The Pressured Job
Techniques for Handling High Stress Assignments

“Homeostasis” is the medical term used to describe the steady, desirable, undisturbed internal equilibrium that we need to maintain. That inner balance tries to remain constant and stable despite external changes and shocks to the system.

When outside changes get too much for us we begin to experience inner chaos and disorder. The more people can retain their sense of inner steadiness in these situations, the more likely they will be effective, rebound quickly from failure or loss and find it easy to make adaptive responses to life.

This course helps people identify the stressors in their lives, increase their tolerance for some, reduce or avoid others when possible and develop a broad range of coping behaviors to deal with those that remain.

This workshop is ideal for those who work in jobs in which future events are largely ambiguous, they have little control over the major influences in their lives and they cannot escape risk. This is especially true of high-stress postings such as positions on emergency response teams. Participants complete a variety of assignments and engage in appropriate role-plays.


What's Covered

1. A thorough understanding of the most typical stress producers in 21st Century work.
   
   
2. Constant change and time urgency as the primary stress producer; this is especially true of staffs in emergency response situations
   
   
3. The effect that high levels of change and stress have on individuals and also on work groups
   
   
4. How mind and body signals, as well as suddenly convoluted relationships, chronic worry and anxiety, sleep problems and periodic depression alert one that personal stress needs to be addressed
   
   
5. An analysis of the characteristics and behaviors of people who are most stress-resistant, compared to those of people who are not
   
   
6. An examination of the best stress-reduction techniques available today:
   
   
• Life habits of positivism and controlling mood swings
• Reduction of Type “A” behavior
• Stabilizing the parts of life that provide the basis for life satisfaction
• Searching for calmness, through techniques such as meditation, yoga and other positive relaxation strategies
• Adjusting one’s excessive life expectations, unwarranted anxiety of the future and flawed belief systems; learning that worry never affects outcomes
• Better problem analysis and increased ability to take direct action
• Investing heavily in family and community relationships and friendships
• Finding ways to remove or avoid significant stressors
• Methods for raising one’s threshold of tolerance
• Creating and using a variety of small, daily coping mechanisms
• Finding opportunities for time off, diversions and play; taking allocated R&R leave
• Making small breaks, pauses and resting non-negotiable
• Asking for help from professionals when it becomes clear that it is necessary
  



7. Creating a personal stress management plan

1. From the results of the several instruments they complete in the workshop and the discussions produced by the course sessions, participants emerge with a realistic and fact-based perception of the degree of stress they are experiencing.
   
   
2. They also understand what the sources of their stress are–those that come from within themselves and those that come from their surroundings; which ones are within or outside their control
   
   
3. From our menu of stress management techniques, most select the ones they see as realistic and doable
   
   
4. Since the final activity of the workshop is to create a personal action plan, they are prepared when they leave the classroom to make an immediate start
   
   
5. By the conclusion of the workshop, virtually all participants become intensely aware that human life is, by its nature, inherently stressful, that many stressors add positive values to life, and that it is possible for most people to find a balance in their lives

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