Beat Stress at Work: How to Balance Your Ambition with Your Anxiety

Description

For some, there is a high price to pay for ambition and success. The toll it can take on our mental health can be significant, particularly if we are born with the 'Worry' gene. In Beat Stress at Work, management trainer Mark Simmonds helps you understand the effects stress and anxiety can have on your mental health and provides tools and advice to find your way through work-induced struggles. Through sharing his own brutally honest journey and using his corporate experience, Mark sheds light on the difficulty of discussing mental health with colleagues and employers and identifies the best ways for navigating your way through a mental health crisis. The book: - Encourages you to maintain positive mental health by better understanding yourself and finding a career that suits your most authentic self. - Shows you how to return safely to the workplace after a period of mental ill health and communicate effectively with your peers and managers. - Demonstrates how your resilience 'muscle' can help you fulfil your ambitions in the professional arena, while being mindful of your mental health. - Pinpoints some of the key lessons from COVID-19 about stress management and the working environment. Through the advice in this book, you will learn that your mental health issues may not be the barriers you view them as but may hold value in the workplace. Mark shows you that it is possible to be ambitious and successful at work because of, not in spite of, the mental health challenges you may face. 'This powerful book will help you tackle stress and learn more about yourself in the process' Sir Clive Woodward OBE

Management trainer Mark Simmonds has worked with corporate giants including Unilever, Philips, GlaxoSmithKline, Tesco and HSBC. Back in 2001, he suffered from increasing levels of stress and anxiety, leading to a nervous breakdown and a failed attempt (luckily) on his own life. Mark's career and personal experiences have given him the perfect insight into the destructive effect that stress can have in the workplace, and a unique ability to shed light on how to build resilience and enjoy a fulfilling career in spite of his mental health struggles. Melissa Doman, MA is an organizational psychologist, a former clinical mental health therapist and a mental health at work specialist. She uses both her clinical and organizational psychology experience to inform her practical and solution-focused approach, working with companies and leaders to equip them to build the skill set, mindset and behaviours required to discuss mental health, mental illness, and stress at work. Melissa has spoken and consulted for international, national, and local organizations and Fortune 500 companies across industries - including Salesforce, Charlotte Tilbury, Siemens, the NHS, and the Independent Publishers Guild. She has also been featured as a subject matter expert in global conferences, summits, digital publications and media outlets, international mentoring programs, and local television shows.

'This insightful book highlights the importance of moving from reactive to preventative measures in addressing mental health. It ably demonstrates the value of identifying individual purpose to build greater resilience. It's an invaluable handbook for those seeking to combat stress at any stage in their career' -- Leena Nair, CEO, Chanel; former Chief Human Resources Officer, Unilever 'Part autobiography and part lessons learned in the quest for success, this book will appeal to those who want workable ways to manage their personal stressors and strengthen their professional prowess without the need for wellness gurus and psychobabble!' -- Dr Audrey Tang, Chartered Psychologist, award-winning author of The Leader's Guide to Resilience 'A practical toolkit for ambitious people who don't want their mental health struggles to negatively impact their careers. This is a book that underlines the value of resilience' -- Sally Percy, Forbes journalist and author of Reach the Top in Finance 'Rich with lessons from a deeply personal journey into the abyss of burnout and back, this book is an insightful and inspiring read for anyone facing stress in the workplace' -- Dr Mithu Storoni, eye surgeon and neuroscience researcher, author of Stress Proof 'A lovely book; gentle and readable; accessible and relatable. I identified with a number of issues it raises and it made me think about decisions I've made and situations I've got myself into throughout my life and my career' -- Michael Divers, People Director, Sir Robert McAlpine