Stress Awareness Month

This Stress Awareness Month we caught up with one of our Mental Health First Aiders, Fiona Cameron-Hinchliff, to understand why its so important to recognise the signs of stress and she also shared some of her best tips on how you can deal with stress...

My role is … HR Assistant – Supporting MBV, MBIS & MBFS

My day consists of … Managing all the administration processes relating to the life cycle of our colleagues, this can range from generating the contracts and adding them to the payroll, to any changes at all during their employment up until when they leave the company.

Why did you become a Mental Health First Aider? ?

I chose to become a mental health first aider so that I could be a listening ear when people are struggling. Having someone to reach out to can make such a big difference to help people with their Mental Health. I think it is vital to have that kind of support and signposting available in the workplace as the more accessible we can make it, hopefully the more people will reach out and get help before their circumstances get too serious. I lost a brother to suicide and I believe the more we can talk about mental health and normalise challenges we face, the less people we will lose.

Why is it so important to continue to raise awareness of stress?

Because stress is inevitable, it’s one of those things that we need a certain level of in our lives, and can help us achieve great things but it is when we have too much for too long that it can cause so many major issues not just to our mental health but also to our physical health.

Reflecting on your own experiences, what do you find to be the most effective ways of dealing with stress?

For me I had to learn how to cope with my own stress the hard way as I let things get to crisis point – which I would not recommend. I am now quick to look for the warning signs of me being stressed (this will be different for other people) If I am starting to get easily distracted or fidgety, irritable or easily upset over trivial things this is my early warning system. At that point I make sure I go and do some self care – a nice long bath, reading a book, some mindfulness, talk to a good friend and an early night. I find my sleep can suffer quite badly with stress and this has so many other knock on effects. I also then try to look at what is actually causing the stress, if its work related I will stop and look at all the tasks I need to do, breaking them down to make them more manageable and once I have a clear plan things don’t seem that bad. There sadly is no magic formula for dealing with stress, some people find getting out for a walk, or doing exercise is useful. There is so much support out there too – we have Peppy, which has many resources about stress, and there is our Employee Assistance Programme, which can help you with more talking therapy options.

What would you say to anyone that is feeling stressed or overwhelmed right now?

Take action now to change this. Reach out and speak to someone – You will not be judged. The situation you are in can be changed but sometimes we just need a bit of support to do that. Be kind to yourself.?