In the face of crisis, it can be very difficult not to be overwhelmed. It may feel like we are unable to cope, that life is completely unfair, and even that we are helpless. These negative feelings can pull us down, damage our confidence and tempt us into giving up.

As we've all had different experiences, we've learnt a whole range of coping skills in a variety of challenging situations. I believe that being "in a crisis" is either when we have not got strong enough coping skills for that particular situation, or when so many challenging situations are happening at once that we are becoming exhausted in our efforts to cope with them.

I can share my experience of how I managed to turn a crisis around:

When I was nineteen years old I applied to become a nursing student and was accepted. I had passed through my school years fairly effortlessly and wasn't expecting much difficulty. I was estranged from my mother, had just come out of local authority care, and was living unsupported in my own flat. This was a new situation for me and I knew that I would not be financially well off, but thought I could deal with it as long as I paid my bills. I was hopeful that I could get qualified as a nurse and look forward to a better life.

But as the months passed I realised that I was struggling to get good grades. I thoroughly enjoyed the practical work on hospital wards and community placements. But I found a lot of the academic work incredibly boring, irrelevant, and at a much higher level than I was used to. It took me a lot of effort to maintain my grades in the classroom.

On top of this I was trying to cope with problems in my personal life. I had family and relationship problems going on, and then I found a lump in my breast. The council were sending me letters telling me I was in rent arrears and threatening me with eviction. I was only getting paid once every three months, an amount that worked out to about 90 per week. I was not able to budget this well because my outgoing costs were more than my income.

So, as an attempt to prevent myself becoming homeless, I started to pay most of my money to the council to cover my rent and council tax. I could then not afford a travel pass and so I walked two hours there and two hours back to continue my nursing education. I did not have enough money to eat every day and so I ate only once every three days. I frequently went without gas and electricity because I could not afford the bills.

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