Learn a little more about Victoria and how Pocket Stress Buster can help you
On May 2nd 2007, I survived a near-fatal car accident when a car drove through me whilst cycle training before work in the London City – and the seed for Pocket Stress Buster (PSB) was sown.
In 2009 I was diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Refusing medication, I returned to university to study a Masters in Psychology to help myself heal naturally.
In 2015 another accident stalled me further, but it gave me the time I needed to heal helped me formulate Pocket Stress Buster.In 2017, I returned to cycling adventures, and in 2018 I cycled 1000km of mountainous Vietnam for the charity ‘PTSD Resolution’.
Exercise continues to be more challenging than it appears, both psychologically and physiologically as the body adjusts and re-adjusts to training, but my experiences have left me in awe of how we can shift and change when we dedicate ourselves to the cause.
Understanding yourself is paramount to enhancing performance – no matter your goal. Trauma is the body’s ultimate stress response, so you can learn much from it to empower the fastest possible change even if you think you aren’t that ill or stressed. As I continue my own journey, I bring these learnings to help others manage stress and achieve their personal goals.
This year’s goal is to consolidate the last few years effort: I worked on healing myself from 18 months of Long Covid-19, the results of which culminated in giving birth to a baby boy! During pregnancy I completed an MSc at Worcester University in EMDR-based and trauma-informed psychotherapy, the only MSc of this kind. I am also trained in Deep Brain Reorientation. I am a regular participant of international conferences that seek to bring together Neuroscientists, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy to gain a deeper understanding of the conscious experience.
All the learnings I gather are applied to Pocket Stress Buster’s programme, sustaining its unique proposition, and enhancing your chance for positive change.
You do not have to suffer from PTSD or have suffered a terrible childhood to benefit from Pocket Stress Buster. The programme is designed to help anyone make change who wants to.
This programme transfers the latest scientific research into practical lessons, so all you have to do is listen, read, and practice. The question I ask of you is:
“In your increasingly demanding and time-pressurised life, why wouldn’t you want to learn the most effective, and efficient stress management methods to feel calm, in control, and build resilience for the future?”
Why Pocket Stress Buster differs from other programmes
I would like to explain a little more about how this intensive programme differs from others. My speciality is Memory Reprocessing from EMDR – a pioneering trauma-focused therapy that brings the latest scientific findings about human behaviour to practice.
You will learn by doing with unrivalled support by me to ensure you will achieve your goal. This includes 1-2-1 sessions with me, intimate group practices, 1-2-1 WhatsApp messaging with me, a private like-minded Community to which I respond, and lastly Ill send you reminders designed to nudge you into action with a friendly tone of voice!
Unlike talking therapies, I will give you the power to take back control of what is bothering you. I will guide you through a process that also teaches you a set of life-skills so that you can deal with stress when it comes up for you.
Instead of years in cyclical therapy you will start by signing up to just a couple of months with me. Then you can see what support you want thereafter. You may find that can leave the programme and never see a therapist ever again.
Whether you want to make change, at home, work, or in the sporting field, memory reprocessing provides an impressive mechanism of action to do so. For this reason it is at the heart of Pocket Stress Buster.
Healing from PTSD and rebuilding my body post accident forced me to learn deeply about the mind and body. I searched beyond the single focus found in science, psychological and physical therapies.
Later, my professional practice reminded me of individual differences and that there is no one solution for all. Furthermore, the capacity to change varies across personal ability and time. Not forgetting that life just keeps chucking you curve balls!
Mindfulness, yogic practices of the Ancients, Progressive Muscle Relaxation in the 1920s, Meditation and CBT in the 1960s, EMDR in the 1980s amongst a few others, and finally the latest contributions from neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence form our latest understanding of how the body works.
The interplay between emotions, feelings, thoughts and actions is required to effect change. Trauma creates the whole gambit of bodily responses, and so what we learn from treating trauma applies brilliantly else where.
Pocket Stress Buster encapsulates multiple scientific advances to bring you a unique, self-tailoring method so that you can take control of your own emotions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to gain the most from your life.
On stress, trauma and the wider context
Let me explain a little more about the stress and trauma I refer to in this programme.
Stress is a feeling of emotional strain or physical tension. It is your body’s reaction to an internal or external stressor. Learning how you react to stress, and implementing what you need to recover from it is key to long term health, happiness and success.
Think of stress as sitting on a scale – in small doses it can boost performance (e.g. for a sporting event), in continuous doses it contributes to unwanted habits and the failing of goal completion, whilst in larger doses it becomes traumatising. For example it causes heightened anxiety, low mood, burnout, and in extreme it can change your genetic make-up creating intergenerational trauma – providing the basis for ‘family traits’ (e.g arthritis or bipolar disorder).
Trauma is physical injury and/or an experience that produces psychological pain. Any experience that is overwhelming and/or bothers you beyond the time of when it happens is traumatic.
Trauma doesn’t have to express itself in full on PTSD or another medical diagnosis. It also exists in daily life – such as shouting at your family unnecessarily and then feeling bad afterwards.
Other less obvious expressions of trauma include; continuous grieving after a loss; maybe you remember certain moments in your past such as not liking school; or perhaps you are just aware of a sense of insecurity (about something).
We all lug about residual stress and various degrees of trauma that prevents us from fully enjoying the present moment. Over time this stress shrinks your world, impairs performance slowly waring you down – and then one day you finally snap.
In this programme you will reprocess your past to feel better in your present and I will help you do that. If you are committed, I will commit to you. You will have unparalleled access to me so that you will have the right support to make sure your achieve your goals. Additionally, I promise to teach you the most up to date tools that are exiting science and holistic therapies. Teach them to your friends and children so that they may benefit from them too.
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PSB utilises a range of audio, written and physical exercises to deliver key learnings in stress reduction techniques and psycho-education. The modules are bite-sized and trackable so you can jump about as you learn. Personalise what works for you.
Subject to engagement, you will create a secured private repository of personal information that will shed light on why and how you respond to stress pre, during and post the programme – ultimately creating a library of personal stress-busting methods and activities for personal development.
Some people are strong thinkers and some are feelers; here it doesn’t matter. PSB teaches you a range of ways of how to feel more relaxed in control. With time you’ll learn how to use both your body and mind to handle stress better.
Sometimes we need to just be. We need to just let it all out but feel we can’t. PSB offers you a place to express yourself and reflect on your situation in private. Once the sting of emotion has been expressed the brain’s frontal ‘thinking’ lobes are more strongly engaged enabling perspective, greater clarity and solution making. Now you have a greater chance of choosing how to think, feel and act.
Writing can be a powerful method to release stress and understand what’s really bugging you. It can help the brain create acceptance. We have created different writing tools to help you capture thoughts, feelings and ideas for positive change. This includes capturing insightful ideas as you learn.
As you create a catalogue of emotions, thoughts and feelings you’ll build awareness, and start to understand what is really stressing you. Working with the heart of the matter enables decisive action for change.
You’re busy. It isn’t easy to foster new habits at the best of times. This in mind we deliver the week’s task ahead in one email. We also send you daily reminders to jog your memory to act during the busy day. We hope this helps.
PSB has a range of inbuilt ‘counters’ to help you track change. We start by taking your stress levels and then we monitor them over the course of the 6 weeks. We use scientifically proven methods. In addition, there are weekly ‘quizzes’ that serve to help you identify what works for you over time.
PSB acts like a private members club, enabling you to connect with, and learn from other like-minded people. There are also Community conversations for you to engage with (anonymously or not).
We believe in good old-fashioned written communication – the joy of receiving a card. Select one of our e-cards (or create your own) and write to a friend, family or anyone outside of the PSB community. Let them know that you’re grateful for their part in your life or just say “hello, I’m thinking of you.” Let them know they aren’t forgotten.
Utilise the online ‘goal development’ diary to help you achieve your goals, at home or work. Why not contextualise this work in relationship to something you want to achieve.
PSB is designed to be self-guided. We also believe that you can gain much support and motivation by participating in Supervision. The idea of Supervision is to create a ‘structured space’ with limited group sizes for you to participate in a real life practical work shop with time for your questions and answers. There is a concessionary fee charged for this service.
Dispel unwanted feelings; take control of stressors, and make positive change today!