Coping With Stress – A Crucial Life Skills Lesson

by ARISE Foundation

The workplace is a likely source of stress for many people. The following are some simple steps to follow. Obviously this will be of benefit on the job and certainly in your personal life. 

Coping With Stress in Criminal Justice Careers or Other Stressful Environments

ARISE developed their extremely successful Drop it at the Door training program originally to assist juvenile correctional and probation officers with work and home related problems they were dealing with due to pressures on the job. Coping with challenging populations in confined spaces, unexpected extra shift work and the day-to-day pressures causes stress that often builds into out of control anger at home. We call it the ripple effect. Read more about Coping with Stress in Criminal Justice as presented in Medical News Today , February 24, 2014  If you or anyone you know is working in a stressful job,  whether it be adult or juvenile justice or any other field and wants to learn how to drop stress, anxiety, frustration at the door, have them view the ARISE Online Training.

Suggestions from the Mayo Clinic on Handling Stress

The Mayo Clinic staff suggest the following steps to take in handling stress.

      1.  Identify your stress triggers. Each person responds to stress differently. To learn your triggers, spend 7 days and record any stressful situation you encounter. Think about where you were, who was involved, what was your reaction and how did you feel. After a week you will know what causes the stress.
      2. Once you’ve identified your stress triggers, consider each situation or event and look for ways to resolve it.

Stress in Today’s Uncertain Climate

For many workers today, the troubled economy may feel like a roller coaster. Lay-offs and budget cuts are common and people feel uncertain and this creates high levels of stress. Do any of these causes of stress sound familiar to you?

      • Fear of being laid off
      • More overtime because of staff cutbacks
      • Pressure to do more with no increases


Some tips to handle the stress

      • Pay attention to your physical and emotional well being-the better you feel the better you will manage stress
      • Get regular exercise
      • Healthy eating
      • Get enough sleep
      • Drink alcohol in moderation and avoid smoking
      • Prioritizing and organizing your life- balance between work and family life
      • Avoid trying to fit too much in your day
      • Leave for work earlier in the morning so you don’t have to rush
      • Plan regular breaks at work – take a lunch
      • Control and manage your emotions and behavior and adapt to changing circumstances.
      • Use non–verbal cues and body language
      • Resolve conflict positively
      • Flip your negative thinking

If you want to learn many of these tips for handling stress, register for ARISE Online Drop it at the Door Training.

Statistics on Workplace Stress

From the American Institute of Stress: Attitudes in the American Workplace VII, the following is a summary of their findings:

      • 80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help
      • 14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn’t
      • 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress
      •  10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent
      • 9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace
      • 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year

From the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC) –DHHS (NIOSH)

      • 40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful
      •  25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;
      • 75% of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago
      • 29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work
      • 26 % of workers said they were “often or very often burned out or stressed by their work”
      • Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems

ARISE would be happy to post any positive experiences you may have had in managing stress.

Inspiration From ARISE Foundation when the day has been stressful

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