1.1 Capacity to cope

One way of thinking about your capacity to cope is to regard your capacity as a bucket, and day-to-day stressors as water. As water starts to fill the bucket, eventually it will overflow and so the bucket’s capacity has been reached. Similarly with your own capacities, if you keep taking on more and more, you will eventually no longer be able to cope, or to continue taking on the support needs of others.

At the centre of this graphic is a bucket containing water. Above the bucket are the following: job problems, anxiety, family/relationship stress, dealing with change, poor diet, financial issues, lack of sleep, health worries. There are two lines indicated on the bucket: ‘normal’ and then underneath that ‘relaxed’. There are holes at the bottom of the bucket where water is escaping. These are labelled as ‘Rest and relaxation’, ‘Talking to trusted people’, ‘Doing something you enjoy’, ‘Good time management’.
Figure 2 The Stress Bucket, originally developed by Brabban and Turkington (2002).

To be able to retain some capacity, you need to be able to allow some of the stressors to be dissipated or to ‘flow out’, as in the bucket image above. This can be achieved through many different types of activities that enable you to manage stress, such as engaging in hobbies, spending time with friends, or taking ‘time out’.

Watch MindWell’s ‘Stress Bucket’ video to better understand its function.

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OpenLearn - Supporting adult learners’ positive mental health
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