Mastering Stress: Steps to Wellness is a six-week online course designed to help you better understand and manage stress. The course includes six 90-minute sessions, plus a brief 30-minute introductory session that provides an overview of the course, explains how it works, and offers support with any technical issues.
The course combines a range of evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Positive Psychology, and Mindfulness, to help you develop practical skills for managing stress and improving wellbeing.
This is an educational, non-interactive course. Each session is pre-recorded and available to watch for up to seven days, allowing you to access the content at a time that suits you.
Throughout the course, you will be introduced to a range of practical techniques and resources to build your own "Stress Less Toolkit". Weekly worksheets are provided to support learning and help you put the strategies into practice in your everyday life.
To help us monitor your progress and engagement with the course, you will also be asked to complete brief online questionnaires each week.
Whether you are looking to prevent stress from becoming overwhelming or develop healthier ways to cope with existing stress, this course offers practical tools and techniques to support your wellbeing.
The link and password for each weekly session will be emailed to you on the day of release, together with any accompanying worksheets and resources.
The link will take you directly to the session on the Vimeo platform, and no software or downloads are required.
Each session is available to watch for up to seven days after it is released, giving you the flexibility to access the course at a time that suits you. You can also revisit the session during the week to review any of the information, techniques, or tools covered.
Below is an overview of the topics covered throughout the Mastering Stress: Steps to Wellness course.
Introduction Session (30 minutes) – Course Overview and Orientation
This introductory session provides an overview of the course structure and content, including the Stress Less Toolkit. It also covers practical information such as accessing sessions, completing online questionnaires, and support for any technical issues.
Week 1 – Understanding Stress and the Importance of Activity
Learn about the connection between thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical symptoms. This session explores the effects of low mood and the important role that activity, motivation, and exercise can play in improving wellbeing and breaking unhelpful cycles.
Week 2 – Managing Anxiety and Facing Your Fears
This session focuses on understanding anxiety, including its physical symptoms and the role of breathing. It also explores how avoidance and safety behaviours can maintain anxiety, and introduces techniques for gradually facing fears through exposure.
Week 3 – Negative Thinking and Challenging Unhelpful Thoughts
Explore common unhelpful thinking patterns and how they can affect mood and wellbeing. This session introduces practical techniques for identifying, questioning, and challenging negative thoughts to develop a more balanced perspective.
Week 4 – Managing Worry
This session examines the role of worry and how excessive worrying can impact emotional wellbeing. You will learn practical strategies to help manage worry more effectively and reduce its impact on daily life.
Week 5 – Sleep Difficulties and Relaxation
Discover the importance of rest and relaxation for both physical and mental wellbeing. This session explores the science of sleep, relaxation techniques, mindfulness approaches, and practical strategies to improve sleep quality.
Week 6 – Self-Care and Staying Well
The final session focuses on maintaining wellbeing and preventing future difficulties. Topics include self-compassion, gratitude, the Five Ways to Wellbeing, and developing a personalised plan to help you stay well and continue using the skills learned throughout the course.
We run Mastering Stress: Steps to Wellness on a rolling basis, with a new course starting each month.
If you would like to take part in an upcoming course, you can register online using our booking system.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Blackpool Talking Therapies on 01253 955700 or email bfwh.
