Life can be like a roller coaster

Life can be like a roller coaster – sometimes it’s great and thrilling and sometimes it’s just scary and stomach-churning!

Have you noticed how some people approach life with confidence and excitement, while others face it with trepidation and worry?

Worry is a normal emotion. We all experience it. However when it becomes intense or prolonged it can have a major impact on health and our quality of life. It’s important to watch out when worrying is beyond developmental appropriateness, causes significant distress or interference and has been present for long periods. In children this is more than two months, and in adults longer than six months. Long term, intense worry is indicative of an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern for children, teenagers and adults. It is estimated that 20% of the population, including preschoolers, experience significant emotional distress and this increases with age. This statistic can increase to 25% in particular groups of people, especially those living in lower socio-economic areas or the elderly.

Often the difference between someone who overcomes life challenges and some who are overcome by them, is their resilience. Resilience is a person’s ability to cope with stress and hardship – their abilty to ‘bounce back’.

Can we empower ourselves to become more resilient and face life with more confidence and excitement? Absolutely YES!!

Jenny from Jenny Bell Oranga (Hamilton based) states: We all cope with challenging times in our life and it is important to have the tools to successfully come through those challenges. Arming ourselves with effective skills and techniques creates a sense of control, enabling us to be proactive in life rather than reactive. We use a number of evidenced-based techniques that are useful in helping people become more resilient. These include, focusing on mindfulness and attention training, thought challenging, identifying and building support networks, advanced problem-solving strategies and conflict resolution training.

Jenny Bell Oranga is a licenced partner with Dr Paula Barrett of the internationally renowned FRIENDS programs. We run four developmentally age-approprate FRIENDS programs to cater for children from 4 years of age up to adults of 104 years of age. These programs focus on building social and emotional resilience in a simple and well structured format, they are evidenced-based, well researched cognitive behaviour programs and are endorsed by The World Health Organisation.

Our clients feel more empowered to cope with life’s ups and downs because there is a sense of control when you have practical tools and skills to effectively cope with difficult situations.

Jenny Bell
Jenny Bell Oranga