List of wellbeing apps

|| There is also a library of free and paid apps recommended by the NHS and are tested in NHSX. If you have tried any of these and have some feedback, we would appreciate if you share it with us to improve the list.

Question 6

What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)?

Accepted Answer

A brief video guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. This link also takes you to a BLMK video on CBT and is closed captioned.

CBT Example diagram

CBT is offered by all of our BLMK IAPT services if you feel like this is something that could be useful. There are also talking therapies and workshops based on CBT which can help with feelings like low mood, anxiety and OCD.

This video is also a useful insight to what a general CBT session would look like.

${youtube}CBT BECK'S

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