THE FOOD ALLERGY COUNSELOR - Your Allergy Psychosocial Resource Hub
  • Home
  • Counselor Directory
  • Blog
  • Webinars
  • Podcast
  • Worksheets/Forms
  • Psychosocial Resources
  • FAC Members/FABHN
  • Allergy Counseling Niche Info
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Patients
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Therapy Providers
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Allergists
  • Consulting Services
  • About
    • The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc.
    • Founder, Tamara Hubbard, LCPC
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
  • Contact

Stress Management Skills For All Ages

1/17/2023

0 Comments

 
Allergy Stress Management Toolkit
In a recent FAC post, we explored what stress is and how it differs from anxiety, with specific mindfulness-based approaches for managing food allergy-related stress. 

But there's no one perfect way to manage stress! It's important for everyone to find strategies that work specifically for them - and this takes trial and error to determine.

​Therefore, in an effort to help you better understand your own stress and decide which stress management tools to put in your toolbox, this post offers a variety of videos with  different strategies for you to consider. Additionally, it includes skills to teach your kiddos and share with your teens so they also learn how to cope with stress, too!

(While these aren't allergy-specific, they will help with allergy-related stress...and are useful in other areas of life as well).

Stress Management Skills for Kids

  • 2-minute story: Little Monkey Calms Down [early childhood age]

  • Read-Aloud Video: "Keep Calm: My Stress Busting Tips" by Gina Bellisario [best for elementary age and older]​
    ​
  • 7-minute video explaining stress, physical and emotional responses to it, and simple strategies for coping with it  [best for upper elementary and older]
    ​
    ​

Stress Management Skills for Teens 

  • 5-minute video with quick tips to unwind and help manage stress 

  • 3-minute video with practical stress management tips [especially helpful for older teens and young adults]

  • Ted-X Youth Talks - Stress & its impacts on teens [especially helpful for older teens and young adults]

  • Ted-X Youth Talks - Stress at school [especially helpful for older teens and young adults]

​

Stress Management Skills for Adults

  • Quick Stress Release: Anxiety Reduction Skill

  • 6 Daily Habits to Reduce Stress & Anxiety [useful for young adults, too]

  • 7 Simple Science-Backed Tips for Reducing Your Stress 
    ​​
  • Ted Talk: How to Make Stress Your Friend (similar approach to Tamara Hubbard's "Befriend Your Allergy Anxiety" approach - free webinar here)
​

Stress Management For Parents & Families

  • When a Child Has a Chronic Illness: Tips for Managing Family Stress
    ​
  • Ted-X Talk: Compassion Fatigue & Caregiver Stress [easily applies to parenting kids with chronic allergic conditions]
    ​


want more empowering allergy life tips like this emailed directly to you? subscribe to receive "food allergy counselor corner" emails!


​And don't forget about ALL of the FAC resources there to support you!
  • Allergy counseling information for  patients, therapists, allergists
  • Find an allergy-informed therapy provider - most offering telehealth
  • Listen to podcast episodes offering practical and relatable guidance
  • Watch (and listen to) webinars and podcast interviews
  • Explore allergy-focused behavioral health resources
  • Learn mindset strategies from allergy-specific therapeutic worksheets
  • Connect with other allergy-informed therapy providers!
0 Comments

Managing Allergy-Related Stress

1/3/2023

0 Comments

 
As we welcome 2023, let's set some mindful intentions for the year. Let's focus on finding practical ways to effectively manage the stress and anxiety we may feel related to living with food allergies and allergic diseases. And The Food Allergy Counselor is here to help you do just that with all of its resources!
Food Allergy Stress
Image by 1388843 from Pixabay

What Exactly is Stress?
According to the American Psychological Association, “Stress is a normal reaction to everyday pressures, but can become unhealthy when it upsets your day-to-day functioning. Stress involves changes affecting nearly every system of the body, influencing how people feel and behave.”

Simply put, stress is how we feel and/or react when under pressure or threatened. It’s an emotional and physical response to a thought, feeling or situation, and with it often comes tension and a feeling that we don’t have the ability to manage the stress (or stressor causing the stress).

All the way back to the cavemen days, humans have experienced this automatic response to help the body/mind kick into gear to act quickly while seeking out safety/protection. (That's the fight-flight-freeze response). But the typical daily threats we experience today, such as bills and deadlines, don't require such a strong stress response. Therefore, our body's natural "alarm system" sometimes over-functions, leading us to stay stuck in the stress cycle.

Physically, stress can show up by causing headaches, digestive issues, high blood pressure, fatigue, problems with sleep, etc. Emotionally, it can give way to irritability, anger, worry, increased anxiety and depression, and even panic.
​
Am I Feeling Stress or Anxiety? 
It's common to confuse stress and anxiety. After all, both are emotional responses, and they often show up hand-in-hand! But here are the differences to help you determine when you're experiencing stress and when you're experiencing anxiety.

Stress:
  • Stress is typically triggered by something external

  • Stress can be acute/brief/situational or ongoing/chronic, and when ongoing, can lead you to feeling stuck

  • Stress responses can lead people into an anxiety cycle

  • Stress can also be a motivating force, pushing you to achieve

  • Examples of short-term stress triggers: a fight with a friend, a work/school deadline, an upcoming event

  • Examples of long-term/ongoing stress triggers: chronic illness, inability to work/attend school, discrimination, basic needs not getting met

Anxiety:
  • Future-focused, anticipatory worry and thoughts; they often show up like racing thoughts

  • Persistent and/or excessive worry that is still present even when the stressor isn't

  • Anxiety can be useful, helping us prepare and make safe choices

  • Can physically and emotionally show up similar to stress, but the stressor/trigger can help differentiate between them
    ​
Managing Food Allergy Stress
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

What Can We Do About Stress? 
The truth is we've all felt stress - we navigate through it each day! Paying the bills, making tough daily decisions, navigating childcare, etc. Some stress we're better at managing, while some feels like a constant struggle to regain balance from.

Therefore, it's helpful to recognize the stress triggers you're not navigating well. Becoming aware of them and acknowledging the need for more effective strategies is a great place to start!

The key is finding workable ways to manage stress when it does impact your functioning. Therefore, whatever works to help you release the emotional and physical tension should be a tool in your stress management toolkit!

This may include physical releases such as movement, walking and exercise. It could include feel-good things such as laughing and connecting with others/friends. Deep breathing, stretching and mindfulness exercises can be useful, too. It’s also helpful to regulate sleeping and eating patterns, as our mind and body are better able to handle stress when rested and fueled.

How Can We Manage the Ongoing Stress of Food Allergy?
For many, food allergy and allergic diseases likely fit into the category of an ongoing stressor, causing chronic stress. While that may be the case, we can still approach the stress in a way that makes it feel more manageable.

Here are some tips for making allergy-related stress more manageable: 
  • Stay in the here-and-now; by being too future-focused, we are likely to increase anxiety, which doesn't help with stress management

  • Focus on what you CAN do to navigate each day well with your allergy

  • Focus on how you can INFLUENCE outcomes in stressful situations (rather than trying to control all possible outcomes)

  • Preparing for stressful scenarios and practicing allergy management skills can help decrease how stressful things feel

  • Break allergy management tasks into chunks and/or delegate tasks to others to help you manage the ongoing stress more effectively

  • Take good physical/emotional care of yourself so that when allergy-related stressors do happen, you're better able to handle them

  • Mindset matters! Yes, the allergy isn't likely to go away, but we don't need to navigate each day with a doom-and-gloom mindset either. It's absolutely possible to live a full and meaningful life - even with allergies and the stress they cause!

  • Positive self-talk helps! We're often judgmental of ourselves and supportive of others. So develop empowerment-based phrases you can say to yourself when feeling stressed, such as: "I'm brave!" and "This feels hard, but I can get through it!" and "I don't like this, but I'll feel better soon!"


Final Thoughts....
Stress is part of life, so learning how to effectively navigate it and manage it well is crucial. Living with food allergy and allergic diseases does add more stress, but even so, we can still find workable ways to deal with it.

Start by taking inventory of your biggest stressors, and an honest look at the stress management tools you use (or don't use, but likely should be using). Commit to trying one new approach to managing your stress over the next week, and then reflect on how it impacted your physical and emotional stress levels. You can do this!
​

want more empowering allergy life tips like this emailed directly to you? subscribe to receive "food allergy counselor corner" emails!


And don't forget about ALL of The FAC resources here to support you!
  • Allergy counseling information for  patients, therapists, allergists
  • Find an allergy-informed therapy provider - most offering telehealth
  • Listen to podcast episodes offering practical and relatable guidance
  • Watch (and listen to) webinars and podcast interviews
  • Explore allergy-focused behavioral health resources
  • Learn mindset strategies from allergy-specific therapeutic worksheets
  • Connect with other allergy-informed therapy providers!
0 Comments

Allergy Anxiety & Stress Management Tool: The 5x5 Rule

12/19/2022

0 Comments

 

Did you know that you can use the perspective of time to help you decide how deeply to engage with an unhelpful or uncomfortable thought, feeling or decision,
and that time can help you look at things from a different point of view?
Picture

Here's how to use the 5x5 rule to help you gain space between yourself and unhelpful or stressful thoughts and decisions....

Start by asking yourself: 
  • How much will this matter to me in 5 hours?
  • How much will this matter to me in 5 days? 
  • How much will this matter to me in 5 weeks? 
  • How much will this matter to me in 5 years?

Asking yourself these questions helps gain perspective on how important the thought you're having or decision you're struggling with is - just how much impact it will truly have on your life.

Something that's pretty minor (even though it's stressing you out currently) likely won't matter to you 5 days, 5 weeks, or 5 years from now. In that case, give yourself 5 minutes to think about it. In that time, you're going to allow yourself to connect with all the thoughts and feelings you're having, and then once that 5 minutes is over, you'll make a decision that will help you move forward, and/or remind yourself that you're done thinking about that topic because it's not worth more of your energy. 

​If what you're anxious or stressed about is a more major decision that might matter to you in 5 weeks or 5 years from now, then it's appropriate to feel more stressed and anxious about it. In that case, give yourself a specific amount of time to think about it, but then set it aside and come back to it at another point in the future. By doing this, it allows you to take a break from it, but commit to revisiting it at a time when you may be able to process it differently.  


Here's another approach for using the 5x5 rule....

Ask yourself: 
  • Will I see this differently in 5 hours? 
  • Will I see this differently in 5 days?
  • Will I see this differently in 5 weeks?
  • Will I see this differently in 5 years?

Maybe you're stressed about all of the allergy-safe cooking you have to do for the week ahead. Yes, that may still feel stressful in 5 hours, but will you see it differently in 5 days? Probably! You'll likely feel BETTER in 5 days because you prepared meals today! In that case, remind yourself that you'll be able to see this as helpful once you're removed from the situation, so don't spend too much time overly-engaged in the stress you're currently feeling.

When you asked yourself these questions, also think about the following...
  • Did it help you decide that the situation you're stressed about doesn't need to take up so much of your energy? 

  • Did you gain a new perspective on why you struggle with a particular thought or decision? 

  • Did you notice a release of physical stress and anxiety when you looked at the stressful thought or decision differently? 

Looking for videos on perspective-taking approaches to help build these skills for your anxiety and stress management toolkit (allergy-related or otherwise)? Check these videos out: 
  • Two videos explaining the 5x5 rule: for anxiety and for stress
  • Teach little kids the general tool of perspective taking 
  • Explain general perspective-taking to older kids and tweens

want more empowering allergy life tips like this emailed directly to you? subscribe to receive "food allergy counselor corner" emails!


And don't forget about ALL of the FAC resources there to support you!
  • Allergy counseling information for  patients, therapists, allergists
  • Find an allergy-informed therapy provider - most offering telehealth
  • Listen to podcast episodes offering practical and relatable guidance
  • Watch (and listen to) webinars and podcast interviews
  • Explore allergy-focused behavioral health resources
  • Learn mindset strategies from allergy-specific therapeutic worksheets
  • Connect with other allergy-informed therapy providers!
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Follow FAC on Twitter or Instagram, or on Facebook on the Food Allergy Counselor Directory  page to get updates on the FAC Directory, blog or resources. And connect with FAC creator Tamara on Twitter or Instagram!

    Picture
    Subscribe here to receive weekly allergy life tips and/or insights into the allergy counseling niche

    Picture
    Listen to & subscribe to the Exploring Food Allergy Families podcast!

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018


    Categories

    All
    4 Things Series
    ACT Skills
    Adult Allergies
    Advocacy
    Allergy Anxiety Tools
    Allergy Dads
    Allergy Education
    Allergy Informed Therapists
    Allergy Moms
    Allergy Tools
    Anaphylaxis
    Anxiety
    Building Confidence
    CBT
    Community
    Compassion & Self Compassion
    Coping
    Coronavirus Anxiety
    Counseling
    Emotions
    Empowerment
    FAAW
    Family
    Fears
    Food Allergy Management
    Food Allergy Research
    Food Allergy Worksheets
    Guest Bloggers
    Guilt
    Kids
    Mindfulness
    Mindset
    OIT & OFC
    Parenting
    Personal Stories
    Podcast
    Podcast & Webinars
    Relationships
    Resilience
    Siblings
    Stress Management
    Support Groups
    Survey Results
    Teen Allergies
    Treatment
    Updates Or News


    Picture
    Don't miss a blog post! Subscribe below: 

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Subscribe to FAC via reader

FAC Resources

FAC Directory
FAC Blog
​
FA Webinars & Discussions
Exploring FA Families Podcast
​Therapy Worksheets
​​Sign up for FAC emails!

For THERAPY Providers

FAC Membership & FABHN​
Allergy Psychosocial Intake Forms
Contact The FAC
ALLERGY COUNSELING 
Patient/Community Info
Therapy Provider Info
Allergists/Healthcare Info

About

The FAC, Inc.
FAC Founder
Consulting & Webinars
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2018-2023 The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Photo used under Creative Commons from rawpixel.com
  • Home
  • Counselor Directory
  • Blog
  • Webinars
  • Podcast
  • Worksheets/Forms
  • Psychosocial Resources
  • FAC Members/FABHN
  • Allergy Counseling Niche Info
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Patients
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Therapy Providers
    • Allergy Counseling Info for Allergists
  • Consulting Services
  • About
    • The Food Allergy Counselor, Inc.
    • Founder, Tamara Hubbard, LCPC
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
  • Contact