Sometimes we don’t even realise that we are suffering from work-related stress. Fatigue, headaches, heart palpations, sleeping difficulties, skin disorders or gastrointestinal upsets can all be our body’s way of trying to send us warning signs about stress at work.
According to ACAS during 2016 over 480,000 people in the UK reported that work-related stress was making them ill. This amounts to nearly 40% of all work-related illness.
Yet many people are reluctant to talk about stress at work. Going to work to pay the mortgage and support your family is like a necessity. But our workplace can be incredibly stressful with an increasing workload, reduced people in our team to get more work done, a blame culture or lack of control over what we need to get done.
Sometimes people think they might be seen as weak if they admit they are struggling at work, but stress is not a weakness, and can affect anyone at any time. Talking to a trained professional can help you explore what is happening to you and help you take steps to make changes before things develop into a mental health situation.
I can help you find your way through. I offer telephone counselling and face2face counselling where you can be honest about what is happening at work. You don’t even need to leave your home and together we can find ways for you to reduce your stress and manage it.