Stress and Anxiety Talk; The Outcome!

So the talk happened and it went ahead as planned (kind of). We had a few technical hitches whilst setting up which meant that I had to go back to basics for the whole thing, abandoning the slides I had put together and relying solely on a flip chart, some marker pens and a slightly tangled memory of what had been in the powerpoint. As you may imagine, this provided a lot of fodder for examples of stress and anxiety, but it all seemed to turn out okay.

I was really surprised and very pleased by the amount of people that turned up. In fact, it was a full house. There were people sitting on the stairs (probably not very comfortable or conducive to the relaxation exercise) which means that getting an idea of numbers and chairs is probably something to consider for next time. However, everybody seemed interested in what was being discussed and willing to get involved and contribute. 

The content of the talk is summarised in the infographic to the right. We focused on the effects that stress and anxiety have on the body and how these are generated by different parts of the brain. We also discussed how this can fuel a vicious cycle of chronic stress as well as what you can do about it. We then finished with a much-needed (largely for me) relaxation exercise.

I sent out a brief survey and feedback has been very positive and so far everybody has said that they would like to come to the next one. I will share the overall results when they are all in. I'm probably also going to base the topic of the next talk on the results of a vote included in the survey. 

So, in conclusion, the pilot talk seemed to be a success! People seemed to like the idea, so much so that they actually turned up, feedback has been positive and there seems to be interest in another one. I will keep you posted! 

Elizabeth