Recently when coaching young people in school I increasingly find them suffering with panic and anxiety. I am faced with this issue on a regular basis and I have some steps I find useful in coaching students through it:
- Explaining about panic and anxiety and how it works so that young people understand anxiety as a normal emotion that most people experience in their lives. It is all about what you do that makes the difference and why some can manage it and others struggle.
- Identifying triggers and symptoms is crucial. The more you know about what causes the anxiety and how it affects your body, the sooner you can take action to deal with it.
- Coping strategies. Discussing and listing all the various methods means you can go away and practice to find out which ones specifically work more effectively for you and get the best results. Doing it once or twice is not enough – practice, practice, practice!
- Planning and preparation is key if young people want to keep stress to a bare minimum and at a manageable level. Allowing plenty of time when doing something new and not being on the last minute, doing research to avoid the unexpected and keeping a record to analyse and monitor progress regarding educational needs will help to keep stress levels down.
- Having fun and making time for doing things that you enjoy. This in itself reduces stress and ultimately leads to happiness which is beneficial for all. Planning activities around things you enjoy for school holidays, weekends and free time gives focus, avoids boredom and increases motivation.
By coaching my students through anxiety I enable them to create their own action plan rather than me just telling them what to do. The way forward needs to comes from the individual themselves if they are to succeed and obtain their desired results.
If you know somebody that is suffering with anxiety and depression and would benefit from working with me then please contact me.
