Managing Your Anxiety Workshop

Event Recap

On May 22nd, from 1 pm to 2 pm, Smart D8 teamed up with Turn2Me to host the ‘Managing Your Anxiety’ workshop in The Learning Studio at The Digital Depot. This event marked the fourth mental health workshop facilitated by Turn2Me’s CEO, Fiona O’Malley, in honour of Mental Health Awareness Month.

Turn2Me is an Irish online mental health charity that provides accessible services to adults living in Ireland.

For more information on Turn2Me and the services they offer, visit their website at Turn2Me.ie

Workshop Highlights

What is Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes.

Types of Anxiety

  1. Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): feeling excessive, unrealistic worry and tension with little or no reason. It causes you to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event. People with GAD feel anxious most days.
  2. Social Anxiety Disorder: feeling overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. It is an intense fear that doesn’t go away.
  3. Specific Phobias: an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of objects or situations that pose little real danger but provoke anxiety and avoidance. The four major specific phobia categories are natural environment (e.g., thunderstorms), animals (e.g., insects), mutilation/medical treatment (e.g., needles), situations (e.g., heights, airplanes, enclosed spaces).
  4. Panic Disorder: an intense attack of fear and anxiety that may occur without warning. They often occur in response to a stressful event.

Psychological and Physical Symptoms

  1. Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): restlessness, fatigue, excessive anxiety and worry, increased muscle aches or soreness, impaired concentration, irritability, difficulty sleeping.
  2. Social Anxiety Disorder: fear of situations where you may be judged negatively, worry about embarrassment and humiliation, fear of interacting with strangers, avoidance of situations where you might be the center of attention, blushing and fast heartbeat, trembling, nausea.
  3. Specific Phobias: an immediate feeling of intense fear, anxiety and panic when exposed to or event thinking about the source of your fear.
  4. Panic Disorder: racing heartbeat, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, chills, a choking sensation, ringing in your ears, fear of dying.

Workshop Goals

The workshop provided attendees with a range of tools to manage anxiety effectively such as conscious breathing (deep breathing to calm the body), mindful awareness (techniques to shift awareness between internal and external stimuli to gain a sense of control), fun and laughter (moments of joy reduce tension), and counselling/therapy. The session concluded with a Q&A segment, allowing participants to ask specific questions and seek further advice. The open dialogue fostered a sense of community and understanding among attendees, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health issues openly.