{"id":152899,"date":"2025-09-22T10:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T10:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/152899\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T10:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T10:14:08","slug":"how-to-spot-and-manage-anxiety-at-work-and-when-to-get-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/152899\/","title":{"rendered":"How to spot and manage anxiety at work \u2013 and when to get help"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up<\/a> to receive it in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Around 70 per cent of working Canadians report <\/a>that their work experience impacts their mental health, cites the Canadian Psychological Association. <\/p>\n

That means, for many professionals, anxiety is just part of the job \u2013 tight deadlines, difficult colleagues or uncertainty about the future can all spark emotional responses. But how do you know when that anxious feeling is something to work through on your own and when it\u2019s time to seek outside support?<\/p>\n

Phoebe Gavin, a Washington, D.C.-based career and leadership coach, says anxiety is central to the conversations she has with clients. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnxiety is the primary emotion that I deal with as a career and leadership coach,\u201d she says. \u201cIt makes sense, given the role that work has in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very much taught to view our purpose and our value and our identity as it relates to our profession,\u201d she says. \u201cSo if things are not happening in your career the way that you would like, if you\u2019re having trouble at work, if you\u2019re between jobs, it can be very destructive to your self-image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Gavin, who was featured on the 2022 Netflix documentary Take Your Pills: Xanax, says there are non-chemical tools workers can use to manage that anxiety. The first step is identifying it and how often it\u2019s showing up. She encourages people to look at three key factors: frequency, intensity and duration.<\/p>\n

She says if you\u2019re experiencing intense anxiety but infrequently and not lasting too long, it may not be a signal you need support. However, if it\u2019s happening frequently, even on a low level, it may be time to ask for support. <\/p>\n

She says the same thing goes for intensity and duration. If your anxiety is so high you can\u2019t function or it lasts longer than you might consider reasonable, you likely need to take steps to reduce and manage it. <\/p>\n

So what kind of support should you seek? That depends on the root of the anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s about your feelings, talk to a therapist about it. That is a perfect place for you to be talking about your workplace distress. If it is more about what you can or cannot do, what you need to do or things you need to change, you probably need to talk to a coach about that,\u201d Ms. Gavin says. <\/p>\n

In fact, Ms. Gavin says many clients come to her after hitting a wall with therapy when it comes to workplace-specific issues. She says that while a therapist can talk about your emotions, it doesn\u2019t always translate to how to talk to your boss. <\/p>\n

For workers experiencing anxiety and having trouble separating work from their identity, Ms. Gavin recommends cultivating a strong support system, which may include family, friends and a therapist, finding purpose outside of your job and regularly engaging in activities that boost confidence and reduce stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour situation only changes if you take action,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for next week\u2019s newsletter where Ms. Gavin shares insights specifically for managers who have employees who are dealing with anxiety. <\/p>\n

Fast factFinding fuel <\/p>\n

47 per cent<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how many employees regularly look to conversations with their leader as a source of inspiration, according to a report from employee recognition software company O.C. Tanner. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Career guidanceBetter battles<\/p>\n

When conflict flares up at work, it\u2019s easy to flip into fight or flight mode. However, experts say it is possible to interrupt this reaction and take action to have a more productive interaction. <\/p>\n

Start by grounding yourself. You can take slow breaths and remind yourself that the conflict isn\u2019t personal. Next, call out what you\u2019re feeling so you can see your raw emotions as information to help you process. Finally, step away if you need to. In tough moments, calm isn\u2019t just nice to have \u2013 it\u2019s a real advantage.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

QuotedAI ambition <\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding a world-class AI team means aligning your technology strategy with your business strategy so that there is a collective ambition to create the transformation that AI can provide. That includes making transformation a way of life rather than a one-time project, creating a culture of curiosity where technologists have a growth mindset and an environment that calculated risk-taking and new ways of achieving goals,\u201d writes Foteini Agrafioti, senior vice-president for data and artificial intelligence and chief science officer at Royal Bank of Canada.<\/p>\n

In this article, Dr. Agrafioti shares how to build a world-class AI team when top talent is in high demand. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

On our radarPrivate PAs<\/p>\n

While the role of executive assistant is plummeting within organizations, more everyday workers are investing in their own virtual or in-person personal assistants to increase productivity and earnings, and have more time for family. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[5625,17125,17126,17122,17121,5847,17127,102,1371,1906,6623,1673,14367,17124,56,54,55,14483,17123],"class_list":{"0":"post-152899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-career-advice","9":"tag-career-leadership","10":"tag-careers-globe-and-mail","11":"tag-careers-newsletter","12":"tag-careersnewsletter","13":"tag-future-of-work","14":"tag-globe-and-mail-newsletter","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-jobs","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-mentalhealth","19":"tag-newsletter","20":"tag-noastack","21":"tag-thought-leadership","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-unitedkingdom","25":"tag-workplace-culture","26":"tag-your-life-at-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}