Don't panic - just breathe! Whanganui mental health unit takes advice from UCOL student

Te Awhina clinical nurse manager Heather Coffey, UCOL nursing student Leah Akkerman and her placement support nurse Lilly Hepi.

When a patient at a mental health unit at Whanganui hospital was going through extreme anxiety, the solution to calm them down came from an unlikely source.

Second-year UCOL nursing student, Leah Akkerman, had heard about the Box Breathing Technique tool from a friend serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Developed by an United States Navy SEAL, the technique was found to be very effective when people in the services were facing stressful situations.

It's a technique where someone breathes in for four seconds, before holding that breath for the same amount of time. Then they exhale over four seconds. After exhaling the person will hold their breath for four seconds before inhaling and repeating the process again.

When Akkerman used the technique on a distressed patient at Te Awhina, a clinical nurse educator saw Akkerman doing it and she asked if it could be made easy for other staff to employ it.

It's being developed by Akkerman into easy-to-follow instructions that Te Awhina staff could carry on their lanyards.

Te Awhina staff had used breathing techniques to help clients manage their anxiety but none had seen the Box Breathing Technique tool in use and they liked what they saw.

Akkerman said she liked the technique as it was easy to practise away from work and at any time.

"The second time I used the technique with a Te Awhina patient it was just as successful as the first time," she said.

"My UCOL tutor Helena Keyes has been very supportive of me developing this work with Te Awhina."