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Stress Management
for Staff

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Save the Children

One-day training programme
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Stress Management
for Staff
Session1: Welcome and introduction

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Aim of training

To empower participants with skills to

recognise signs and symptoms of stress

To explore ways of reducing stress and

providing peer support

Louise Dyring Mbae/Save the Children

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Training schedule
SESSION 1 Introduction: What is stress?

SESSION 2 Types of stress

SESSION 3 Over- and under-involvement

SESSION 4 Ways to reduce stress

SESSION 5 Practice

Kate Holt/Save the Children

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What is stress ? Good stress

Enables you to ‘fight or flight’ – required for
motivation and safety

Bad stress
Outweighs resources to cope and makes you:

Feel overwhelmed

Unable to live up to own and others’

expectations

Feel out of balance place again

Sten Grove Thomsen

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Imbalance between
sources of stress and
resources to cope

COPING

SOURCES OF
STRESS

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How does stress

affect us Physically

Behavior Emotionally

Spiritually Socially
Discuss and list
on flip chart

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Stress management for staff

SESSION 2
Types of stress
Karin Beate Nøsterud/Save the Children

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Types of stress

STRESS

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Signs of SEVERE SIGNS

e.g.

cumulative stress Problems within relationships

Health changes
Personality changes
EXTENDED SIGNS
e.g.
Problems within relationships
Increased alcohol / drug use
MILD SIGNS Performance changes
e.g.
Problems concentrating
Problems remembering things
EARLY WARNING SIGNS Minor health problems
e.g.
Boredom
Fatigue
Anxiety
Sadness

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Rob Holden/Save the Children

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Burn-out is ?

A severe state of emotional and

physical exhaustion caused by excessive
and prolonged stress

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Symptoms Chronic physical and emotional

of burn-out exhaustion

Depleted energy

Detachment, withdrawal, isolation

Irritability

Feeling trapped

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Reduced or lack of enthusiasm and
motivation to work
Symptoms
of burn-out Diminished work efficiency

Diminished sense of personal

accomplishments

Hopelessness

Sadness

Pessimism and cynicism

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Types of stress

STRESS

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Traumatic stress types

Critical Secondary
incidence traumatisation
stress stress

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Critical
incident stress
Exposure to a critical incident

Sudden and disruptive

Can be immediately after event or delayed

’Normal reactions to abnormal events’

Benedicte Kurzen/Save the Children

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Usual and normal reactions to

traumatic incidents

Anger Anxiety Guilt

Deprivation Powerlessness Shame

Despair Helplessness Grief

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Secondary traumatisation
stress symptoms

Altered outlook, sense of identity

Problems with close relationships

Concentration and memory difficulties

Survivor guilt

Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children

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Secondary traumatisation
stress symptoms

Increased negative arousal

Difficulties in distinguishing between work and private life

Decreased tolerance level

Fear of working with certain categories of people

Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children

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Stress management for staff

SESSION 3
Over- and
under-involvement
Karin Beate Nøsterud/Save the Children

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Over- and under-involvement

Aim:
To create awareness of how to involve
oneself in an appropriate way

Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum for Save the Children

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Over-involvement – under-involvement
Movement towards Movement away from

Savior attitude Involve yourself Ability to register Cynicism

as a helper
Doing everything Professional Less contact
yourself Empathy distance
No responsibility
Settling everything Responsible for Keeping for peoples’
own behavior boundaries reactions
Exaggerated and reactions of
responsibility others Involvement in Lack of empathy
for peoples’ feelings different kinds of
Developing activities Blaming
Exaggerated strategies
preoccupation Changing subjeect
with peoples’
problems

Over-involvement Ideal area Under-involvement

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Stress management for staff

SESSION 4
Ways to reduce stress
Karin Beate Nøsterud/Save the Children

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Ways to
reduce stress

SOURCES OF COPING
STRESS

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Different ways Psychological, personal

to reduce stress
Physical

Social

Work-related
Mike Sunderland/Save the Children

Supervisors/team leaders

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Stress management for staff

SESSION 5
Practice
Karin Beate Nøsterud/Save the Children

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Active listening

Pay attention

Show you are listening

Encourage the person to talk

Respond without judging

Lee Celano/Getty Images for Save the Children

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Mentoring

When you use your own

knowledge, skills, experiences
to assist others

Is positive, motivating,
empowering

Is helping someone find a way

forward, but it is not you who
are resolving the issue for them

Helle Kjærsgaard/Save the Children

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Practice
session
15 minutes each:
5 minutes to share problems

5 minutes to ask questions

5 minutes to find strategies to address problems

Swap

Louise Dyring Nielson/Save the Children

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If you have stress
reactions... Do not try to hide feelings

Do not self-medicate

Continue to work on routine tasks

Go easy on yourself

Seek professional advice

Realize that your reactions

are common

Save the Children

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