MODULE TWO: COUNSELLING - FHI 360 Center for Global Health ...

•Talk to others
Share your feelings of stress with someone you can trust. Talking about stress
can make you feel better, and it may help you to look at your situation
differently.
•Write in a journal
Writing your feelings down on paper is an excellent way to release stress. This
can also help you to develop a plan for improving your situation.
•Breathing
Breathing deeply and slowly helps your body to relax. Expand your abdomen
while inhaling, count to four, and then exhale.
Long-term solutions
These suggestions are helpful for dealing with stress in the short term. To deal
with stress in the long term, you must choose one of the following three options:
•Change the situation
•Change how you react to the situation; or
•Change how you look at the situation.
Relaxation Exercise
This exercise will help participants to relax their muscles and release immediate
stress. Before conducting the exercise, make sure that the room is quiet and
that there are no distractions.
The following exercise is an example of "Progressive Relaxation." Progressive
relaxation involves first tensing your muscles and then letting the tension go.
You might wonder why we first tense the muscles. Imagine a pendulum. In order
for you to get the pendulum to swing furthest to one side, you have to pull it far
along the other. Similarly, to relax your muscles, it can help to tense them first.
As well, you become more aware of what each muscle feels like, where it is
located in your body and what to look for in the future when you are trying to
determine whether muscles are relaxed or tense.
1. Find a comfortable position in a chair with good back support. You may also
do this lying down.
2. Loosen any restrictive clothing or jewellery that you are wearing.
3. Close your eyes. Begin to focus on the feelings inside your body - mentally
scan your entire body, from head to toe, and note any signs of tension that there
may be.
Session 10 – Pg. 4