At first I assumed that it was simply assumed that it was just another workplace fall and that it had hurt a little but nothing serious and simply shrugged it off thinking it was nothing. A little later though it was still hurting, and really hurting, having bashed my ribs on the stairs as I fell I began to feel increasing pains in my chest and was very short of breath. After a short time I had another fall, this one I remember rather less well as I had passed out and collapsed, I woke up the next day having had surgery for a collapsed lung.

It turns out the stairs were rather tougher than I thought and had managed to break three of my ribs that had then managed to crush my lung, not the most pleasant experience of my life and I had the extra pain of having to be off work for 6 weeks to recover and having nothing but my small amount of savings to fall back on. After a short time I realised this wasn’t going to be even nearly enough and that I needed to find money to compensate for my wages somewhere, after a little while a friend encouraged me to make a personal injury claim against my company. I had first been apprehensive as I thought that I would not be able to go back to work after claiming against the company I worked for but after thinking about it again I realised that it was money that I was owed. Not only was I owed this money, it was merely replacing the wages that I would have earned if I had been able to work.

After a quick trawl of the internet I managed to find an injury lawyer that offered No Win No Fee Compensation and had an incredibly high success rate. After a few phone calls and meetings with solicitors and then a period of waiting for offers I eventually had the money in my account and was able to stop living from my savings. Any fears that I had about starting back at work after my claim were unfounded and I found that people were more concerned that I was feeling better and the claim is yet to be mentioned at work.

TV viewers are subject to an average of 43 commercials a day, many of which are focused on telling you how you should look and act – people’s self-esteems are taking a hit. After all, this perfection that people crave cannot be attained. This is all the more important now that there have been links developed between a high self esteem and a healthy mind. A low self esteem is the most common low level mental health problem amongst women. More than 60% are affected and 80% of those that are aged between 18 and 24. Low self-esteem is also said to lead to obesity, children who aren’t happy with their appearance are likely to be larger when they grow up – contrary to popular belief emotional factors are a huge risk when it comes to obesity.

All in all having a low self esteem leaves you looking and feeling worse about yourself, it is time to break this cycle and understand that you have plenty of reasons to feel confident, to understand that you do have good qualities. I am always cautious when stating clichés, but it is scientifically proven that being confident will get you more dates than being attractive will. When a group of men were asked to pose for photos both before wearing lynx and after, women found the men wearing lynx more attractive, and this is because they felt more attractive in themselves. Being confident in yourself gives you a radiance and attractiveness. Similarly a study at Webster University showed that it was the women that smiled at men with a direct gaze that were more frequently approached – it was those that worked hardest not those who were prettiest who thrived.

In a recent study looking into Botox, scientists and researchers discovered that the act of smiling can actually influence the experience of emotions. It is said that smiling can actually make you feel happier whilst frowning can genuinely make you feel down. I was always conscious about my teeth as a child and so was burdened with an uncomfortable close-mouthed grin – but once I underwent teeth whitening in Manchester, I felt far more confident and generally (because I wasn’t suppressing a smile) happier. Nothing good comes of a bad self esteem, try to open your mind and gain a little confidence and the results will change just about everything.

New research released from Cardiff University this week has suggested that depression can be treated by re-training the brain. In the study of eight people the researchers discovered, through use of MRI scans, that eight patients who were shown positive images responded well to the treatment, reporting an improvement in their condition after just four sessions, whereas a group of eight others who were not shown positive images but simply told to think positively reported no change at all.

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There are almost as many different types of counselling as there are issues to counsel people on, with the list growing each year as different counsellors train to specialise in more and more unusual topics. This is arguably a good thing, as it means that more people can get specialised care, but at the same time the sheer amount of different types can be very confusing at times, especially for the people that the counselling is aimed at.

If you are thinking about going into counselling as a career choice, then you also need to bear all the different types in mind, and apply for jobs accordingly. Some types of counselling are more popular and widespread than others, so it may be easier to get a job in those types of counselling. For others who have either recently been created, or are perhaps less popular, it may paradoxically be both harder and easier to get those jobs, because demand for workers will be low but the company may want to expand.

As well as the different types of counselling available, there are also different intensities, ranging from hotlines to one to one personalised services every day. Each intensity is suited to a different problem, or range of problems, but it is also relative to how the person themselves is affected by the problem. The more affected they are, the more intense the counselling may need to be, though this is not always the case: it is therefore most important to take individual needs into account.