Senior Executive with Anxiety – Case Study

We worked with a lady who we are going to call Sarah*.

Sarah was a Senior Executive. We first met her in 2019 when conducting training at her workplace which focused on keeping the workplace healthy and reducing absenteeism.

Sarah contacted us in confidence after the training and said: “I can relate to some of the things you were talking about.  I don’t see my friends, I’m not sleeping well and I’m eating a diet that isn’t as healthy as it should be”.

Sarah recognised that she was beginning to feel anxious prior to starting her workday.  She travelled widely across Europe and acknowledged that she had begun to worry about that.  So, although she wasn’t unwell and didn’t need to see her GP, she could see that things were starting to build up. As she described it herself, things were ‘beginning to spiral’.

At KMA we emphasise the 3 C’s – communication, collaboration and consistency.  Without these, things can break down quickly. We ensure that all parties/stakeholders are working together effectively and that there is communication, there is collaboration and there is consistency in the approach we are all taking.

Communication

Our starting point with all clients at KMA is a conversation with a purpose and that is where we started with Sarah.

Through this conversation with a purpose we identify:

• What a person’s primary needs are
• What are the key issues?
• What are the barriers that are causing a person difficulty?

We consider all aspects of a person’s life, in terms of the impact that this has on work, output, productivity and wellbeing.

Sarah was a 34-year-old successful lady.  She had a supportive partner and in both their minds there was nothing that stood out as being wrong and they couldn’t “put their finger on” what was causing the anxiety and the ‘spiral’.

After the conversation/assessment, a report was produced with recommendations.

Collaboration

Now, Sarah could have just gone away with the steps forward which were outlined in the report. But she decided she wanted to undertake virtual intervention and look at how she could implement some of the recommendations into her working day.

We worked with her to undertake the intervention programme, using Skype and teleconferencing. The approach was a very flexible one so that wherever she was in the world, we could ensure that we supported and facilitated what needed to happen at the right time.

Where we had identified that the expertise of other professionals was called for, we ensured a co-ordinated approach between us all.  We work to achieve effective, smooth, ‘linked up’ interventions without any conflict between them. In this way, we achieve the results you are looking for.

Consistency

Our exploration revealed that Sarah sustained a car accident when she was in her late teens.  We were able to identify that her cervical spine was problematic. It wasn’t intensely painful, but it was out of alignment.  We recommended that she saw a specialist cranial-sacral physiotherapist, which helped address the problem.

We also recognised that, for Sarah, exercise was a vitally important activity. It helped to remove some of the anxiety and angst that built up throughout her day.  So, we brought on board a fitness instructor who worked closely with the physiotherapist for the treatment she was receiving for her cervical spine.

After three months, Sarah reported feeling less fatigued, her diet and fitness regime meant she felt better, had more energy and her sleep pattern had improved. Her confidence had returned, and she was travelling without hesitation.

Since we worked with Sarah, she has gone for promotion. Our intervention had been a success – a sustainable success.

* Sarah is a real former client, but to preserve confidentiality all identifiable factors have been changed.