Over the years, International Stress Awareness Week has developed as an important event that focuses on stress management and campaigning against the social stigma associated with stress and mental health issues. In 2018, Stress Awareness Week was created to raise awareness and educate people about stress prevention. This year marks 23 years since the creation of Stress Awareness Day which first took place on the 7th November 1998.
Who is the International Stress Management Association (ISMA)?
The International Stress Management Association (ISMA) is a registered charity and the leading organisation for workplace and personal stress management and wellbeing. They promote best practices of stress management worldwide. They also provide support through training courses and coaching to individuals as well as businesses.
What is stress?
The ISMA, have written their own definition of what stress is, which you can see below.
“Stress is the body’s way of responding to excessive, or too many pressures and when this becomes overwhelming stress occurs, as the body experiences the fight or flight or stress response. This means that stress is not good for you and is an unhealthy state of body or mind or both.”
How can you identify stress?
Identifying signs and symptoms of stress can be difficult and is sometimes easier for someone else to recognise them in you. We have all felt stressed at some point in our lives and will probably deal with stress again. To help you identify the signs and symptoms, the ISMA has created a list of the psychological, physical, emotional and behavioural signs of stress which you can view here.
What support do we provide to employees to help them manage stress?
At Thornbury Community Services (TCS), we offer our healthcare professionals a range of information, advice and safe spaces to receive mental health and wellbeing support.
Our workers have 24/7 access to our Wellbeing and Support Hub, an online portal tailored to their mental health and wellbeing needs. The Hub contains a variety of information in various forms, such as videos, recorded workshops, internal and external articles and blogs.
As well as carrying out revalidations, supervisions and appraisals, our Supervisions and Appraisals Team are available for confidential wellbeing calls. The calls provide our workers with welfare and pastoral support. The team can offer support and signpost our workers to the relevant services, phone lines and information for issues outside of professional responsibilities.
We regularly run mental health workshops and courses that focus on relevant topics for our workers, such as stress, anxiety and resilience. Our workshops have been recorded and are available for our workers to access on their Wellbeing and Support Hub.
Our employees also have access to the Employee Assistance Programme, a personal support service that’s available 24/7. The program offers practical advice on everyday issues, childcare questions or counselling support.
At TCS, we believe support should come in all forms, and that’s why prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of our employees. If you would like to join us as a nurse or healthcare assistant, you can register with us here today.
The information in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised guidance. The author(s) and publisher(s) are not liable for errors or omissions, and reliance on the content is at your own risk.