Take control of stress during the credit crunch 

Students at a seminar/training session

St John Ambulance has launched a Stress awareness course to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day on 5 November 2008.

The course aims to identify, prevent and treat the symptoms and effects of stress – crucial skills to have in the current financial climate when stress is at a high.

Stress, depression or anxiety account for approximately 13.8 million reported lost working days per year in Britain with 530,000 individuals believing they are experiencing workplace stress at a level that is making them ill.*

Clive James, Training Manager at St John Ambulance, said: ‘Our new course will help you understand the causes of stress, in both the workplace and the home. In increasingly uncertain times, feelings of lack of control are often the root of stress, and anxiety can be a major factor in ill health and strains on personal and professional relationships. It’s vital people learn how to identify and manage stress.’

I suffered a great deal of stress when I used to work in the finance industry and had to be signed off work for nine months. Since then, I’ve taken St John Ambulance’s Stress awareness course, which has been hugely beneficial in learning how to cope with anxiety and its effects.

Chris Bates
Stress Awareness Course student

The three-hour Stress awareness course will teach students how to identify the early signs of stress and what measures to take to avoid it and includes valuable information for employers, employees and the general public. The course covers techniques for managing stress such as exercise, relaxation, breathing and visualisation.

Also covered on the course:

  • Defining stress
  • Causes of stress
  • Coping with stress
  • Immediate and long-term solutions
  • Risk assessment

Chris Bates, 34, from Leicester, said: ‘I suffered a great deal of stress when I used to work in the finance industry and had to be signed off work for nine months. Since then, I’ve taken St John Ambulance’s Stress awareness course, which has been hugely beneficial in learning how to cope with anxiety and its effects. What’s more, it recognises that people can suffer stress in a variety of settings, whether others consider certain environments to be stressful or not.’

St John Ambulance trains half a million people a year in first aid and health and safety and has branched into stress awareness to offer support to sufferers. For information about the Stress awareness course, priced from £65, or to book a place visit www.sja.org.uk or call 08700 10 49 50 to find a course near you.

*Figures from 2006/07, Health and Safety Executive (HSE)