Dr Sarah Williams - Techniques to improve stress optimisation for better mental health and wellbeing

Experiencing high levels of stress contributes to and exacerbates poor mental health and worse wellbeing. High levels of stress have been associated with increased prevalence of anxiety disorders, mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, disordered eating, and even suicidal thoughts and behaviours.  Despite the negative implications of stressful events, not everyone experiencing stress will have a poor outcome. How we view or appraise stress can influence the effect stress has on our mental health and wellbeing. Therefore, establishing interventions that help individuals to appraise and view stress more adaptively may lead to improved coping with stress which should in turn have a positive effect on mental health and wellbeing. This presentation will provide an overview of the different strategies and techniques we have developed and tested over the past few years to help individuals view and appraise stress more adaptively. The presentation will present our latest research and describe our future work.

Registration in advance is required: Register to attend 

About the Speaker

Dr Sarah Williams, University of Birmingham 

Dr Sarah Williams is an Assistant Professor in Sport and Performance Psychology in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Her research focusses on investigating and establishing how techniques can effectively alter appraisals and responses to stress to promote better mental health and wellbeing and improve performance. Sarah has identified dispositions associated with resilience and more adaptive coping with stress, and has used this work to develop interventions to help individuals reframe stressful situations and view stress more adaptively enabling them to cope and even thrive in these situations. She has published in various journals in the fields of sport psychology, health psychology, psychophysiology, and stress and coping.

This seminar is free to attend and is open to all, both within and outside the University.  Attendance is possible both in person and on zoom, registration details can be found above.  Registration in advance is required.