Understanding and Managing the Stress in Your Life

Stress affects everyone in today’s workplace.  Many of us try to control and/or reduce stress, but very few of us truly try to understand what is causing it and how we might reckon with the stressor itself.  This workshop typically involves a larger amount of participant introspection, assessment, and personal work; less group or team interaction and sharing.

Intended audience 

All levels.  This program can be customized as a 2-hour overview, a 4-hour workshop, or as a series of conversations over a period of several months.

Depending on length of program, OBJECTIVES may include:

• Understanding how stress affects us and those around us
• Learning about psychological and physiological indicators of stress
• Assessing how stress affects our productivity
• Exploring attitudes and beliefs about stress
• Assessing individual stressors – on and off the job
• De-fusing job stress
• Assessing individual coping mechanisms
• Learning workday coping mechanisms

Depending on length of program, TOPICS may include:

Definitions of Stress

• Original definition
• New definitions

Personal manifestations of stress

• Assessing how stress affects our bodies
• Assessing how stress affects our minds
• Assessing how stress affects our behavior

Assessing stress levels

• Different people: different reactions
• Type A vs. Type B personalities and the relation to stress

Coping skills: habits and rituals

• The Stress & Coping Profile
• Coping: band-aid or behavior change

Reducing stress by modifying stressors

Reducing stress by modifying reactions to stressors