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Grief & Loss Therapy
Counselling for grief & loss concerns in South Surrey and BC
Support for living with a loss and finding meaning
STRESS LESS
EASE YOUR MIND
"You're not broken. But you're trying to sprint a marathon with a nervous system that's whispering, 'Please - not one more step."
- Felicia Etienne-
While stress can come and go with demands, chronic stress seems to be baked into the cultural context we live in today. Everywhere we turn there are messages to optimize, be productive, reach success, and do more - with less (i.e. fewer resources, community, and support). This combination of chronic stress and fewer resources becomes optimal grounds for burnout.
Commonly associated with work settings, similar messages have moved on to infiltrate the world of parenting and caregiving. Whether at your outside job or in your home, this bind may be leaving you feeling as though you are not "doing enough' - or worse, that YOU are not "enough"
Your life is more than a to-do list. Instead of simply going through the motions, let's help you put LIVING in motion.
Does this sounds like you?
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Why am I so tired all the time?
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I just want to get through the day
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I don't feel close to my kids or enjoy being a parent
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I don't like the person/parent I've become
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I don't even care if I do a good job on this one
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I'm just going through the motions at this point
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I'm trying to help him/her. Why are they so difficult?
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No I dont feel like going, I can't leave him/her alone
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How am I supposed to do all of this?
IS IT
STRESS OR BURNOUT?
The words stress and burnout can get tossed around a lot. It can be helpful to know a bit more about how they are the same, how they are different, and where your experience sits. This knowledge can help direct your therapy to be as effective as possible for you.
Some commons signs include:
Stress:
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physical symptoms: sleep difficulty, stomach and other pain, tension and headaches, restlessness, changes in appetite and digestion
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mental symptoms: racing thoughts, difficulty with concentration and memory
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feeling anxious, depressed, irritable, overwhelmed
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tends to alleviate when external stressor removed or resolved
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behavioural fight or flight responses
Burnout:
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physical symptoms: low energy, fatigued even after sleep, immune difficulties, chronic health issues
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mental/cognitive - low motivation and lack of interest, compromised concentration, mental/emotional exhaustion, lack of a sense of accomplishment
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feeling cynical, depleted, drained emotionally, apathetic, lack of pleasant emotions, mood swings, hopelessness
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behavioural responses such as isolation, withdrawal, lack of self-care activities, decreased performance
"Burnout diet: coffee for breakfast, anxiety for lunch, and a bottle of wine for dinner."
- Unknown -
How Therapy Can Help
Here are just a few of the ways therapy might help you beat burnout and reduce stress.
01
Address exhaustion & restore enegy
Stress and burnout can wreak havoc on our mental, physical and emotional energy levels. Stress ramps everything up - our thinking, our emotions, our arousal levels - until it can't any longer. This is when collapse enters - brought on by chronic stress/burnout. In therapy, we work directly with the mind-body connections of your nervous system to settle, soothe and restore so you feel more like yourself.
03
Develop healthy thinking habits
We can get caught in thought patterns that are hard-wired in with the help of stress hormones and pure exhaustion. These thought patterns can place us into a cycle of hopelessness and inaction that furthers our despair. Therapy can help you identify unhelpful and helpful thinking, learn to be more present in the moment, and be kind to your mind. You can test drive new ways of being and thinking, in the therapy room and your life.
05
Develop a support network
Burnout's best friends are a lack of help, not enough support, and few resources. An important part of therapy is taking a look at the larger system within which you live and ensuring you have a beautiful, robust support system around you to lean into as needed. The second part of that learning is how and when to learn into it!
02
Implement lifestyle changes
Restoring and replenishing are made possible within a lifestyle and system that supports this to happen. Addressing different areas of your well-being in a holistic manner is necessary to build a functioning system. Therapy can support you to improve lifestyle habits (sleep, nutrition, exercise, routine, play, etc) that will be the foundations to staying well.
04
Promote healthy boundaries
Two of the most important words in life are "no" and "yes." Where, when, to whom and how we use these words can make a huge difference in our lives. In therapy, you're invited to explore what you are saying "yes" to when you really mean "no", and vice versa. Establishing clear boundaries between different arenas of our life, with others, and with our time, is an ongoing effort when finding the "right" balance for our needs.
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Sustainable stress management
Therapy can help you actively put into place various relaxation and stress management strategies that you can continue to use throughout your lifespan to keep you well. Identifying your values and that which means most to you, is an integral part of:
1) stress management therapy
2) bringing out your best, and
3) living a life you love (even when you DON"T like parts of it).
