OTR here to support you

What is it?

Often, anxiety is caused by something. Like exams or starting a new school and when you’ve done the exam or first week that anxiety disappears.
Anxiety can also hang around if a past experience is still bothering you.
And sometimes, some people might feel anxious for no obvious reason or trigger.

How does it make me feel?

Anxiety affects people physically in lots of different ways but most commonly people report feeling fearful, worried, nervous, sleepless, edgy, jittery, irritable and restless. It can make you feel like you’ve got a knot or butterflies in your belly have sticky palms or short of breath.
It can also affect the way your brain works and can make you more easily confused, unable to concentrate and find making decisions more difficult.
Anxiety can result in:
Generalised Anxiety Disorder – Which makes day to day life difficult to cope with
Panic Attacks – Feelings of intense anxiety that make it difficult to breathe, they usually last for about ten minutes.
Phobias – Cause you to feel nervous and panicked when faced with a specific situation or object

What can I do?

The important bit is recognising when you feel like this and doing something before it gets on top of you and impacts your life.

There are lots of good breathing and relaxing techniques, here are a couple:

The Body Scan

1. Sit on a cushion or lay on the floor & feel your body sink into the ground
2. Take slow, deep breaths
3. Release your jaw muscle and soften your face
4. Relax your shoulders and neck
5. Scan your body in your mind from your head to your toes
6. Notice any tension in your body and try to relax those muscles

Mindful walking

Sounds weird, feels a bit weird to begin with but makes you concentrate on what you’re doing and helps you calm.

1. Pick up one foot and take a step forward, in slow motion taking notice of how you naturally keep your balance.
2. Now walk in slow motion, step by step. Notice how your arms and legs and feet move. Pay attention to how your knees bend and straighten, as you lift one foot and then the other, nice and slow.
3. Breathe in and out, in time with your steps. See if you can keep your attention focused on walking slowly, step by step, as you relax and breathe.

Whenever your mind wanders, gently guide it back to your s-l-o-w motion moving. Keep breathing, in and out, as you enjoy moving in slow motion. No fast walking here slooowly is the name of the game

What is it?

Anger is an absolutely normal and valid feeling. It’s basically the body’s response to the mind telling us something is not ok. And let’s face it, we all feel angry from time to time and when used in the right way it can be a powerful tool to get your voice heard and create positive changes.
But sometimes, anger can take over and be difficult to manage.

How does it make me feel?

Anger looks different in different people. Some people are hostile to others and other people turn their anger on themselves.

When we are angry it can display itself through:

• Shouting at people
• Physically and emotionally hurt others
• Break and throw stuff
• Harm themselves

And although doing these things probably make us feel better in the moment often we feel bad about it afterwards, particularly if our anger was aimed at someone we care for.

Some people ‘bottle up’ their anger not showing it at all, but at some point in the future it has a tendency to reappear and feels a lot worse.

If you feel angry a lot of the time it’s important to work out what’s behind it, and really, there are many things it could be sometimes it’s family, bullying, difficulties at school to name just a few.

What can I do?

There are different techniques you can learn to manage thoughts and situations that make you feel angry before it builds into a bigger part of your life than you’d ever want.

We can work with you through 1-2-1 counselling or our managing emotions groupwork that can help you unpick angry feelings and show you different things you can do to help. Give us a call, or get in touch via the webform we can help you:

• Identify triggering situations or actions that make you fell anger
• Learn tools you can use in those situations to help you communicate your thoughts and feelings without anger
• Find ways to manage stuff we can’t actually change

What is it?

Sleep is so important for our overall physical and mental wellbeing, but sometimes either getting to sleep or remaining asleep becomes a regular issue and results in us being tired in the morning and not able to function as well as we would normally.

Sleep problems can be:

• Struggling to fall asleep
• Feeling wide awake once you’ve got into bed
• Waking during the night
• Unable to get back to sleep once woken
• Waking up super early

There are lots of reasons that people have problems with their sleep from time to time such as stress and anxiety, changes to routines, side effects from medicines, a trauma, depression and bereavement and often solving these underlying causes will resolve or ease the problems with sleeping

How does it make me feel?

Having a regular sleep issue can make you feel dreadful if it goes on a long time, not only are you tired, but you may find:

• It difficult to concentrate or focus
• You’re short tempered and generally irritable
• You’re forgetful
• You overeat
• You dread going to bed at night

What can I do?

There are some things you can do which may improve your sleep a few of these are:

• Turn off any screens (laptop, phone, tablet) and hour before bedtime
• Regular exercise but not too close to bed time
• Create a good bedtime routine, so going to bed and waking up at the same time each day
• Have a warm bath and listen to some relaxing music as part of your routine
• Avoid drinks and food that contain caffeine like most teas, coffee and fizzy drinks with caffeine
• Try not to let not falling asleep immediately make you anxious, take some deep breaths with your eyes closed and try to relax
• If you’ve been awake for hours, it’s worth reading a book, meditating or listening to some relaxing music.
• Relaxation exercises

Sometimes these tricks and tips don’t work and it maybe because there’s something behind it that’s bothering you that’s stopping you get the zzz’s you need, maybe we could help you through our counselling or group work courses.

What is it?

Self-harm is the term given to coping mechanisms where someone hurts themselves intentionally to help deal with really intense feelings or situations.
People who self-harm often do it to take back control or feel release from feelings that have become overwhelming. By self-harming it makes it feel like the feelings are more manageable for a bit, but that escape only lasts a short time.

How does it make me feel?

The causes that lead people to feeling overwhelmed and result in self-harm are complex and individual but some common reasons stem from:

• Bad childhood experiences
• Bereavement
• Family difficulties
• Illnesses

What can I do?

Addressing where the stress and overwhelming feelings originate from doesn’t have to be done on your own. In many ways the self-harm is a flag that there are issues you need to take care of and you need to find a healthier, better and long-lasting way of dealing with those feelings that works for you.
It’s a huge and brave step to get the help and support you need, particularly if no one knows you’re doing it or knows your feelings are overwhelming you. Stopping can be gradual rather than instant, but getting support from someone you trust will make if feel far less scary and more doable.
Fill out our webform or give us a call if you’d like to talk to a counsellor about self-harm.

What is it?

At OTR we understand that identity matters and that exploring and talking about your identity is important.
We are a safe space for transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse young people to find support whether it’s for their identity or any other emotional wellbeing issue.

How does it make me feel?

Gender dysphoria is the phrase given to the awkward or uneasy feeling that people have when the gender they have been assigned or given when they were born is different to the gender they are.

It doesn’t matter how someone’s body looks they may identify as male, female or non-binary and a non-binary person can identify as male and female, neither, or their gender can change.

If your gender identity matches the one you were given at birth that’s called “cisgender”

What can I do?

You don’t have to give yourself a label or share it with anyone, but we know that often the words used to describe a persons identity can give them power and belonging.

At OTR all folx are respected and recognised, we are led by the language you wish to use to describe your sexuality and gender,and we’re here to support your journey.

What is it?

Humans need food to survive, for energy to function, for warmth and for energy and it can provide pleasure in sharing time with friends and family.
However, sometimes people can have a complex relationship with food which can impact on your physical and emotional health. And often it’s not food itself that is the issue but instead underlying issues which are the starting point of an eating disorder.

How does it make me feel?

There is no one thing that causes disordered eating which can lead to a variety of eating disorders it is complex and completely individual.

What’s the difference between an eating disorder and disordered eating?

• Eating disorders are chronic, complex illnesses which need concrete treatment and therapies for effective control.
• Eating disorders are more of a life condition made up of tendencies that can last years without having anything to do with temporary changes in stress levels
• Eating disorders are often responsible for serious health repercussions
• Some of the prominent forms of eating disorders include anorexia, binge eating disorder and bulimia. All are known to have damaging repercussions on health.
• Some forms of dieting and weight loss supplements, are considered as types of disordered eating, but there aren’t specific names for them.
• Disordered eating is thought to be temporary and stem from a life event or stressful situation
• Disordered eating is less harmful to long term health
• Disordered eating can often develop into an eating disorder. The reverse however, isn’t possible

What can I do?

As all eating disorders can develop in to major health issues, regardless whether it’s from eating too much or too little so it’s important to talk to someone as soon as possible to prevent them from becoming really serious.
Give us a call or fill in the webform if you’d like to talk to us and get support.

What is it?

It’s quite normal to feel sad from time to time, especially after a traumatic life event like someone dying or your parents divorce. But feeling low or being depressed can go on for a much longer time; weeks or sometimes months and being depressed can have a huge impact on your life and experience of life. If you feel like you can’t shake that low feeling off, then it could be a sign that you’re depressed and it’s a good thing to get help to move on from those feelings.

How does it make me feel?

Depression makes different people feel different things, like angry, extreme sadness, hopeless and even totally numb like they’re not a part of their own life.
Depression also affects the way your brain works making it more difficult to make decisions and get motivated to do the stuff you know you need to get done, no matter how small or simple you’d usually find them, or even be with people you usually enjoy spending time with. Sometimes this leads people to have thoughts of suicide.
Depression can also impact your sleep either by sleeping too much or too little, it can also make you eat more than you would normally or completely the opposite, it can make you loose your appetite altogether.

What can I do?

Having a chat to a friend can really help if you’re feeling low, particularly if you know the reason for your feelings.
But if it’s been going on for a while and isn’t getting better then it’s best to get the support you need so your feelings don’t get worse. Fill out the webform or give us a call to take that first step in feeling more like yourself.

What is it?

Family relationships that are complicated are often tricky, and even relationships that are usually straightforward can go through periods of strain.
And because our families and relationships we build with others become such a big part of our identity it can impact us such a lot emotionally, mentally and physically when they go wrong.

How does it make me feel?

At OTR we support young people experiencing all sorts of relationship difficulties including:

• Family Breakdown
• Relationship difficulties with parents/carers
• Relationship breakdowns (friends & romantic)
• Bullying
• Physical/Emotional Abuse
• Domestic Abuse

What can I do?

Positive and healthy relationships develop in a respectful environment and they can be with anyone. Healthy relationships can become unhealthy and you can find yourself in a situation where you’re frightened, controlled, uncomfortable or being intimidated into doing something you don’t want to be doing.
If you’re worried that a relationship has become either unhealthy or abusive you should talk with an adult that you trust so they can help you, or contact us via our webform or phone.

What is it?

When you’re depressed, feeling hopeless and feel like you can’t carry on some pretty dark thoughts can come into your head and feeling like giving up and death is the only escape.
These thoughts can turn into ‘suicidal ideation’ where they become more real and you can spend a lot more time thinking about it.

How does it make me feel?

The cause of suicidal thoughts are both complex and personal to the person having the thoughts. They can be an indicator that there is an serious underlying issue or illness and result when things have built up and got too much. There are a few things that make people more likely to have suicidal thoughts:

• Stressful life events
• Drug/alcohol misuse
• Bad early childhood experiences

What can I do?

OTR isn’t a crisis service, but if you are in crisis right now and believe you may harm yourself please contact the one of the organisations below who absolutely can help you.

We are here to help and support you though if you are having suicidal thoughts. Do either fill in our webform or give us a call, if the office is closed leave a message and we’ll call you back when we reopen.

Crisis Services:

In an emergency:

Call 999 or 111 for NHS crisis mental health support

Childline:

For under 19’s call, chat online or email about any problem big or small, it’s confidential.

Sign up for a free Childline locker (no email or real name needed) to use their free 1-2-1 counsellor chat and email support service.

Can provide a BSL interpreter if you are deaf or hearing-impaired.

They have online message boards where you can share your experiences, have fun and get support from other young people in similar situations.

Opening times:

9am – midnight, 365 days a year 0800 11 11

Samaritans:

The Samaritans are open 24/7 to support whatever you’re going through:

116123

jo@samaritans.org

YoungMinds Textline

Text YM to 85258
24/7 text support for young people across the UK experiencing a mental health crisis.

Texts are free from EE, O2, Vodafone, 3, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, GiffGaff, Tesco Mobile and Telecom Plus.

Trained volunteers, with support from their clinical supervisors All texts are answered by.

Texts are anonymous, but if they believe you are at risk of harm, they may share your details with people who can provide support.

What is it?

Losing someone important to you is never a situation you want to be in and is something you have no control over. Each persons experience of losing that person you love is very different and how you express that grief can be very different and take a long time to adjust to life without them physically there.

How does it make me feel?

Some people sort of shut down and don’t react to the news of the death of a loved one, it’s the brain’s way of protecting you until you can process and deal with that information.
Others become anxious or insecure as their world has fundamentally changed and they’re not sure what the future looks like.
Some experience intense anger either at the person who has passed away, family, themselves or the world at large and all of this is totally understandable, it’s a huge thing to have experienced.

What can I do?

Keeping a normal routine can really help during grief as is knowing that your feelings are entirely valid and understandable. Ultimately talking to someone either the people already around you or a counsellor you can trust will really help to work through your feelings and confusion and provide a safe space to ask any questions you have.

Fill in our webform or call us to get some counselling support.

What is it?

Bullying can be done by an individual or a group of people both online and in the real world.
Bullies tend to be trying to get a position of power over their ‘victim’ by treating them in a negative way either emotionally or physically. Bullies target a person for many reasons anything from gender and sexuality, ethnicity even because they’re really good at something, just because they are different in some way to themselves.

How does it make me feel?

There isn’t a legal or official definition of bullying, but broadly it’s thought of as repeated behaviours that intentionally emotionally, verbally or physically hurt someone. And the behaviour and actions of bullies can be internalised by the victim which can develop into low self-esteem and confidence.
Bullying takes many different forms and can include:

• Name calling or teasing
• Physical assault
• Creating and spreading rumours
• cyberbullying (like online or via mobile phones on social media or instant messaging apps)

What can I do?

If you’re experiencing bullying then talking to one of our counsellors can really help, they don’t know the person/people involved, they’re non-judgemental and so they’re completely objective.
Give us a call or fill out the webform to start that conversation.

For anything like stealing your possessions, physical violence or sharing non-consensual images or video of you, these are all illegal and ought to be reported to school/college if on their premises or/and to the police.