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Welcome to Manifestation, Motivation and Passion. If you're looking to transform your life,

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this is the podcast for you. It's all about improving yourself on the inside to see transformation

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on the outside. I look at how to find and improve motivation and manifesting lasting changes.

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Thank you so much for joining me today.

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Welcome. I'm Quinn B. Thank you for joining me this Anzac Day as we pay tribute to those

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who served this country. We welcome this week's guest, Yvette Strawbridge from Como Solutions

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Focused Counselling Services. As part of our Women Empowering Women chat, Yvette will be

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discussing mental health and how we can take a proactive approach.

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From the top we had Steve Miller with Fly Like an Eagle, Reason to Believe by Rod Stewart

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and Dream Weaver by Gary Wright. Starting on the 29th of April until the 2nd of May,

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with all things going well and no lockdowns, we'll have the Perth Garden Festival at Langley

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Park. Jump onto their website at perthgardenfestival.com to purchase tickets. The timer is 5.45pm.

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Tomorrow's weather is 26 with light winds and lows tonight of 13.

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Next up is Jo Cocker. Next up we have Yvette Strawbridge from Solution Focused Counselling

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who has a Masters in Social Science, Health and Counselling and many other string of credits

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to her name and takes a mind, body, soul approach utilising different tools from art therapy

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to psychodrama. So if you would like to know more about taking control of your mental health,

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stay tuned. Are you there Yvette? Yes I am. Can you hear me Quinn? Because I

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couldn't actually hear the introduction very well.

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I definitely do have you online. Oh yes, okay.

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Thank you again for joining us. You're here to talk about mental health and I guess with

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COVID being centre stage and job losses across the nation, I guess that would bring a lot

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of challenging issues and anxiety. What are some of the main issues you're seeing presently?

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Well, so I'm in private practice Quinn and from a professional personal perspective I

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actually have not seen a significant rise in sessions for my clients since COVID began.

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Well that's a positive. However, from my perspective this doesn't

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mean that there actually hasn't been an increase because as I understand with some of my colleagues

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and when I'm networking that in some areas there certainly has been an increase but I

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haven't noticed an increase with the clients that I've been seeing. So the presentation

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of clients has been for matters that I would traditionally and usually be working with

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clients on and not directly related to the impact and the effect of COVID. So often clients

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who present for example with anxiety rather in my well over the last 12 to 18 months those

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clients that have been presenting with anxiety actually have a history of an event or events

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which have actually been the cause of their presenting anxiety rather than COVID. So family

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of origin events are the main cause of anxiety for the clients that I see. So the clinical

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work that I engage in with clients revolves around connecting those events from their

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childhood with the client with what's actually happening for them now and teaching them some

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strategies to manage the symptoms when they arrive.

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It certainly sounds very complex. Are you finding that there are people in the older

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age bracket that are more likely to have mental health issues due to loneliness from the COVID

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lockdowns?

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Certainly. Well, once again I can most certainly attest to the fact that the people in the

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older age bracket most certainly do experience mental health issues due to loneliness. However,

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those clients once again that I've been seeing who've been experiencing loneliness it actually

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hasn't necessarily been as a result of lockdowns. It's been for other reasons rather than COVID.

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And I guess it's not only applicable to the seniors but to all age brackets. If you're

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for whatever reason have lost family it certainly can be a lonely time.

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Yes.

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And so we are taking a proactive approach today. So for those who might be experiencing

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loneliness and don't want to feel like they're a burden on family what would you suggest

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for them?

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Yes. So and I'm very aware that there are people who really don't want to burden their

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family or friends. So the most important thing for people who are feeling that way is that

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they attend a general practitioner and obtain a referral or actually self-refer themselves

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to a professional who focuses on mental health and wellbeing in their working professional

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role as a practitioner or a consultant. And then the consultant can assist them with exploring

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the underlying reasons and strategies for them to manage their loneliness.

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And I think you nailed something really important about symptoms. If people are experiencing

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anxiety or depression, stress perhaps, what could be some of the underlying symptoms that

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they may not be aware of?

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Sure. So I'll just go through some of them. So there can be just this general feeling

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of nervousness, restlessness or tenseness. They can also have a sense of impending danger

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or panic or doom which can certainly go with an increased heart rate. And these types of

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presentations can sort of come out of the blue and without any warning. And people can

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find themselves breathing rapidly and the term for that is hyperventilation. They can

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experience sweating and trembling. They can feel weak or tired and also can experience

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a lack of energy where they might have had a lot of energy and a lot of joy to be in

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their life and then they feel like they don't have any of that. They can have trouble concentrating

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or thinking about anything other than something that might be presenting for them right here

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and now. And also some people, it can be so overwhelming, they actually feel unable to

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leave their home.

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Yeah, that's a lot and sounds like it would be a real burden to go through. What are some

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proactive things that people can do for themselves before getting to that stage of going to see

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a counsellor?

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So, Quinn, there are some strategies. Some people call them grounding and nurturing strategies

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which I have a handout that I give to clients. I just read something recently where it was

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posted about how to find your calm in an emotional storm. And so there are things, for example,

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like we can say out loud to ourselves, I'm experiencing and we just name whatever it

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is. I'm feeling really frightened or I feel like something really terrible is going to

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happen so they can say it out loud. Another strategy which is something I also hand out

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to clients is to actually place their hand on their heart and say things like, I'm safe.

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This feeling is from the past.

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Yeah, really powerful statement.

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Yes. Another one is absolutely to breathe. So they breathe in for the count of four.

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They hold that breath in for seven and then breathe out for eight. And they can do that

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sometimes up to ten times and usually because they're then focusing on their breathing,

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then the feeling often passes.

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Another thing is to activate their, to endeavour to connect with their inner child and to say

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to themselves, so what do you need right now? And find a way to give that to yourself. And

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many of those things are on the grounding and nurturing list that I use. Sometimes people

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need to step away from where they are and find a safe place because sometimes where

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they are at that particular point in time can raise a memory and they can have found

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themselves triggered by a memory of something that's happened in the past. So it can be

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a really, my language, smart strategy to actually move away from where they are and to find

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a safe place.

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A safe place, yeah. And is there any truth, someone said to me once, if you're doing like

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colouring in or gardening, something that's repetitive, that can also, I don't know the

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physical, the physiology of it, but that can actually help calm you as well. Is there any

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truth to that?

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Yes, absolutely. So people, so sometimes people say there's such a thing as writing therapy.

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So some of my clients when I know that writing is something is that I tell them to sit, find

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a box of tissues, find some paper and a pen and just write. Don't worry about capital

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letters or full stops or spelling. Just keep writing and writing and writing until the

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feeling passes. But absolutely colour, if they have pencils and something like a colouring

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in book, that can be really useful. Painting and drawing are other ways that one can manage

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those feelings when they come up, yes. And gardening, if that is something that is a

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particular passion and something that they really enjoy, focusing on the plants and putting

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their hands in the soil, that can be very grounding as well.

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Yeah, absolutely. And so you mentioned writing. Do you also recommend positivity journals?

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Well, I have a handout that I give to people and it's called Positive Thoughts. And certainly

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people could use a daily journal to record what I call six of the best. And it's to think

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about what's happened for them today. And the first one, so is to write. There's six

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things. It's to write something that they saw. The second one is to write something

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that they ate. The third one, something that they did for themselves and then something

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that they did for someone else. Something that they received and something that they

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smelled. And it's a really good idea to do that maybe in the evening before they're going

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to go to sleep. And that assists them to actually endeavour to promote sleep from things that

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have occurred for them positively during the day.

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And I guess too, it would also take your mind away from whatever the problem is and you're

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focused on remembering those certain things during the day.

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Really focusing on positive things that have occurred. Sometimes we can be what is known

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as problem saturate ourselves. In other words, we focus on the negative and we saturate ourselves

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with the things that have not gone so well in the day. So it's a really great distraction

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to use the positive daily journal link in the evening to write those six things that

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I just mentioned. And that really does shift our thinking from the negative to the positive

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and puts us into a more of a positive frame of thinking. And feeling. It's not only about

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our thoughts, but so our thoughts can impact our feelings and our feelings can impact our

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thoughts. It can work either way.

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That's really interesting. And what about in our children? Do you also have clients

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who are children or are you more focused on them?

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Yes, I do. I certainly do see children. I see children, usually parents ask me to see

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children because I'm a mediator as well. Sometimes, or I pick it up that it would be beneficial

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to see children because one of the things that of course happens for children when their

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parents separate is that the children, I mean, it's a loss and grief situation, not only

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for the parents, but it is for children. And children have less capacities and often to

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cope with loss and grief. And sometimes the separation of their parents is the first major

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loss and grief experience that they've had in their life. And so they don't have any

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past experiences to draw on to cope with the loss and grief.

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And it's about learning the coping strategies to be able to deal with those things.

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Absolutely. Yes, Quinn.

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And so would you, for that example you gave, or if children are experiencing anxiety with

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all the mask wearing again, would you recommend art, like you were saying before? Is it the

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same sort of activities for adults as it is for children?

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Yes, certainly. Yes, all of those things would work for children as well, but it's really

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important for a parent to give of themselves and their time and to sit with the child one

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on one and endeavor to connect with the child about what are you thinking about at the moment,

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what are you feeling, what would help you most in this moment. And if a parent, sometimes

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parents aren't always aware sometimes of what is that one of the most classic things for

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children is if a child's behavior changes from what has been the norm. So that can be

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a really telltale message to a parent that there's something happening for their child

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because their behavior has changed. And that can be an alert to a parent that maybe they

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need to explore with their child. So what's actually happening for you? You don't really

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seem to be yourself. I've noted that, you know, and sometimes it plays itself out at

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school, and sometimes it plays itself out with siblings, and sometimes it plays itself

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out with mum or dad or other family members.

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And I think too with the, you know, being such a technology driven society, I think

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sometimes the communication aspect is kind of undervalued, just sitting down and having

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that moment with our children.

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Absolutely. We need to make time to spend time with a child and just to get one on one

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if at all possible, and to give them our completely undivided attention with our phone not visible

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in another room, our iPad not visible, the television turned off, none of the technological

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devices to be available because they can be incredibly distracting. And children need

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us to be, just be with them.

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Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. So for those that are struggling, are there any female

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support groups or what other resources are available?

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For children or adults or both?

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Let's go with both.

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Okay. So at Women's Healthcare House in Northbridge, there is support groups there for mothers

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and women at Women's Healthcare. There's one in Fremantle as well, Women's Health.

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I'm just trying to think. I just know the Women's Healthcare used to be women's and

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families. I think now they've rebranded themselves and renamed themselves in Northbridge. But

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there's also one in Fremantle. And for children, particularly many schools have what's called

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the Rainbow Program. And that is especially and specifically for children who might be

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struggling with, particularly with the separation of their parents. So the Rainbow Programs

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form a very good support network for children.

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Yeah. Well, it sounds like there's quite a lot of resources out there. And how would

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people be able to find you? What's the best way to contact you?

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Oh, well, I have a website and it's ComoSolution Focused Counselling Services. If they Google

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my name, Yvette Strawbridge, or if they put in ComoSolution Focused Counselling Services,

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they'll find me as well. And my mobile number, which I'm happy for you to provide that to

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people over the phone if they'd prefer to take down. I do get most initial contact from

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a few people email me, but I think it's true to say that most of the contact I receive

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from clients is via a mobile phone call initially. And so then we connect over their mobile and

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my mobile. And then we usually start to connect via email.

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Okay, perfect. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and telling us all about mental

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health. I feel it's such an important part of our life. And given the current circumstances,

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it's always good to take a positive approach. So thanks for coming on.

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Oh, real pleasure, Quinn. And thank you very much for inviting me to speak on your program.

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I feel somewhat privileged and very warmed by the fact that you invited me to speak.

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So thank you very much for doing that, Quinn.

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I'm Quinn Carnegie, and I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Manifestation, Motivation

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and Passion. I'm so thrilled you chose to spend time listening and would be even more

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grateful if you left a positive review. And if you found value, no doubt your family and

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friends will too. I'd love it if you share it with them. Thanks again.