I did a couple of radio interviews as a result of the piece I wrote in the Conversation about my anxiety when flying and how I used compassion focused therapy techniques to help.
The first interview was with David Curnow on 612ABC Brisbane Radio. You can listen to it here. David asked me a number of different questions relating to what compassion focused therapy is, as well what I did specifically on the plane. It was the first radio interview I had done in quite some time, and it was a little scary being in the studio behind all the boom microphones and buttons. I must admit I was quite nervous doing the radio interview, and I had to use my imagery techniques from Compassion Focused Therapy to help.
The second interview was with Michael Mackenzie on Radio National. You can also listen to that interview here. I was also anxious for this radio interview as this was broadcasted nationally. I kept thinking to myself, “you better not make a mistake”, and of course this is a very unhelpful thought. So I went back to my rhythm soothing breathing (a compassion focused therapy technique) and did some mindfulness. This is a very important point, because often we can think all we only need to do the technique once and then my anxiety will be sorted. That is not at all the case. Often you ned to return to your skill set over and over again. With time the anxiety does indeed become less.
I think both the interviews went quite well. It was great to spread the news about compassion to a wider audience.
Note. That is me in the studio with David Curnow.
