Stress Management and Emotional Resilience Training Course

Participants can analyse work-related stressors and identify controllable sources of pressure.

• Use a stressor inventory to distinguish controllable from uncontrollable demands
• Map demand-resource imbalances using the Job Demands-Resources model
• Apply the HSE Management Standards to workload, control and role
• Examine shift patterns, interruptions, caseloads and documentation burdens
• Assess moral distress arising from constrained clinical or service decisions
• Record stress triggers, intensity, duration and recovery opportunities

Participants can use short, evidence-informed techniques to regulate acute stress responses.

• Diaphragmatic breathing regulates arousal through paced exhalation and attention
• Progressive muscle relaxation identifies and releases accumulated muscular tension
• Grounding techniques use sensory orientation during acute distress episodes
• Box breathing supports deliberate pauses before difficult conversations or decisions
• Use the STOP skill to interrupt impulsive stress reactions
• Create a two-minute reset routine for demanding work transitions

Participants can identify and reframe unhelpful thinking patterns during stressful situations.

• ABC model separates activating events, beliefs and emotional consequences
• Identify cognitive distortions: catastrophising, mind-reading, overgeneralisation and all-or-nothing thinking
• Challenge automatic thoughts with evidence, alternatives and proportionate consequences
• Distinguish realistic risk assessment from threat amplification under pressure
• Practise cognitive reappraisal without dismissing legitimate workplace problems
• Use self-compassion statements to reduce punitive self-talk after errors

Participants can recognise emotions accurately and select suitable regulation strategies.

• Name emotions precisely using an emotion vocabulary and intensity scale
• Separate feelings, interpretations, needs and behavioural choices during conflict
• Apply the RULER framework: recognise, understand, label, express and regulate emotions
• Choose regulation strategies matched to emotion intensity and situational demands
• Use urge surfing to tolerate difficult emotions without reactive action
• Recognise emotional contagion and its effect on team climate

Participants can communicate limits, support needs and workload risks clearly and professionally.

• Use assertive DESC scripts for requests, boundaries and difficult feedback
• Set scope limits when competing demands exceed safe capacity
• SBAR structures escalation of workload, risk and support concerns
• Distinguish assertiveness from aggression, passivity and passive-aggressive communication
• Prepare refusal language that preserves relationships and professional standards
• Conduct boundary conversations with colleagues, clients and family members

Participants can recognise forms of occupational emotional strain and select appropriate support actions.

• Recognise burnout dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism and reduced professional efficacy
• Differentiate compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma
• Apply trauma-informed principles: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and voice
• Use peer check-ins following distressing incidents or difficult cases
• Plan recovery after exposure to trauma, grief or aggression
• Identify referral thresholds for occupational health or mental health support

Participants can plan daily and weekly recovery practices suited to demanding work schedules.

• Prioritise tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix and clinical urgency criteria
• Timebox documentation, email and administrative tasks around core responsibilities
• Apply implementation intentions to protect recovery breaks and decompression periods
• Plan shift handovers that reduce unfinished-task rumination after work
• Use the Pomodoro Technique selectively for concentrated administrative work
• Design sleep, nutrition, movement and caffeine routines around shift patterns

Participants can support colleagues appropriately and escalate stress-related risks through suitable channels.

• Psychological safety enables early reporting of overload, error and distress
• Conduct supportive check-ins using open questions, reflection and summarising
• Apply Psychological First Aid principles after critical incidents
• Debrief incidents without blame using facts, impacts and follow-up actions
• Recognise warning signs requiring emergency, clinical or safeguarding referral
• Escalate systemic stressors through appropriate management and governance routes

Participants can produce a practical resilience plan with measurable actions and support arrangements.

• Interpret Perceived Stress Scale results as prompts for reflection, not diagnosis
• Review stressor patterns, coping responses and recovery data over time
• Set SMART recovery goals linked to specific work situations
• Build a personal resilience plan with daily, weekly and escalation actions
• Schedule accountability conversations and review points with a trusted colleague
• Define indicators showing when the plan requires adjustment or referral