Stress and Burnout Coaching
Below I have set out various phases we generally go through within stress- and burnout coaching. I realize it is a lot of text. If you would rather just talk through it just give me a call (06-50 28 88 66).
1) Recovery & Acceptance:
Maybe an odd analgy but a car engine always springs to mind when a body and mind has been dealing with stress for a prolonged period of time. Your engine has been working overtime for a (longer) period of time. You may suffer from physical complaints, feel tired or more.
It is important that your engine can cool down to start with.
Acceptance is about admitting to yourself that "it" has gone on for a while and not sustainable for the future. That is your reality and you should and may pause, breath, take stock and refocus.
We will work on for example:
✔ What is it you need right now
✔ What increases your feelings of stress
✔ Identifing what decreases your feelings of stress
✔ Gaining insight on how stress arises and is perpetuated.
✔ What will help to increasingly relax
Does this mean that you should always have to temporarily stop working completely or partially? That is certainly not always necessary. Every situation is different. It depends on how long you have had stress complaints and what they are, the type of work you do, what else is on your plate, how supportive your (work) environment is, how you are doing physically and emotionally, etc.
We will investigate this together and make an appropriate plan forward.
Please do note that, in my opinion, it is always necessary to consult with your GP when you are experiencing prolonged stress. Obtaining medical advice and ruling out the possibility that there might be other or additional causes is taking good care of yourself. This is the time to gather the right expertise around you and the support you need. In many cases, this is might also include a company doctor.
2) Explore and Discover:
In this phase we are going to explore and discover. It is about investigating the causes of your stress complaints and discovering suitable solutions/new behavior for you. To give you an idea of what we could be talking about:
- There may have been a drop that made your bucket overflow, but what were all those earlier drops that filled the bucket up to the rim? How can that bucket be structurally emptied sufficiently, according to which beliefs do you live and which rules do you apply? Are these still functional beliefs and rules, are they still helping you or are they limiting you now? How much influence do your thoughts have on how you feel and behave? How can you give thoughts a different value?
3) Activation & Balance:
This phase is all about putting into practice your new strategies, approaches and behaviors. What works effectively for you? How do you ensure you maintain a healthy balance in your everyday life.
A great time to discover with a smile that you almost stepped back into that old pitfall or just have indeed happily stepped into it with both feet. How can you become more vigilant next time.
4) Relapse Prevention:
During this phase we pay attention to how you will enusre sustainable recovery. What do you need for that, who do you need for that and how do you stay honest with yourself about what you need and when.
During an introductory chat we established mutual expectations and, over the course of multiple coaching sessions, talking with Katelyne enabled me to reflect on the frustrations I run into regularly.
By working on these things together, we identified where I could improve my approach to certain situations and I developed constructive approaches to apply in daily life. Overall, the coaching sessions have made me feel more comfortable and capable in dealing with those difficult moments. Thank you for the great support!"
