This document discusses stress, its causes and effects, and strategies for managing stress. It begins by defining stress as the interaction between coping skills/resources and environmental demands that overwhelm a person's ability to cope. Stress is characterized as the rate of "wear and tear" on the body from living. The document then discusses the physiological effects of stress on the body and brain and identifies common stress symptoms. It introduces mindfulness as an approach to managing stress through paying attention to the present moment non-judgmentally. The rest of the document provides an overview of mindfulness techniques, strategies for incorporating mindfulness into daily life and work, benefits of mindfulness, and mindfulness practices for noticing thoughts and feelings.

2. What today is about
 All about stress- what it is, risks of, effects on body,
why we need it, how to recognise it in yourself, why it
can be good for you
 Stress reduction
 Stress, Burn-out and Vicarious trauma
 Mindfulness
 Stress Reduction
 Self care in remote areas

3. 3
What is Stress?
 The interaction between your coping skills or resources
(or perceptions of) and the demands of your
environment.
 A reaction which occurs when the actual or perceived
demands made on an individual overwhelm that
person’s ability or resources to manage the situation.

4. What is stress?
 The rate of wear and tear on the body caused by
living
 The situation may involve a gradual build-up of
pressure, or it may be a sudden stressful event.

5. 5
Why are we here?
 Why did you consider this to be a relevant
topic today and what would be most
helpful??

6. 6
DID YOU KNOW THAT EXCESSIVE STRESS…
 Doubles our Risk of Heart Attacks
 Weakens the immune system
 Increases our likelihood of developing serious illnesses like cancer
 Can lead to other life-threatening illnesses like diabetes and heart
disease
 Makes people more susceptible to colds and flues
 Leads to ailments from gum disease to osteoporosis
 Causes premature aging

7. What do we know about stress in
the moment
 Slows the thinking part of our brain down (frontal lobe)
 So we don’t problem solve very well
 We say things we don’t want to – this can wreck our personal
relationships and work relationships!
 We can’t remember things we really do know- or learn as easily
 Immune system diminished
 Difficult to make decisions- even if they are simple 
 Can lead to unhelpful thoughts or conclusions about ourselves and our
environment
 Makes good people act badly
7

8. Where does YOUR stress sit?
At some levels, stress can improve performance. At higher levels,
however, it can be detrimental to performance.

9. 9
Symptoms of Stress

10. 10
The Fight/Flight Response
 When we feel threatened, our bodies are “hard-wired” to either fight or
run away
 Most modern stressful situations do not offer this choice-perceived threat
as demonstrated by brain mapping
 Today, our stressors are much more subtle and complex

11. Evolutionary View
of Stress
 Not so many physical
stressors today
11

12. Selye identified three
stages of adaptation
which a person goes
through in his
General Adaptation
Syndrome in 1936.
They are:
Alarm
Resistance
Exhaustion
12

13. Risks of no stress
 No fear in your life then
you are not living!!!
 New and novel things
should make you stressed
 Push yourself to your limits
and then show yourself you
can do it…that builds self
esteem (not playing it safe)
 No stress leads to poor
performance

14. 14
Stress Signals
The best way to cope with stress is to recognise when your stress levels are
building…
Stress signals fall into 4 categories:
1. Thoughts
2. Feelings
3. Behaviour
4. Physical symptoms

15. 15
Perception Stress is unique to each of us
 While we often think of stress as the result of external events, the events
themselves are not always stressful
 It is the way in which the individual interprets and reacts to an event that
produces stress
 The key to stress reduction is identifying strategies that suit you as an
individual

16. Opportunity knocks
 How can we turn stress into opportunity
 One door opens when one closes
 Problem solving
 Communication
 Conflict resolution for win/win
 Learn that can master what you fear by learning new skills and
noticing what you do to overcome it
 Increases confidence (if you don’t avoid)
 Connect with others
 Reframe the stress symptoms

17. Dealing with Stresses in our Lives
• When we perceive a threat we tend to react automatically
using one of two ancient doing mind strategies:
• Adrenalin based reactions – saving ourselves from danger
by fighting with, running away from, protecting or
camouflaging
ourselves...
....fight, flight and freeze.
• Problem-solving processes where we attempt to fix or
resolve the perceived problem

18. Stress Reduction Strategies
 Self awareness-how do you react to stress
 Body Awareness
 Breathing
 Progressive relaxation
 Meditation
 Visualisation
 Mindfulness
 Thought stopping
 Coping skills training
 Nutrition and Exercise
 Goal Setting and time management
 Assertiveness training

19. Vicarious Trauma- related to stress
but its different
 Compassion fatigue:
 Exhaustion and desensitization to violent and
traumatic events
 Burn-out is non-specific to an event and is gradual.
 Definition of Post-traumatic Stress and its
relationship to Vicarious Trauma-debilitating
symptoms arising from direct personal exposure to,
witnessing or learning about an event involving actual
or threatened serious harm, injury, death or threat to
the physical integrity of oneself or another person

20. Definition of Vicarious trauma
Trauma reactions that are secondary
to clients’ traumatic experiences
Debilitating symptoms arising from
prolonged empathic work with
victims of trauma

21. Effects of VT
 Experiences such as a change in beliefs and values and the
way that one looks at the world, intrusive imagery and
physical effects are normal consequences of this kind of
work.
 Violated core assumptions about care and safety- mistrust,
cynicism. Apathy and loss of concern, lack of desire and
need for intimacy, loss of confidence and sense of control,
compromised occupational functioning
 Re-experiencing, hyperarousal, avoidance, numbing-
symptom onset may be sudden
 Physical, emotional, cognitive symptoms, impact on
workplace

22. Factors that influence traumatic
stress
 Degree of unpredictability
 Threat to life
 Intent to cause harm
 Helplessness
 Relationship to the perpetrator

23. Solutions:
Self Care
Organisational Practices

24. Current research in brain mapping has shown that there
are strategies that assist with self care including stress
and trauma related symptoms
Approaching our experience and responding mindfully

25. Monette Saulnier Burns, R.M.T.

26. Mindlessness “Mindlessness” (Langer, 1989)
 Our tendency to be in “autopilot”:
not focused, reactive mode.
 Most of our waking hours are spent in
“thinking about” mode:
our default mode of mind.

27. Two Modes of Self-focus:
Conceptual and Experiential
Conceptual
Experiential
/ Direct
Noticing
Labeling
Elaborating
Analyzing
Judging
Goal-setting
Planning
Comparing
Remembering
Self-reflecting
Seeing Tasting Touching
Hearing Smelling
Visceral sensations
Proprioceptive sensing
EnvironmentalInput

28. Mindfulness: Being With and Approaching
our Experience
• Seeing things as they actually are, here and now/in
this moment
• Bringing a friendly curiosity to our experience,
however that is
• Investigating the detail of our experience
• Non-fixing, not trying to change what’s here.
• Choices to respond based on full and current
information - rather than habitual reacting.
• Opening to a broader view including what is “right”
as well as perceived problems.

29. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is....
”....paying attention on purpose,
in the present moment,
non-judgementally....”
Jon Kabat Zinn
Being here, in the moment, not in the past, not in
the future.

30. 40 – 10 – 50
The % of time our mind is concerning
itself with and focused on the:
Past – Present – Future

31. Background to Mindfulness
Courses
Mindfulness has its origins in Eastern,
Buddhist philosophy.
It was adapted to a secular, 8 week
programme format Mindfulness Based
Stress Reduction(MBSR) in the USA
by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979.

32. 32
Noticing Thoughts and Feelings

33. 33
Mindfulness – stop struggling
 Happiness Trapp???
 Myths: Happiness is the natural state of all human
beings
 If you are not happy you are defective.
 To create a better life you must get rid of negative
feelings.
 You should be able to control what you think and feel-
whatever you do now don’t think about icecream.

34. 34

35. Common Control Strategies
 For Flight Response: Hiding, Escaping, Distraction, zoning
out, numbing
 For Fight Response: Suppression, Arguing with your own
thoughts, Taking Charge of thoughts and feelings eg saying
snap pout of it to self, Bullying
 These methods of control are okay in moderation, you use
them only in situation where they can work and where
using them doesn’t stop you from doing the things you
value. Eg with run of the mill everyday stress.

36. What does control have to do with
Stress?
 When we try to feel happy by trying to control what
we are feeling, these control strategies have three
significant costs:
 1. They take up a lot of time and energy and are
usually ineffective in the long run.
 We feel defective or weak-minded or crazy because
the thoughts and feelings we are trying to get rid of
keep coming back.
 Some strategies that decrease unpleasant feelings in
the short term actually lower our quality of life in the
long term

37. The Costs of Avoidance
Write or think about
 The thoughts and feelings I would most like to get rid
of are…….
 Now list the things you have tried in order to avoid or
get rid of them eg moving, eating drinking, judging
others or self, criticising others or self, denial, blame,
affirmations, workshops, work
 Now look at list one-what worked? Did you get rid of
painful thoughts and feelings in the long run?
 What did it cost in time, money, energy, friends,
health?
 How did it help?

38. Mindfulness can be cultivated and trained
It has the potential to change your brain and foster
your psychological and physiological well-being.
 Technique AND a way of being

39. Mindfulness Practice Is a Radically Different Approach
to Living Our Lives and Managing Stress...
• Increasing awareness - We come to realise that we are
usually operating on “automatic pilot “ - our tendency
for our minds to be more frequently in the past or in
the future rather than with our experience in this
moment.
• Placing our attention where we want it to be
• Developing a new relationship with our experience
(mindfulness meditation).
• Responding to experience based on awareness of
what’s actually here rather than habitually reacting

40. • Formal practice – meditation e.g. bodyscan,
mindful movement, sitting practice, breathing
• Informal Practice – awareness of body sensations,
thoughts, emotions and sensory input during
daily life. Practiced in ordinary activities like
eating, washing brushing teeth
Mindfulness is essentially
experiential – we practice it

41. Aspects of Aindfulness
 Self Awareness- write, draw, talk……
 Psychological flexibility- Acceptance and
Commitment:
 Defusion
 Expansion
 Connection
 The Observing Self
 Values
 Committed Action

42. Becoming Aware of our Mind’s Activity.
As we practice mindfulness it becomes apparent that
the mind will “have its say” in all that we do.
We will notice:
Judgements = liking or disliking
Associations = memories, stories, comparisons
Emotional inter-relationship with thoughts
Thoughts don’t occur singularly or without some
emotional “flavour”.
Commentary = our thoughts comment on all our
experiences.
…lets have a go!!

43. Benefits of Mindfulness
 It directly impacts our development, health, healing
wellness & behavior- more pre-frontal and less Amygdala
9 functions of the mPFC (medial prefrontal cortex):
 Bodily regulation
 Attuned communication
 Emotional balance
 Response flexibility
 Empathy
 Insight
 Fear modulation
 Intuition
 Morality
 Remember- this all
Improves with practice

44. Benefits of Mindfulness
Physiological:
 Increase activity in medial prefrontal cortex
 Decreased heart rate and blood pressure
 Improved, more restful sleep
 Changes perception of pain
 Improved immune function

45. Mindful Communication
1. Listen: To verbal & non-verbal cues (not in your
own head listening to your dialogue)
2. Mindful inquiry: Ask questions and for clarification
with a beginner’s mind (lack of judgement of them)
3. Mindful dialogue: Have respect for other person’s
journey. Notice tendency to compare experiences.

46. Mindfulness In Professional life
 Fosters presence, compassion and understanding
 Facilitates empathetic attitudes, as well as decreased
tendency to take on others’ negative emotions.
(Beddoe, A. & Murphy, S. 2004)
 Increases self-compassion
 Decreases personal stress and reactions
 Improves performance
 Increases flexibility
 Improves creativity

47. Timeout for Mindfulness practice-
 What are thoughts/
 Stories- neither true nor false-how we see life,
opinions, attitudes, beliefs, judgements, beliefs,
theories, goals, strategies. Ideals, wishes, values- in
mindfulness we are interested in if it is helpful-we it
help us/work/life thrive.
 The story is not the event
 Role of fusion- the thought and the things it refers to –
the story and the event become stuck together and we
react to works as if the thing or event was present.

48. Fusion cont…
 We react to the the words eg “I am stupid” as if its true- B
 In a state of fusion it seems as if: thoughts are reality- what
we are thinking is actually happening here and now.
 Thoughts are the truth-we believe them
 Thoughts are important-we take them seriously and give
them our full attention
 Thoughts are orders
 Thoughts are wise
 Thoughts can be threats

49. Some starting practices for
mindfulness
 I’m having the thought that……
 I notice that I am having the thought that…
 In defusion we recognise:
 Thoughts are sounds, words, stories, language
 They may or may not be important-are they helpful
 They are not orders- don’t have to obey
 They may or may not be wise
 They are not threats to us – even if disturbing

50. Other practices include-
 Musical thoughts
 Name your story-eg its all too hard, this will never
work- remind – what do you want to attune to?
 I am a banana-everybody now
 Thanking you mind
 Silly voice technique
 Reminder – aim of defusion is just that – it does not
get rid of thought or even make you feel good-its aim is
to disentangle you from unhelpful thought processes.
It may not neccesarily change your life.

51. Other helpful places to start
 Look whose talking
 Close eyes and observe where your thoughts go
 Ten deep breaths
 Realistic expectations
 Defusing an unpleasant image-not traumatic
memories – use with unhelpful thinking- tv show-
rewind or add subtitles or a soundtrack.

52. Feelings
 Emotions originate from the middle layer of the brain-
at the core of emotions is a complex set of physical
changes throughout the body that prepare us to take
action.
 Emotions influence us to act in different ways- eg
change voice, body posture and behaviour-action
tendency..
 Emotions closely tied to thoughts, memories and
images. Our emotions don’t control behaviour eg I can
be angry but remain calm. I might be scared right now
but I remain.

53. Emotions are like the weather
 Three phases to emotions:
 Event
 Getting ready for Action-evaluation-checking out the
scene
 The mind gets involved-gives meaning to changes
 Fight/flight response- IN prehistoric times it was life
saving-now our mind often perceives threat almost
everywhere- no-one liked out fb page, spouse moody,
someone didn’t ring, debt, body image-non of these
things are really life threatening-but our brain and
body act as if they are.

54. I just want to feel the positive
feelings-struggling with what is
 We get angry with our emotions eg when we are stressed.
 I should feel different.
 I will not accept the presence of unacceptable feelings-they distress me and I
will have to have another drink to not feel them.
 Which of these emotions are good/bad:Fear, anger, shock, disgust, sadness,
guilt, love, Joy, curiosity.
 What was your life programming re emotions eg which ones are okay to have?
Which did you grow up expressing feely. What were you taught about the best
way to handle your emotions. What emotional control strategies were role
modelled in your life.
 Judging doesn’t help- adds to stress. Question- why am I feeling like this may
not be helpful. And what have I done to deserve this doesn’t help either-sets
you up for self-blame.

55. What can be helpful?
 Process of expansion-this involves the observing self-
awareness, attention and focus-
 Body Awareness- an exercise in observation
 Four steps of expansion-observe, breathe (frontal
lobe), create space. Allow, acceptance self-talk
 Acceptance imagery-clearing visualisation here.
 Connection- with breathing, the environment
 Notice yourself noticing
 Nature

56. Job Stress Management
 What causes job burnout?
 Prolonged stress leads to burn-out
 Several core characteristics:
 Emotional and physical exhaustion
 Low self-esteem
 Poor job satisfaction
 Negative and cynical attitudes towards staff and clients
 Insomnia, alcohol and drug use
 Relationship and family problems

57. Nature of Burn Out
Burn-Out rarely
happens suddenly- it
occurs over time

58. Protection against Burn-out
 Ensuring Self-Care:
 Set realistic goals-unrealistic goal setting and working so
hard to meet them is a “sure path to Burn-out, job
dissatisfaction and stress
 Managing your time:
 Are you completely satisfied with the way you use your
time?
 If not, why not?
 What could be done to use your time more
satisfactorily?

59. Steps to take to achieve Burn Out
 Erode your resilience:
 Give all of your energy and focus to the job
 Isolate yourself from others
 Don’t take regular breaks
 Don’t have a social life
 Live unhealthy lifestyle

60.  Fail to act on the situation:
 Don’t ask what it is you are meant to be doing and
expectations of others
 Complain to everyone but those who can help
 Stubbornly persist with behaviours that don’t work in
the new environment
 Fail to identify stressors or to change those that can be
changed
 Do not use problem solving skills
 “Shoulds” or rather that accept what cannot be changed
 Fail to use effective coping strategies and see your
wellbeing as someone else’s responsibility or use coping
strategies that create more problems- or allow self to
remain in pain for prolonged periods

61. Path to burn-out continued
 Fail to acknowledge human limitations: attempt to
meet excessive demands and place all oher’s needs
before your own
 Set unrealistic goals and then work hard to achieve
them
 Be pessimistic-engage in negative self talk
 Fail to critically reflect

62. Issues re working in remote areas
 Adaptation process – settling in
 Lack of privacy- visibility
 Lack of boundaries between personal, professional and community
 24 x 7 can be an issue
 Expectations on workers
 Generalist nature in your work
 Inadequate orientation and preparation for living and working in
environment
 Role conflict- needs of community vs those of the agency/funding
body.
 Workload simply unmanageable-overwhelming sense of responsibility
 Turnover of staff-staffing in general

63. Signs of Burn-out
 Long work hours with little sense of achievement
 Work becomes mechanical
 Exhaustion
 Other issues in relationships and life
 Acute stress reactions
 Emotions all over the place
 Difficulty making decisions and setting priorities
 Poor short term memory
 Sleep difficulties including restlessness
 Physical- hert, stomach, head
 Lack of interest in sex

64. Protection Against Burn-Out
 Exercise- relieves Stress and burns off the energy
created by stress
 Rest and Relax-simple pleasures-walk, read, draw
 Relaxation, meditate, grow a garden or a plant-
personal investment in dealing with stress.
 Have a Life:-regular breaks from community,
accept the support of others, good social networks
 Admit Vulnerability:-accepting support, isolation
is a risk- closing off to the support structures
places an individual more at risk

65.  Deal effectively with conflict:-be aware of arousal
levels during high levels of demands- plan ahead if
possible. Attempt resolution before things get out of
hand.
 Taking responsibility for actions and behaviours:-set
the limit of involvement of work, be positive about the
nature of work- why are you there?-be a positive realist
rather than an idealist.
 Try to change the situation if possible-structures and
roles are sometimes easier to change that people’s
expectations.

66.  Accept what cannot be changed:
you are unable to control the multitude of factors and
events that you are faced with (including the weather
and environment and others)
You can control your actions, attitudes and expectations.

67. Sustainability
 Maintain resilience and wellbeing: work/ life
balance- time out, networks and healthy lifestyle.
Discuss flower exercise here.
 Act on the Situation:
Clarify your role and boundaries, clarify other’s
expectations of you, identify sources of stress, skill up,
change stressors that can be changed, use good problem
solving and de-escalation skills
Be active about managing your stress response: realistic
goals and boundaries, opportunities for personal
growth, critical reflection

68. Assisting with people who are facing
Stress, Vicarious Trauma or Burn-out
 Recognise that this can happen to anyone
 Indicate that it is a result of prolonged stress or
traumatic event
 Help the person talk about the event and reactions to
it and accept where they are at.
 Be willing to listen
 Provide resources
 Allow time and space
 Help with lifestyle priorities
 Is the job worth it?

69. Ten Steps towards Managing your
Job Stress
 Identify your symptoms of job stress
 Identify the sources of your job stress:
 Lack of control
 Information Gap
 Cause and Effect
 Conflict
 Blocked Career
 Alienation
 Overload
 Under-load
 Environment
 Value Conflict

70. Ten Steps continued
 Identify how you respond to your specific job stressors- stressor,
feelings, thoughts, behaviour-what patterns have you found
 Set Goals to respond more effectively to your job stressors
 Motivate yourself-rewards?
 Change your thinking- Mindfulness
 Clarify job with manager or organisation-expectations- mission
statement for self-and organisation, what are you doing? What
additional education do you need? What happens if something goes
wrong- future expectations.
 When in conflict- negotiate
 Pace and balance yourself- when do you work optimally?
 Know when to quit- Gambler song.
 In any situation what is kindness?

71. Putting strategies into Practice

72. 72
How to Contact EASA
8941 1752
1800 193 123
easadarwin@easa.org.au
Training and Development – 8941 5661
www.easa.org.au
2nd Floor, Highway Arcade
47 Stuart Highway
Stuart Park