{"id":821,"date":"2023-02-22T11:44:07","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T11:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/?page_id=821"},"modified":"2023-02-22T11:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T11:44:07","slug":"stress-awareness-month-april-2023","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/mental-health-and-wellbeing\/links-to-national-campaigns-and-events\/stress-awareness-month-april-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress Awareness Month  &#8211; April 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stress and poor mental health are one of the biggest public health challenges that we\u2019re facing. Sadly, even though that is the case, we are still not taking its impact seriously enough. We continue to separate mental health from physical health and vice versa. The reality is they cannot be separate \u2013 they are two sides of the same coin. There is no health without mental health and stress can lead to numerous health problems. From physical problems, like heart disease, insomnia, digestive issues, immune system challenges, etc to more serious mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stress Awareness Month<\/strong> has been held every April since 1992 to raise awareness of the causes and cures for our modern-day stress epidemic. It is the time when we have an opportunity for an open conversation on the impact of stress. Dedicated time to removing the guilt, shame, and stigma around mental health. To talk about stress, and its effects and open up about our mental and emotional state with friends, families, colleagues, and professionals.<\/p>\n<h4>Take Action<\/h4>\n<p>For many years, our focus has been on opening a dialogue and creating a safe space for people to have that conversation. To talk about the impact stress creates in their professional and personal lives. We have always chosen themes for stress awareness month that are relevant, and reflective of societal challenges. For this year, we had to think very carefully about how we take this a step further.<\/p>\n<p>Through our campaign #choosehope we have learned that having hope is imperative to find a way through and beyond our challenges, however, hope isn\u2019t just a feeling, it inspires us to take action. Towards a conscious decision to perceive things differently and create a plan to achieve the desired goal. This has inspired this year\u2019s stress awareness month theme, an invitation to go beyond talk and campaign for taking action and personal responsibility in creating a positive change. We aim to create an opportunity for all of us to consider how we are going to do something to make things better.<\/p>\n<p>The Stress Management Society\u2019s role is to empower and inspire people into action. If we look up the word \u201cpower\u201d in the dictionary, power quite literally means the ability to do or act. We aim to do this through all the resources and information we will be sharing throughout April. Our commitment is to support individuals and organisations in taking action. Feel free to download our free resources and get in touch to find out more about how you can take action and create a meaningful change.<\/p>\n<p>As we progress through April, we\u2019ll be looking deeper into what actions one can take to create a change in their personal and professional life. Make sure you sign up to our newsletter!<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"the-30-day-challenge\"><strong>The 30 Day Challenge<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t yet join our 30 Day Challenge for April. We are encouraging you to pick one action each for your Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing to carry out every day.<\/p>\n<p>It takes 30 days to turn actions into habits, which is why this is a month-long programme.\u00a0 The 30-day challenge will maximise your chances of turning useful knowledge and techniques into positive behavioural change.<\/p>\n<p>Click below to gain the access to our free resources specifically created for the month of April. You can download the 30 Day Challenge, a Daily De-Stressing Planner, a Stress Guide, 7 Steps Achievement Plan, useful infographics on stress and much more!<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\" \/>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org.uk\/30daychallenge\">Click here to gain access to our free resources for April 2023<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3 id=\"what-else-could-you-do-for-stress-awareness-month\">What else could you do for Stress Awareness Month?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Talk about Stress and it\u2019s effects \u2013 lets work together to reduce the stigma that is associated with stress by talking about the topic openly and freely with friends, family and colleagues.<\/li>\n<li>Share your coping mechanisms \u2013 if something has worked for you why not share it. It might benefit someone you care about and in the meantime, it might help you take your focus off your own challenges.<\/li>\n<li>Be nice to those who are stressed and anxious \u2013 we are all undoubtedly going to experience stress and anxiety in our lifetime so treat others going through it with compassion and empathy.<\/li>\n<li>Look after yourself \u2013 we all need to think more about self\u2013care. Take time out of your day to relax or do something that you enjoy. Don\u2019t forget to exercise and eat well, even when you feel too stressed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The most crucial thing you can do when you are stressed or anxious is to make sure you are continuing to look after yourself. Make time to relax when you need to and learn to say no to requests that are too much for you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stress and poor mental health are one of the biggest public health challenges that we\u2019re facing. Sadly, even though that is the case, we are still not taking its impact seriously enough. We continue to separate mental health from physical health and vice versa. The reality is they cannot be separate \u2013 they are two &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/mental-health-and-wellbeing\/links-to-national-campaigns-and-events\/stress-awareness-month-april-2023\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Stress Awareness Month  &#8211; April 2023<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12907,"featured_media":0,"parent":27,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-821","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12907"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/821\/revisions\/822"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/schoolcounselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}