In the varied field of counselling and psychotherapy, continuous professional development is essential for us as therapists to provide the best possible support to our clients. 

One valuable tool that plays an important part in my journey is ongoing learning via supervision sessions with a senior Hypnotherapist, qualified in supervision. This form of guided reflection and mentorship not only fosters personal and professional growth, but also ensures ethical and effective practices during sessions. It is something that Topaz Health Training is committed to long term to ensure we can best support you, however that may be. 

The Basics of Supervision:

Supervision involves a collaborative relationship between my supervisor and myself as a therapist. The goal is to enhance the quality of services I provide through a combination of education, support, and reflection. The structured process provides a safe space for me to discuss my cases anonymously and confidentially, explore challenging issues, and receive constructive feedback in order to improve.

Key Elements of Supervision:
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Reflective Practice: Supervision encourages me to engage in reflective practice. Through thoughtful exploration of my own reactions, thoughts, and feelings during client sessions, I can gain deeper insights into my work and identify areas for improvement and development.

Case Discussion: Discussing specific cases inconfidence with my supervisor allows me to benefit from their experience and expertise. This collaboration of examining my real life clients not only enhances problem-solving skills but also encourages me to gather a broader understanding of various therapeutic approaches.

Professional Development: Supervision is an ongoing process that supports me in staying up to date with the latest research, interventions, and ethical considerations. This commitment to professional development ensures that I continue to evolve and provide high quality, current and successful services to my clients.

Ethical Guidance: Supervision serves as a crucial forum for discussing ethical dilemmas and challenges that I may encounter in my day to day life. By providing a confidential space for open dialogue, my supervisor helps me to navigate any ethical issues while upholding the highest standards of professional conduct.

Benefits of Supervision Therapy:

Enhanced Competence: Regular supervision contributes to the development of my own knowledge, increasing my confidence in handling diverse situations.

Reduced Burnout: The emotional demands of my job can lead to burnout if not managed effectively. Supervision provides emotional support and helps me to develop self-care strategies, reducing the risk of burnout.

Cultivation of a Learning Culture: Supervision encourages a culture of continuous learning within the profession. By engaging in regular supervision I am more likely to embrace a growth mindset and a commitment to lifelong learning.

To summarise, supervision is a powerful tool for therapists such as myself who are committed to providing the best possible care to my clients. 
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In this collaborative journey of self-discovery and professional growth, supervision stands as a beacon, guiding Topaz Health Training towards fulfilling our mission “Making a difference; empowering, educating and changing lives” and we very much look forward to welcoming you to join us on your journey.

The Mental Health Foundation carried out a study that showed 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope. Stress is a necessary part of life (yes really) - appropriate amounts of stress help to motivate us to act.
 
What is Stress?
According to The Mental Health Foundation “Stress is our body’s response to pressure. Many different situations or life events can cause stress. It is often triggered when we experience something new or unexpected that threatens our sense of self or when we feel we have little control over a situation.”

Moderate amounts of stress actually help improve your memory and productivity by strengthening the connection between the neurons in your brain. The problems start when the amount of stress outweighs your ability to cope. Often referred to as your resilience and ability to cope with adversity. You know how some people seem to manage a lot of challenges at once and others find even minor stressors just too much? Well, every day we meet challenges that may or may not cause us stress and we will all respond differently based on our experience and levels of resilience.

The important thing is to find healthy ways to manage stress before it fills the metaphorical stress bucket in our minds. High levels of stress are linked to an increase in stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol which lead to poor sleep patterns and a lowered immune system. This is often why you might experience upset stomachs, increased anxiety symptoms, indigestion, fatigue and catch every cold bug around!

How to Manage Stress
Some proven ways of managing stress and improving your overall well being include:

• Taking time out in nature
• Deep breathing 
• Relaxation exercises
• Meditation
• Hypnotherapy

All these methods help to reduce the stress hormones - they can regulate brainwave activity, increasing the parasympathetic nervous system (sometimes referred to as your ‘rest and digest’ system) so you feel calmer, positive and able to cope better with whatever life has to offer.

Contact us to find out more about how Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help you manage your stress (and reduce your stress bucket!).

As far back as I can remember, I have been a people pleaser, but my first memory of true anxiety was when I started dance college. Completely stepping outside of my comfort zone, away from the path my school friends had taken and into a world where everybody else seemed so cool, calm and together.
 
The anxiety has come in waves since then, I had bad moments and good moments, but I always managed to push through it and never let it stop me doing the things I wanted in life. I refused to let it paralyse me into avoiding the things that made me truly happy. Then I had a baby.
 
I was so cool and calm during pregnancy. Throughout my twenties, I had developed coping strategies of yoga, reiki, meditation and carrying crystals to keep myself calm and centred (it was a bit of a running joke with friends that I was a secret hippy!), and I carried this on throughout my pregnancy. I enrolled in hypnobirthing sessions and sat back and waited to be the cool calm mummy I wanted to be.
 
Fast forward 4 years and I look back at my pregnancy wistfully, wishing I could be as calm now as I was then. Postnatal anxiety is not talked about as much as postnatal depression, but it is a thing and it hit me hard. Throughout the 4 years of my little boy's life, it has come and gone in waves. Sometimes I felt like I had a lid on it, but more frequently I felt constantly paralysed with fear that something bad was going to happen to him.
 
I met Suzi when she booked in for a Reflexology session with me, and during her session we began talking about her work. The mention of Hypnotherapy piqued my interest and in the back of my mind I knew it was something that I needed to try.
 
I started off with eight weekly sessions with Suzi. I had no idea what to expect, as all I had known of hypnosis in the past was the comedy acts you see on tv or in holiday resorts.
I wasn’t even sure that I “could” be hypnotised, but to be honest, by this point, I was willing to try anything to help myself feel better.
 
A session with Suzi always starts with listing the positive things that have happened that week. In the past, I have always prided myself as being a positive person, but speaking to Suzi made me realise I had been slipping into quite a negative mindset, which is so easy to do without realising. Listing positives seems like such a simple thing to do, but I found that doing this each week during my session really trained my mind to focus on all the good things that were happening around me. After this, we would talk about how my week had been in general and set goals/tasks that centred around little things that could improve my all round general well-being.
 
After this we go ahead with the relaxation. I have done a lot of guided meditations in the past and in the beginning, this is what hypnotherapy mostly felt like. I sat back, tried to clear my mind, and let Suzi’s words sink in and relax me. Afterwards, I felt calm and very sleepy - I almost never want to wake up and leave the room once the session is finished!
 
After a few weeks of these sessions, I realised I was feeling calmer and less stressed. I started to realise that, although the sessions felt similar to my guided meditations, the repetition and the wording of the relaxations were most definitely having an effect on the workings of my mind, and each time I went, I was sinking into an even deeper “trance”. Towards the end of my eight weeks of sessions, there was definitely a breakthrough moment, where I could really start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It took a lot of baby steps to get there, but those weeks of baby steps made a huge change to the workings of my mind and my ability to deal with stressful situations.
 
I now see Suzi roughly every two weeks, and she keeps me on the straight and narrow!
 
Would I say my anxiety has gone? No, in a way a small part of it is who I am. But I am in a much better place than I was at the end of last year. If I feel those thoughts and worries spiralling out of control again, I know that a session with Suzi will leave me feeling calmer and back on track.

Guest blog written by Chloe from Reflexology by Chloe.

If you would like to contact Chloe, you can reach her here: [email protected]

Beat those “Frosty February Feelings”  - 5 Top Tips for Better Mental Health and Wellbeing:

Life has been different for many of us over the last year and the recent New Year lockdown may have left you feeling fed-up, unmotivated, unhappy, or worried. I know staying optimistic and hopeful has been a challenge for many of us. Here are some of my top tips for lifting your mood this February.

1. Make a Happy List
Write down all the things that make you happy. These could be a hot bubble bath, reading a book, colouring, talking to a friend, etc. Whatever makes you happy and do at least one thing on your list daily. Be kind to you, for if we take care of ourselves then we are better able to care for others.

2. Breath Deeply
When you feel things are getting a bit stressful take a moment to pause and breath deeply. Belly breathing where you take a deep breath in and let your belly expand and then breath out slowly helps to increase your parasympathetic nervous system which in turn helps to calm the mind and body.

3. Move More
It is ok if you are not a fan of formal exercise, all you need to do to improve your health and feel-good is to move more and sit less. Choose something that is easy for you, maybe a walk, chair exercise or spring clean the house. Start with 10 mins once a day and increase as you feel able. For some safe and easy workouts visit the 10-minute workouts - NHS (www.nhs.uk).

4. Think Differently
Thoughts are just thoughts and yet over thinking and worrying can cause feelings of sadness and behaviours such as anxiety. We are unable to stop thoughts popping up whenever they feel like it! However, we can choose just to note the thought and let it go. What we worry about hardly ever happens and other things we have not even considered do. Focus on the now and be present in the activity you are doing to help reduce overthinking.

5. Caring and Connecting
Helping and supporting others can help us to feel more positive. Reaching out, connecting, and talking to friends, family or professionals to share thoughts, gain insights and find help. By sharing we also realise that other people are experiencing similar problems and feelings and we are not alone.

Wishing you a happier, healthier February,

Source: SPARK Magazine P28, February 2021 edition.

We often take our health and wellbeing for granted without stopping to think of how life could feel if we were to become ill. While we may exercise more and eat better to benefit our physical health it is often our mental health that is neglected.
 
With 1 in 4 people being affected by mental ill health at some point in their lives, it is more important than ever that we treat mental and physical health equally, providing education, training and support in the workplace.
 
Would it surprise you to know that that the most common cause of long term absence from work is Mental ill heath at a whopping 56% in 2018. *With the top cause of stress-related absence being workloads and/or volume of work.
 
While technology has helped make working quicker, easier and more efficient it also seems it is having a long term effect on stress and mental ill health in our lives.
 
In 2017, The Government recognised that there is a growing crisis and commissioned Lord Stevenson and Paul Farmer (Chief Executive of Mind) to independently review the role employers can play to better support mental health conditions in the workplace. The “Thriving at Work” report sets out a framework called “Core Standards” that should be put into place. These standards are to help employers improve the mental health of their organisation and enable individuals with mental health conditions to feel supported.
 
Organisations are being encouraged to establish new health and wellbeing policy to address the workplace standards for their people, with one of these initiatives being the introduction of regulated First Aid for Mental Health courses. The benefits of investing in health and wellbeing have shown better employee morale and engagement (44%), a healthy more inclusive culture (35%) and lower sick absences (31%).1
 
These courses aim to raise awareness, knowledge and qualifications for individuals in the workplace. Qualifications include OFQUAL regulated Level 2 qualifications in First Aid for Mental Health, similar to the First Aider’s role within the workplace.
 
Health and Wellbeing is a topic we are very passionate about here at Topaz Health Training and have undertaken instructor training qualifications to offer the following courses from Mar 2019:
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• Level 1 Award in Awareness of First Aid for Mental Health (RQF)
• Level 2 Award in First Aid for Mental Health (RQF)
• Level 3 Award in Supervising First Aid for Mental Health (RQF)

 
To find out more about upcoming courses and how you can help improve mental health in your organisation contact us today.
 
Source *:  Health and Well-being at Work Survey 2018.  www.cipd.co.uk/healthandwellbeing2018