Environmental and physical threats to our person arrive in various guises – like flood or famine; war or exposure to violence; health problems and of course diseases like coronavirus, along with the social upheaval each entails.

We’ve all been aware of slightly bigger supermarket trolley loads in the last fortnight, predominantly swelled by toilet paper.

Personally, I grew up in an era when the mantra “Be Prepared” spoke of self-reliance and taking responsibility for yourself and your family rather than depending on other people or the government to look after you in a crisis. Margaret Thatcher was a famous advocate for gradual and restrained stockpiling when possible (having grown up during rationing). That is a sensible approach and prevents crazed panic buying and trolley rage from unprepared people.

“Out of Stock”

Taking responsibility for our “physical” wellbeing is second nature to most of us; we feed our families and ourselves as a daily priority and we budget for it, and as recent news proves, many of us anticipate interruption in the supply chain and make provision for it.

However, when it comes to dealing with our own psychological wellbeing, or spotting the signs of mental distress and someone barely coping—a friend or colleague perhaps—most of us have seriously bare shelves with “out of stock” signs everywhere.

Failure to adapt mentally

The mental health issues of relationship breakdown, a bitter divorce, unemployment and redundancy; problems in the family or at work, can lead to massive levels of internalised stress, anxiety and depression that can be as devastating to health as a lengthy famine or pandemic.

Traumatic change and events – an opportunity to learn and grow

We’re good at feeding our bellies, but most of us are shockingly inept at feeding our inner psyche with the right metaphorical nutrition and sustenance when a mental health or emotional crisis slam dunks us.

Of course it’s unhealthy to never experience any form of adversity; you won’t learn life lessons or know how resilient you are. It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges: Do you succumb or do you transcend?

Resilience enables success despite challenges

Some people are naturally more resilient to sudden change and stress just through their DNA. This manifests in being more optimistic and being able to roll with life’s punches without losing positivity. Everyone has a breaking point however, and sometimes a person’s mental reserves are completely overwhelmed during a prolonged period of chronic adversity. They may turn to drink, drugs or other dangerous addictions to cope.

Focusing on ‘change’ as a threat or viewing a traumatic event as a lasting problem makes you inflexible, and likely to be negatively affected.

Thankfully, “resilience” is a set of skills that can be taught, improving an individual’s ability to cope with unwelcome change whenever it arises, and to handle the stress it delivers.

By framing adversity as a challenge, you become more flexible and able to deal with it, move on, learn from it, and grow.

Essential mental stockpiling assets

As business coach and corporate trainer for Carol Barwick Learning and Development I  provide Hypno-coaching and a range of resilience-building training courses that allow people to access their subconscious mind and find the root cause of negative thinking patterns, stress and anxiety including what is holding them back from achieving their goals.

An inner stockpile to access when “positivity hunger” strikes

I believe that your approach to circumstances drives your achievements, therefore I have designed a toolkit of psychological techniques—a fully stocked larder of interventions you can take away with you when you hunger for self-assurance and encouragement, or when negativity strikes:

• Effective breathing exercises to reduce stress and avoid panic attacks
• Faster EFT “tapping” therapies – an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress restoring energy balance via the body’s meridian points
• Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT) brings individuals more into the present moment and enables them to stay out of past negative experiences
• Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) explores the connection and interaction between a person’s neurological processes, language and behaviour patterns and habits (‘programming’) learned through life experience, and makes positive changes
• Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills help with emotional awareness, and the ability to identify, name and harness one’s own emotions, apply them to thinking and problem solving; managing and regulating one’s own emotions and helping others to do the same.

These proven methods not only help individuals transform their reaction to adversity, but when communicated on a corporate level enable leaders and managers to cultivate team-wide responses to stress when business challenges arise (particularly during times of corporate restructuring and change-management initiatives).

Bespoke for individuals and tailor made programmes for your business

I am passionate about the value my wide range of hypno-coaching assets brings to both private individuals and corporate teams, building resilience to stress, transforming difficult relationships, and promoting good health and wellbeing in the workplace and at home. See my full range of bespoke coaching and training packages here.

I have excellent testimonials from both public and private sector clients including those from Manufacturing, Housing, Retail, NHS, Fire & Rescue Service, Probation Service, government agencies and charities on a national basis.

For more information contact me.