I recently had the pleasure of facilitating a community workshop in a Western NSW town. It was so heartening to see so many passionate people attend and keen to discuss ideas on how to improve life in their town.

#ruralcommunities #australianbraincoaching

“Fear of the Unknown” – most anxieties are caused by this. When things around us start to change from what we have always known, then fear and anxiety can creep in. All the ‘What-if’s” start popping up in our brain – ‘What if I get sick?’, What if I can’t earn a living?’, ‘What if I accidently pass it onto someone else?’, “What if this cough or throat tickle is COVID?”

COVID has brought such a momentous change to our way of life, it is understandable that there is so much anxiety about it. When the first lockdown happened last year in March 2020, it was almost like we were in a science movie – loss of freedoms, people wearing masks, shopping was limited, home schooling, pressure of working from home, no socialising, checking in everywhere you go, people losing work, front-line workers were asked to work longer hours, delivery drivers and food providers were flat out. It all seemed very unworldly, as we knew it. So many new things to deal with.

Helen Dugdale has helped a number of people overcome their fears and anxieties with Australian Brain Coaching.

The local brain coach is one of only three people in Australia skilled in the method and able to coach clients, having been trained herself by a German psychologist.

Her coaching covers a wide range of topics, but one particular area she sees many struggle with is sleep health.

Good morning Insomniacs! I would love to hear from you if you have ever suffered from or still suffer from sleeping problems. I am writing a book about it and for my research I would like to include data from people who tried different things to help overcome their insomnia.

Covid notice, due to lockdowns and uncertainty, I won't be travelling for awhile, in fact, I haven't been to see clients in Tamworth, Port Stephens and Sydney for weeks! Dubbo people were visited 3 weeks ago. However if you need some help, I am taking bookings for Video link sessions at half my normal price. 

Did you know that optimism can be learned AND it is good for your health? Not just for your mental health but also for your physical health. See challenges as opportunities to learn or to do something different, rather than accept disasters. Winston Churchill said "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. For example: You've dropped out of Uni, and an opening comes up for a hobby that you are good at. Now you have time to pursue that field.

Recently, there was an article written by Samantha Selinger-Morris, about how Prince Harry uses a method called EMDR to help him resolve his past issues about his mother’s death. (EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitising and Resetting). The author makes some excellent points and quotes from both clients and University professors about how successful EMDR is helping people resolve emotional issues, especially about traumatic events.

When Prince Harry spoke earlier this week about how he has undergone a controversial type of psychotherapy to heal from longstanding trauma and anxiety, the world took notice.

What exactly, we all wondered, is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)? What happened when he closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and tapped his own shoulders while thinking of traumatic memories – as we saw in a scene from one of his therapy sessions in the documentary series, The Me You Can’t See? The Duke of Sussex said he has turned to therapy to resolve fears and anxiety he’s suffered since his mother’s death in a car accident in 1997 when he was 12. (“London is a trigger, unfortunately,” he says, in one episode. “Because of what happened to my mum, and because of what I experienced and what I saw.“)

Promising results have been shown in using BBs for relieving anxiety in patients in hospital emergency departments, on patients waiting to undergo operations, psychiatric outpatients with anxiety disorders and for depressive symptoms in older people in nursing homes.

"Brain coach", Helen Dugdale of Australian Brain Coaching uses BBs combined with positive affirmations to assist clients with anxiety.

Helen Dugdale's work has a very different flavour to most jobs but she says as ever more people feel the positive results of the German brain-training psychological techniques she offers, the more their family and friends want to experience learning how to effect positive change in their lives.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

It’s a famous Chinese proverb, of course, and may have been in the minds of two walkers when they set off at dawn from Pirate Park, Narrabri West on Thursday to walk to Yarrie Lake.

The distance is about 17 kilometres, or something more than 17,000 steps, but their journey was for a good cause and they weren’t counting.

It’s no secret that music can alter our mood, whether we listen or participate. Loud and active is more uplifting; smooth and soft, more calming. As long ago as 1697, William Congreve wrote that music has the power to “soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” 
Now, research has shown us we can harness these powers to create calmness and help us heal in many ways. When we are calm we can function better, both emotionally and physiologically. This is when healing can take place.