Navigating Persistent Stress

Summary

This coaching call is a follow-up to our Stress Management in Uncertain Times to address what you do when uncertain times don’t seem to end. Sometimes, a team has been facing external societal challenges, grief, or organizational disruption and holding strong. Yet, it doesn’t seem to let up. Instead of calming down, you are hit by additional stressors and change. This session will focus on how participants can center themselves to keep showing up in ways that fit their values so they can support themselves and their colleagues as they navigate the disruption of change together.

Participants engage in interactive discussions to develop strategies for achieving internal stability and proactive tools for fostering healthy team functioning. 

Objectives

• Describe the impact of long-term heightened stressors on team dynamics.

• Apply acceptance and commitment strategies to reduce the cumulative impacts of current events and environmental stressors.

• Practice strategies and skills to address heightened stress in the workplace

• Generate questions, resources, strategies, and suggestions to support healthy team functioning. 

Core Concepts

Acceptance and Commitment

Being in a season of uncertainty and change can be overwhelming. Denial, frustration, and avoidance can add to the overwhelm. Setting ourselves up for success involves embracing the reality of what is occurring and committing to who we want to be and what we are working towards. This brief educational section focuses on understanding how attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors can shape how uncertainty impacts us.

Community Impact

Stress and uncertainty don’t exist in a vacuum. Our responses in seasons of disruption can negatively impact our teams, and our insight can help bring support to others. Even when our experiences of these situations vary from one another, incorporating skills that address corporate stressors can have more impact than individual actions alone. This brief section focuses on our influence and impact on creating a healthy workplace environment.

Skills to Engage

Responding to Change Intentionally

This section is a live Q&A that provides skills based on participants' real-life stressors. Your team's unique experience is identified and validated, and specific acceptance and commitment, coping, distress tolerance, sensory soothing, and emotion regulation skills are provided that can be utilized. These skills can be completed in a short period of time and help lower the intensity of stressors.

Key Takeaways

The compounding effect of uncertain times, chronic stressors, and rapid changes often leads to employees feeling increased emotional intensity and burnout. The session is an opportunity for your teams to have a safe, intentional space to share openly, recognize that they are not alone, and learn skills to support them in bringing their best into the workplace.