GC1110: Reducing my stress on the road

Our understanding of stress has undergone fundamental revision in the past decade and we now know a great deal more about why many people find being a driver or a passenger can make them angry – or disproportionately fearful.

On this course the relationship between the stress that you are carrying in your life before you get in a vehicle, the way your mind copes with travelling at speeds far greater than it has evolved for, the way our brains interpret other motorists’ behaviour and the complex neurological processing that is inherent when travelling, are all examined.

At the end you will understand why you feel the ways that you do, when you do. If you want to establish – or return to – a régime where travelling can be relaxing and enjoyable, a chance to wind down rather than wind yourself and others up – this is the course for you.

Principle learning method Face-to-face teaching and group discussion with a post-course exercise in which the reasons for your improved abilities are reviewed and highlighted

Some attendance necessary? Yes: essential

Duration: 1 day or 2 days residential. Please see FAQs for further details.

Entry requirements There are no entry requirements for this course.

Application status Applications being accepted

Course contact If you have any questions about this course, please email admissions@nicrs.org

Location: London, Edinburgh

Dates:

London: May 2012, July 2012

Edinburgh: August 2012

This is a new course and start dates may be subject to change

Fees:

£105 plus you will be invited to join the group and tutors for lunch – we are waiting for information from the caterers to confirm the cost. You are not obliged to have lunch with the group. There are a limited number of grants available.

Rationale and aims

If you have too much stress in your life, it's likely that you'll find, weirdly, that driving can make you more angry, or more downcast, than they'd like. Perhaps one day you can be raging, yet on another thoughtless drivers have you welling up. We understand why this is - and because driving needs you to be in control, we believe that if you understand the reactions within you that can cause these emotional roller-coasters, you'll be able to manage difficult driving situations better in the future. So not only are you safer, you're having a much nicer time. Millions of people who drive as part of their living – or their life – can be safer and happier. Part of a campaign called 'Stress on the Roads', this course is about improving the driving lives of the people who attend it. If you need to understand why other people can have their emotions challenged when they drive, please have a look at GC1123 Understanding road-rage in others.

Subjects to be covered on the course

Understanding yourself: What happens to your body every time you drive, what happens to your mind
What you think is happening when you drive versus what is really happening
How to deal effectively with the chemical changes that happen when you drive
Things that prevent driving being a pleasure – and how to ditch them
Anticipating and coping safely with people who have lost, or might lose, emotional control

Teaching Methods

This is a truly informal attendance course that includes lecturing and discussion. Class time is divided between lecturing and group discussion, with questions and interactive participation encouraged at all times. Independent study consists of background reading and maintenance of a reflective diary. Techniques will be demonstrated and taught to help participants reduce and control better their own Excess-stress and Post-slowstress fatigue when driving.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course, when the reflective exercise is successfully completed and returned, you will be equipped to:

Use your knowledge about what stress really is to gain control over what you do and how you behave towards others
Understand why driving is generically stressful
Understand how to investigate successfully the way in which your own Excess-stress is constructed, and on what personal beliefs and assumptions your Excess-stress repeats itself
Know how to take the information formed above and use it to radically change how you feel when you drive
Know where to find more help and advice
Start a programme that will make driving exciting and pleasurable again

Creditable towards:

Creditable towards Academically accreditable towards Nicrs programmes if post-course reflective exercise successfully completed.

Financial credits
Whole cost of course refundable against Registered Stress Practitioner (Vocational) courses; half towards Registered Stress Practitioner (Professional) courses.