Many of are uncertain how to help someone having a panic attack. Here are five helpful tips to help a friend or family member during a panic attack. 1. Help them with guided breathing. The key is to breathe as slowly & deeply as possible as breathing will likely become very shallow . Slowing down your breathing is really important if you are feeling anxious. Short quick breaths reinforce your body's "fight or flight" response. There are many ways to breathe. One simple tec

If you are feeling anxious, it's likely that your breathing has become shallow and you may be feeling restless or uneasy. Try some of these calming strategies - different tools will work for different people. If you are trained in Mental Health First Aid these are also strategies you can use to support someone who is experiencing anxiety. 1. Breathing Techniques Slowing down your breathing is really important if you are feeling anxious. Short quick breaths reinforce your bod

The Energy Answer with Alison Butler is an interview series where we explore mental & physical well being and tools we can use to reduce stress and overwhelm. Today on The Energy Answer I'm chatting with Melissa Lloyd of DoodleLovely and DoodleBreaks. Melissa's journey is about bringing intentional calm and creativity using doodling as a key tool to help quiet the mind and connect to a place deep inside, that needs daily attention. In our conversation, we talk about: How Meli

"Wellbeing" is a blog series where I interview and introduce you to inspiring people doing interesting things that can connect to our mental well being. Today, meet Heather. Hi! My name is Heather, and some people know me as the "Bliss Girl." I am a Jay Shetty Certified Life and Success Coach and soon to be NLP ( Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Practitioner. I am the founder of Connecting to Bliss Coaching, which started as a movement to help parents learn the tools not to fee

The Energy Answer with Alison Butler is an interview series where we explore mental & physical well being and tools we can use to reduce stress and overwhelm. Today on The Energy Answer I'm chatting with Ryan Osborne of Oz Coaching. Ryan is a Kinesiologist and coach helping people become fit leaders. In our conversation, we talk about: How "I don't feel good" is a common theme for so many people for improving their fitness and well being - whether it be "I'm in pain", "I sit

The Energy Answer with Alison Butler is an interview series where we explore mental & physical well being and tools we can use to reduce stress and overwhelm. Welcome back to our second episode of The Energy Answer. Today I chat with Jessica Cox - Confidence and Success Coach about how important it is to show up imperfectly - I believe this is such an importance message for those of us working on our wellness and mental well being. Life is not perfect. We have to embrace whe

The Energy Answer with Alison Butler is an interview series where we explore mental & physical well being and tools we can use to reduce stress and overwhelm. Hi Everyone! I'm so excited to be sharing this chat with Emily Lewis of Mindfulness with Emily . I think we can all use a little more mindfulness in our lives right now. In our conversation, we talk about: What mindfulness actually IS - there's so much buzz around this topic right now but how can we understand it in pl

Did you know that virtual Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) has been here in Canada for over a year and I facilitate this training to groups and companies across the country almost every week? I absolutely love the virtual training model. It's streamlined, interactive and engaging for participants. Think you might lose out by not being in an in-person class? I personally don't think so - here are some benefits of the virtual Mental Health First Aid training program. Virtual Me

As part of my own wellness journey I've tried to be more mindful about the food I consume. Two of my easy "go to" recipes for a healthy morning are vegan protein smoothies and vegan protein smoothie bowls. I don't worry about having fresh fruit - I always like to keep a couple of bags of frozen fruit in my freezer (don't have to worry about it going bad!) Add my vanilla protein and oat or almond milk and I'm ready to go (you can also use coconut milk!) The breakfast I eat the

I really enjoyed my conversation with Jess of eThree on the "Unlocking Your People" podcast. This podcast focuses on work and employment, especially for leaders. In this episode we chat about how to initiate a conversation about mental wellbeing in a supportive way and about creating a supportive space for your people that focuses on them as unique individuals with unique needs. ​ ​​ Listen to the podcast episode Hi, I'm Alison and welcome to the blog. If you’re constantly “