How Stress Management Coaching can help you to overcome stress in a better way

Stress! When you don’t have control over the outcome or situation, when you don’t have any plan, when problems are more than solutions and when you don’t figure out where your life is going, you got stressed, stress has not limited to a specific group or people, anyone who is dealing with something or the other tends to feel the tension and this tension called stress.

How to recognise if you are stressed:

·      Moods swings are on the top

·      Your sleeping pattern would be disturbed

·      You feel exhausted most of the time

·      You might gain or lose weight

·      Unhealthy eating habits

·      Not able to concentrate on anything

·      Headaches are part of your daily routine

·      Anxiety and panic attacks

It’s varied on person to person that how your body would react to it, you may experience one or two of the above symptoms while your friend is dealing with five of them.

Why do we need a stress management coach

Back in the days we used to manage stress at home by trying numerous methods like taking a walk, breathing deeply, talking to our friends, getting hug from our loved once.

But in today’s times, the competitive world in which we are living in, Stress is taking a toll on mental health of every other person, we seek professional help to identify the level of stress that we are in, or how to combat the effects of dealing with stress in our daily life.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), 67% of Americans report feeling increased stress since the COVID-19 outbreak began. 

And 78% say the pandemic is a significant source of stress in their life. And this stress is on top of the daily stressors we already experienced before. Stressors such as work, health, finances, family, and relationships. 

A little bit of stress can be healthy. But chronic stress, as we’re seeing, can negatively affect our mental health and physical well-being.

Stress Management Coaches are highly trained individuals who specialise in assisting people manage their stress and regaining their work-life balance without being biased for the sake of productivity.

A Stress Management Coach helps people understand the nature of stress, identifies their triggers and stress responses, and puts an actionable plan in place to change people’s lifestyles and eventually their outlook on the things that stress them out.

Coach is someone who has a method and who train, counsel, or instruct an individual or a group of people to develop certain skills so that they can enhance their productivity or overcome a performance problem.

How does having a Stress Management Coach helps you to deal with stress

Working with a coach can help individuals develop emotional resilience and better cope with stressful events. Coaching provides a safe space to explore difficult feelings and symptoms, and helps individuals develop personalized strategies to manage these issues. If necessary, coaching can also provide a pathway to further specialist help, such as therapy.

A coach can provide a wealth of benefits when it comes to managing stress. Here are some methods in which a coach can help:

A Non-judgemental approach: A coach provides a safe and confidential space for individuals to discuss their stressors and feelings without fear of judgment, a person who is non-judgemental can help you better then someone who knows you.

Root cause identification: Coaches can help individuals identify the root causes of their stress and develop personalized solutions that target the source of the problem.

Personalized strategies: A coach can help individuals develop strategies that are tailored to their unique needs, strengths, and goals.

Effective stress management techniques: A coach can teach individuals effective stress management techniques such as mindfulness, time management, and goal setting.

Encouragement and motivation: A coach can provide encouragement and motivation as individuals work to reduce their stress levels, helping them stay on track and achieve their goals.

Accountable and professional: A coach holds individuals accountable and provides a professional, structured approach to stress management.

With good coaching skills, people build mental fitness that unlocks a host of benefits, It leads to teams that are more productive, more resilient, and less likely to leave voluntarily. 

Most effective coaching tools for Stress Management

The 10 Second Pause

Being still is a skill, and we don’t know how to even relax because people are hyperactive and forgot the importance of the silence and the non-movement of the body, In Order to release the stress, you need to take a pause. You must be present in the moment, and how would you do that? With the help of a coach because it can be taught. You as a coach are in a great position to help clients cultivate their mental wellbeing skills - an incredibly rewarding role!

The '10 second pause' is a technique that you can easily teach. It can be used anywhere multiple times a day to allow people to reset your minds and not become overwhelmed.

Here are the instructions:

Put both feet flat on the floor and sit up straight

Breathe in slowly and gently through the nose to the count of five, expanding your abdomen as you do so (place one hand on your belly button if this help, you should feel your tummy move and your hand move outwards)

Breathe out slowly, again to the count of five, taking notice of the stretch in your spine

Repeat a couple of times

Inform clients that if they do this at the beginning and end of each task, they'll find it helps them prepare for the next part of the day.

The best part is that people can do this without anyone even noticing. It can be done stuck in traffic or on a zoom call!

Mark Williams is the author of the popular book Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world. He has a Spotify playlist which features a Breathing Space Meditation which you can also signpost clients to.

2. Anchoring

Anchoring is another strategy you can introduce to clients. Instruct them to close their eyes and think of a time and place in their life when they felt very calm, relaxed and at peace.

Encourage them to recall this scenario in a minute detail as possible, thinking about every small thing which is happening – the sounds, the smells, and the other sensations.

While they're recalling this, ask them to create a small gesture that they can link to this event – for example, rubbing the back of one hand with the thumb of the other or tapping a couple of fingers together.

Ask clients to try to link the gesture with the recall of the event as strongly as they can. When they find themselves in a challenging situation, they can repeat the gesture and it should help them to recall the event, helping them feel calmer and more in control. Note that this is a helpful strategy but requires time and practice to be most effective.

3. Journaling

Journaling is underrated but most effective tool when it comes to stress. Writing about your feeling and reflecting those habits which are not good for you is the best practice, we often cannot express what we are feeling but we can write about it, knowing the fact that nobody going to read it. We sometimes don’t know what is happening inside our mind and we overthink a lot, venting out emotions on a piece of paper is the best way to figure out those inner conversation which are actually leading us to stress.

The Daily Mental Health Journal is an easy-to-use, practical tool you can pass onto clients to help them develop self-awareness and stress-resilience.

Let clients know that getting into the habit of writing a short summary of how they managed a situation every day can be very helpful. They'll soon build a repository of useful tools and techniques that can support them through challenging times.

4. Circle of Influence Tool

Another useful tool for helping clients reduce stress is the Circle of Influence. Many of the things that cause the most stress in our lives stem from scenarios that are outside of our control.

This simple coaching tool allows you to help clients identify things that are:

·      Directly within their control and over which they exert influence and can make their own choices about how to proceed.

·      Those things that are within their sphere of influence and which although not directly within their control, they have some influence over.

·      Those things that sit entirely outside their sphere of influence or control and therefore they need to develop a strategy for dealing with the outcome

This strategy involves three circles.

In the inner circle, instruct clients to write the things they directly control and influence, for example:

1.   What I choose to focus on

2.   My actions

In the middle circle, instruct them to write everything they have some influence over but which they don’t directly control, such as:

1.   My health

2.   My income

In the outer circle, tell them to write down everything that’s worrying them but over which they have no control or influence, for example:

1.   The news

2.   The economy

Benefits of Stress Management Coaching

§ They Organise your time.

§ Put your sleep routine in place.

§ Remind you to stop, take a break and relax.

§ Seek out some sort of physical activity as a hobby as per your interest.

§ Teach you relaxation techniques.

§ Implement healthy habits for you.

§ Make dietary changes.

§ Guide you to set boundaries.

Effective ways from coaching expert to helps you to deal with Stress

1. Mindfulness is the key: Focus on the present moment and let go of worries about the past or future.

2. Exercise: Physical activity can help reduce stress and improve mood.

3. Maintain Sleep Cycle : Lack of sleep can increase stress levels, so prioritize getting enough restful sleep.

4. Have a healthy diet : A balanced diet can help improve energy levels and manage stress.

5. Organise your goals: Avoid overloading yourself with too many tasks or responsibilities.

 6. No is also an answer : It’s important to prioritize your time and energy and avoid taking on more than you can handle.

7. Connect with others: Spending time with friends and family can help reduce stress and improve well-being.

8. Practice self-care: Set aside time each day for activities that bring you joy, such as reading, yoga, or taking a bath.

9. Take breaks: Taking regular breaks throughout the day can help reduce stress and improve focus.

10. Seek support: Don’t hesitate to reach out to a coach, therapist, or support group if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Coaching skills, such as active listening and helpful feedback, can equip individuals with the tools to manage their own stress and emotions, leading to a reduction of stress.

Coaching has been shown to be an effective and sustainable approach to managing stress in your day today’s life. It can improve stress management abilities, work-life balance, and reduce psychological stress, although stress affects everyone, but the important thing is to learn how to manage it so that our stress levels don’t become overwhelming. Coaching can give you the right methods and tools to beat those blues and have control over your life or situations in general.

#stressmanagement #wellbeing #mentalhealth #coachingskills

Written by: Tanuja Khan