Stress, Anxiety and Depression
Stress is often a reaction to something real and present. Anxiety is more about what might happen. It’s your mind anticipating future stress, even if nothing’s currently wrong.
In coaching, with stress, we focus on managing external pressures and building coping strategies.
With anxiety, we go deeper into thought patterns, emotional responses, and behavioural loops that fuel worry, helping clients build emotional regulation and a sense of inner safety.
The gradual build-up of anxiety and stress can lead to depression, which is often a slow, layered process, like water dripping into a cup until it overflows. It typically doesn’t happen overnight, and many people don’t realise what’s happening until they feel overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or numb.
Many of us see anxiety as a problem, something broken within us. It can feel isolating, overwhelming, and even shameful. But the truth is, low level anxiety is a completely natural part of being human.
It’s important to distinguish between low-level anxiety, which we all experience, which can be useful in helping us stay alert, focused, and motivated, and high-level anxiety, which can be more intense, persistent, and may require support from a healthcare professional such as a GP or psychologist.
In coaching, we don’t diagnose or treat clinical anxiety, but we do explore how to work with the anxiety you’re feeling, particularly the everyday, low-to-moderate levels that can be turned into powerful tools for resilience, growth, and emotional strength.
When we interpret even low levels of anxiety as something “wrong,” we can inadvertently trigger a stress response in the body. This elevates cortisol and adrenaline levels, increasing the physical and emotional sensations of anxiety which makes us feel worse.
Through life coaching, we’ll gently explore what’s really behind the anxiety. What are the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours linked to it? What are the patterns that keep showing up? Together, we’ll uncover the root cause.
Then we talk openly, getting to the core of the emotion. In a safe, supportive, non-judgmental space, where you feel validated, we’ll share, connect, and create belonging and understanding. Simply talking about anxiety can often provide fresh perspectives and reduce its intensity and help you feel less isolated and more in control.
When you’re ready, we’ll begin to work with the anxiety, instead of against it. For example, if you suffer with low self-body image, going to the gym might spark anxiety, and then avoidance so we might take small steps toward that goal until you feel confident and empowered. Facing the anxiety and doing what makes us feel anxious, providing it is safe, builds emotional and physical agility. Each action builds your emotional resilience and inner confidence.
Eventually, you’ll learn to recognise, ride, and even release the anxiety. Why? Because while we can’t control everything in life, we can control how we think about anxiety and respond to it.
Anxiety therefore, is multi-layered. It involves our thoughts, our emotions, our physical sensations, and our behaviours. In coaching, we explore all of these, helping you build a new relationship with anxiety, one where it becomes less of a barrier and more of a bridge to your best self, where we can turn fear into fuel.
No two people are the same, so all my treatment programmes are bespoke, designed to meet the requirements and goals of each individual. I usually integrate all three disciplines, which I believe makes me a more effective coach enabling me to greatly enhance your therapeutic programme and accelerate your results.
I want to make appointments as easy as possible for you so offer sessions in person in clinic or online over Zoom.
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