Ways to Combat Stress – written by Roshina Khan
With Lawyer Monthly focusing on the importance of mental health in the workplace, we decided to hear from Roshina Khan, Founder of Avid Coaching, on ways in which lawyers can combat stress. Many of you working in the field of Law have at one point or another encountered either being stressed yourself or know of a colleague who has taken time off work due to stress. So, you don’t need to be reminded of how much stress is prevalent in your profession today.
Just in case you are one of the few who has managed to escape the stress trap here are a few facts:
· 50% of the profession felt stressed
· 19% suffered from clinical depression
· 1/5 suffering from avoidable and preventable mental ill health
· 95% out of 2,226 solicitors reported stress to be severe or extreme
· 39% said no support was offered by employers
· 35% were not aware of support available
· 36% of stress related calls to LawCare from junior solicitors
What Causes Stress?
Stress is a natural physical state when our body thinks that we are in danger which ignites the flight or fight response to situations. Stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline are released and the function of our body changes. Glucose and fats are released to give us increased energy. Our blood pressure rises, our muscles tense up and there is a change in our cognitive function as our emotional response is heightened leading to reduced decision making.
Are you thinking - I Work Best Under Stress?
Think again! The stress described above is not short time stress that gives you a short-term adrenaline rush to perform. We are talking about long-term stress that prevents you from thinking straight leading to irrational thinking, poor decision making and poor judgement.
A Junior Lawyers Division’s study “Resilience and wellbeing survey report’ (2017), states that 53% of respondents reported that they nearly made a mistake due to stress.
Roshina says: “This is not to be taken lightly as I wonder how many senior lawyers make errors due to stress that go unreported or increases the time they need to correct mistakes?”
Why is this Different to other Professions?
It has been pointed out that the legal profession is lagging behind other industries when
comes to alternative ways of working. Many people still have to work long hours spent in
an office environment on the phone or on a computer without the flexibility of home
working (Jackson, K., 2016).
It has also been highlighted that jobs, which are considered to be the most stressful such
as A&E, fire service and paramedics have the lowest reported levels of stress (Jackson, K.,
2016).
Why?
There is no stigma attached to being stressed. It is acknowledged and spoken about
openly.
What needs to Change?
Roshina lists below many changes which would help lawyers to tackle stress. She advises, “A starting point will be to start talking about stress. Alongside this, further points which would help, are:
employers to offer support; individuals to support each other, and introducing life coaching to support staff.”
Four Things That Lawyers Can Do?
· Get to know yourself both physically and mentally so that you can identify the first sign of stress
· Understand the difference between short-term and long-term stress for you
· Follow the Seven Simple Steps to Combat Stress
· Get yourself a Life Coach to help you identify and develop strategies for living a stress free life
Seven Simple Steps to Combat Stress
1 Sit in a comfortable position, set your timer for 5 minutes (make sure your buzzer sound is a gentle sound) and close your eyes.
2 Take a deep breath in hold it for a second and breathe out hold it for a second and repeat 3 Times.
3 Now start to breath normally keeping your eyes closed and as you breathe think of the most peaceful place you have been. Visualise that place, hear the sounds around you in the place, feel the air of that place.
4 Focus on how you feel in this place.
5 Just relax and enjoy this feeling until you hear the sound of your buzzer
6 On hearing the buzzer take a deep breath in hold it for a second and breathe out hold it for a second and repeat three times and slowly open your eyes.
Do make sure that you do this exercise at least once a day so that you get your mind and
body used to this state. Remember this exercise can be done anytime of the
day and as many times as you want.
If you have time why don’t you gradually begin to increase the time spent on steps 4-7
and see if you can reach 20 minutes in this peaceful state.
About Roshina and Avid Coaching
Roshina Khan founded Avid Coaching after having a career spanning over 27 years in project management working with small and large organisations. Roshina realised that you can focus on processes make them lean and change operations but the key to success is people and their mindset.
Roshina found that ‘self-belief’ was a key factor that influenced individual performance. When you begin to doubt your own ability and capabilities, this leads to lower levels of performance.
In addition, Roshina realised that in situations where a person is highly stressed, facing change, multi-tasking, task saturation or in a job that does not fit values, behaviour changes. Behaviour changes include how you communicate, your ability to make rational decisions, performance, attitude and accuracy of work. This can have a knock-on effect on the opportunities you have to progress up the career ladder and sometimes cause you to miss opportunities or quit.
Roshina understood that changing your mindset could lead you to become a high achiever. However, realising that it is not easy to change your mindset on your own but with the right coach you can make this happen for you.
Roshina who has a degree in Psychology, Masters in Health Management decided to follow her passion and her journey from senior project management to an Executive Breakthrough Coach began. After many years of completing additional training and coaching clients Roshina founded Avid Coaching.
Roshina is using her extensive project management experience by bringing processes from project management into her Executive Breakthrough Coaching programmes.
roshina@avidcoaching.co.uk
020 7183 2284
www.avidcoaching.co.uk
