A Presentation on controlling work related stress.

1. Promoting Wellbeing
Under Stress

2. Agenda
 Overview of Staff Welfare
Office (SWO) services, other
mechanisms for support
 Identifying stressors as
personal, interpersonal, and
environmental
 Tips for Coping
 Tips for Communicating

3. What is a Stressor?
 Stressors are events or conditions in your surroundings
that may trigger stress
 Your body responds to stressors differently depending
on whether the stressor is new or short term — acute
stress — or whether the stressor has been around for a
longer time — chronic stress
 Stressors can be helpful, a sign your brain and body are
responding, and can motivate action (example: I need to
get out of bed to go to work)
 Stressors can be overwhelming at times, and need
intervention
 Some stressors cannot be removed, so we must find
ways to cope
 Some stressors need to be addressed through self-
advocacy, lifestyle changes, or external support

4. What Happens When We Experience a
Stressor?
 Physiological Response: body tension, irregular breathing, sleeping, eating changes,
memory, problems concentrating, decision-making
 Emotional Response: irritability, high anxiety or stress, low motivation, vulnerability,
other unusual reactions including dramatic highs and lows
 Social response: problems in relationships, increased friction, less patience, poor work-
life balance
 Stress responses are normal reactions to environmental or internal imbalances and can
be considered adaptive in nature (example: learning to better budget finances to meet
needs)
 Distress occurs when stress is severe, prolonged, or both
 Distress can begin to interfere with our ability to live our lives

5. What is Causing Our Distress?
Personal
• Work and employment
• Internal events that can
trigger thoughts,
feelings, and
• Fear, anxiety, despair
Interpersonal
• Conflict with colleagues or
family
• Lack of support from
loved ones, friends, or
colleagues
• Negative attitudes or
behaviors present in
groups

6. What is Causing Our Distress?
Environmental/Structural
• More inflexible or challenging stressors typically further out of our
control sphere
• Lack of access to services or goods
• Lack of accountability in a group setting
• Systemic behaviors (example: unfair practices)

7. What is your
biggest
stressor

8. Coping Strategies Types of Response
Problem Solving or Active
Strategies
• Work on solving the problem in the situation
• Make a plan for action and follow up
Emotional Expression and
Emotional Regulation
Strategies
• Let emotion out; get in touch with feelings and externalize them
• Let someone know about my feelings
• Keep emotions under control by performing appeasing activities
• Cognitive restructuring; reorganizing the way I look at the situation
Seeking Understanding
Strategies
• Try to understand or find meaning of the situation; looking for learning
Help-seeking Strategies
and Support-seeking
Strategies
• Seeking instrumental aid or advice from others
• Seeking comfort or understanding from others
Problem Avoidance
Strategies and Distraction
Strategies
• Acting like nothing had happened
• Avoid thinking or doing anything about the problem
• Leaving the scenario and staying away from the stressful situation
• Efforts to avoid thinking about the problem situation by using
or entertainment activities

9. Coping With Distress
Individual Distress

10. Coping With Interpersonal Distress
Active Intervention Through Conflict
• Repeated behavior or conflict can also be a source of
distress, including bullying or harassment
• If a person is not under threat of harm, the most direct
and effective resolution is to address the source with a
clear goal and communication
Coping
• Obviously, there are times a person
cannot change another person’s
behavior
• That does not mean a person’s
is ‘justified’ or ‘right’, but an individual
must find ways to cope despite the
unchanging circumstances so their life
not diminished in quality

11. Coping With Distress
Environmental/Structural Distress
• Typically, these are sources of distress that are further ‘outside’ of our control
• They may include environmental issues such as the pandemic
• They may include practices that can be changed within a community, or even cannot be
changed
• For example, projectized contracts may be further outside of the control of staff in a
• Improving the atmosphere through dedicated positive communication and problem
however, is a structural stressor that is more within our control (if we have the capacity)

12. Depression and Acute
stress Scales
 Please take the time and fill out the following
scales.
 They are for your own insight and you do not
have to share the scales results.

13. Communicating Stress
 Self-awareness is important as a first step
to acknowledging and managing stress
 What am I feeling? What impact is it
having on me?
 While some stressors may be outside of
our control, it is our responsibility to
manage our behaviour and respect others’
needs for psychological safety
 For example, if our stress reaction is
irritability and poor behaviour, that may
be an explanation for our stress but it
does not excuse creating a negative
environment

14. Direct, Non-Aggressive
Communication
 We can acknowledge others’ stress and
reactions by seeking to understand their
challenging behavior
 We are not obligated to accept poor
behavior
 We can, if we have the capacity, seek to
expand our sense of compassion without
approving of behavior
 We are also entitled to stating our needs
using ‘I’ statements
 ‘When you do [x], I feel [y]’
 ‘When you yell or do not listen to my input, I
feel invalidated, as if I cannot do my job’

15. Identifying Shared
Values and Needs
• An excellent way to stay focused
on conflict resolution is asking,
‘what do we both need?’
• For example, a shared goal is to
make sure office tasks serve our
migrant populations, something
both parties want
• It is good to acknowledge who is
accountable, and to name when
behaviour is unacceptable, but
sometimes it is not feasible
• Instead, focus on the goal and
keep your own mind focused on
how to get there

16. Discussion
 What would someone need to know about
the mission in order to better cope
collectively?
 What issues are structural stressors, and
which are more personal?

17. Questions?
 Questions can be directed to
swo@iom.int or you can contact
your regional counsellors directly by
email
 Staff Welfare Officers can also be
reached usually through phone
(Signal or WhatsApp), Skype, and
other mediums
 Agathe Ragira aragira@iom.int
(French, English),
 Amal Ahmed Shire ashire@iom.int
(English, Somali)
 Lindsay Carrera lcarrera@iom.int
(Spanish, English)

18. Staff Welfare Office
Staff Welfare Office is a team of psychosocial
professionals globally available for individual
consultations, psychoeducational materials, group
counselling or wellbeing sessions, external
referrals, and management consultations
Each region has counsellors, but staff should feel
encouraged to review all available counsellors to
meet their needs by visiting iom.int/staff-welfare
Calls do not have to be work or employment
related; personal concerns are also welcome.

19. Agatha Ragira
Staff Counsellor East and
Horn of Africa
aragira@iom.int
French, English,

20. Amal Ahmed Shire
Staff Counsellor East and
Horn of Africa
ashire@iom.int
Somali, English

21. Lindsay Carrera
Staff Welfare Officer,
Southern Africa
lcarrera@iom.int
English, Spanish