Address Your Stress

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England are a social enterprise that offer expert guidance and training to support mental health, in the workplace and beyond. Their vision is to improve the mental health of the nation.

Stress is everywhere and it’s directly linked to our mental health.

Stress is the body’s natural response when it senses danger. We all experience it. But too much stress, left unchecked for too long, can interfere with our lives and make us ill. In Britain, 1 in 6 adults will experience depression, anxiety or problems relating to stress at any one time. Understanding what causes us to feel stressed, and taking action to manage our stress levels, is therefore a key part of looking after our mental health and wellbeing.

We want you to imagine that every person in the world is carrying within them, » their own stress container, just like the one on the next page.

We all experience stress differently, so each person’s stress container will be a slightly different size, and this reflects how vulnerable they are to stress. Someone who is vulnerable to stress will have a smaller stress container, that will overflow more quickly compared to someone else who is less vulnerable to stress and therefore has a larger stress container. Factors like your genes, your unique life experiences and your environment all impact how vulnerable you are to stress, and so how large or small your stress container is.

How big do you think you’re stress container would be? n Big (not vulnerable to stress) n Small (vulnerable to stress)

There are many different things that can cause or be a source of stress, from big life changes, to factors in our everyday lives. Potential sources of stress include; money problems, work or unemployment, housing problems, difficult relationships or social isolation, illness or health issues, accidents or bereavement, legal issues like arrest or imprisonment, and trauma. And positive events, like starting a new job, getting married or having a baby can also cause stress.

What sources of stress are you experiencing at the moment? As you experience different sources of stress, stress will flow into your stress container. The more stress you’re under, the faster your container will fill up. When your stress levels build up, the container overflows and issues develop. This looks different for everyone, but some common signs that someone’s stress container might be overflowing include; feeling irritable or tearful, finding it difficult to concentrate, consuming more caffeine, alcohol, substances or cigarettes, experiencing tiredness, headaches or stomach upsets.

What does it look like when your stress container overflows?

Helpful coping methods can act as a tap to let stress out of our stress container, and stop it from overflowing. Some helpful coping methods include; being active and getting exercise, taking time to practice hobbies, learning a new skill, talking to a friend, family member or Listener, or sharing your feelings and asking for help.

What are some of your helpful coping methods?

Your Stress container

Hobbies

Being Active

Talking to a friend Excessive drinking

Over working

Bottling up feelings

Stress container

Stress container

On the other hand, unhelpful coping methods can block these taps, and prevent stress from flowing out of the container. If we use these unhelpful coping methods too often, then our container will fill up and be at risk of overflowing. Some unhelpful coping mechanisms include; drinking too much alcohol, using substances, overworking, spending too much time in front of a screen, or bottling up your feelings. Do you have any unhelpful coping methods you’d like to work on? ………………………………………… ………………………………………… …………………………………………… We hope that thinking about the stress container has helped you to reflect on your own stress levels, and given you some ideas on how to better manage them!