Stress

What is Stress?

“The adverse reaction a person has to excessive pressure or other types of demands placed on them” - Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

People experience pressure in their lives in different ways and capacity for pressure can vary significantly between individuals. A manageable level of pressure can be energising and motivating, but a person's ability to deal with pressure is not limitless. So, while a reasonable level of pressure may help you to become more alert and focused, excessive pressure can develop into stress and have an adverse impact on your ability to manage your normal day to day activities, including work. Stress is not in itself a medical condition but can result in health problems if not effectively controlled – the adverse reaction associated with stress normally settles when the pressure is alleviated, but prolonged stress can have longer-term effects on both health and work performance.

‌

Support available:

Spectrum Life

• Spectrum Life is our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is a confidential, neutral service provided by an external company to support colleagues at the University. 

Key internal support 

• It can help to complete a Workplace Pressures Risk Assessment to identify and address causes of stress.
• The Stress Indicator Tool (SIT) is an online survey tool that teams can use to help identify workplace stressors and plan improvements. 
• We’ve developed a training module to support you, as a manager, to support your team's mental wellbeing. 
• The associated Leaders' and Managers' Mental Health and Stress Toolkit provides a variety of ways to support your team with stress.
• If you are experiencing stress it can help to talk to your manager who can refer you to Occupational Health for support. Alternatively, you can make a self-referral direct to the Occupational Health Team. 
• The Managing Mental Health and Stress Standard sets out processes for managing stress at the University and links to relevant resources and support.

Self-care resources 

• Free mindfulness sessions for colleagues
• Taking good care of ourselves can really help us to stay mentally well. Take a look at the ‘Self-care and staying well’ section for resources and advice.
• The University of Exeter library has an in-person and online wellbeing section you can access.
• University of Exeter’s Mind Over Natter wellbeing videos
• Viva Insights app on Teams

External support

• NHS: Support for stress
• It can be helpful to go through one of Mind’s ‘Wellness Action Plans’ (workplace, remote and hybrid) with your manager so you can both explore how they can support you more with your wellbeing.
• TALKWORKS For Resilience and Wellbeing and Stress Less with TALKWORKS are free CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) sessions open to anyone over 18 who is living in Devon (with the exception of Plymouth).
• The Access to Work Mental Health Support - a confidential service delivered by Remploy funded by the Department of Works and Pensions is available at no charge to any employees with depression, anxiety, stress or other mental health issues affecting their work.
• A 'Stress self-help guide' has been created by DPT NHS.
• NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)- an NHS support you can refer yourself directly to for talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), counselling, other therapies and guided self-help. Local IAPT services are listed below:
  • NHS Talkworks (Devon)
  • NHS Outlook South West (Cornwall)
  • Steps2Wellbeing (Dorset)
  • Plymouth Options (Plymouth)
  • Somerset Partnership Talking Therapies (Somerset)
  • VitaMinds (Bristol, N.Somerset, S.Gloucestershire)
  • B&NES Talking Therapies (Bah & N.E. Somerset)
  • If you live outside of these areas, you can find your local service using the NHS IAPT Search Tool.
• Short Stories for Stressed Grown-Ups is a new podcast series by Devon based writer Neil Bebber. The series is part bedtime story, part meditation and has been created specifically to help people relax and get a good night's sleep. 

Infographics

Here are some useful infographics from an organisation called BelievePerform we suscribe to. Once you click on any of the below you can then scroll through all of the images. You can then download these (by right clicking -> 'Save images as'). You can then zoom in for greater clarity.