What is Stress Management Training?

Pressures in the workplace combined with pressures at home can cause excessive stress, potentially leading to mental and physical health problems. Stress management training teaches people how to better cope with stress, including what triggers stress and how to avoid those triggers. Available to both groups and individuals, stress management training uses a variety of stress-reduction techniques and tools to help people relax their minds and their bodies. The people giving the training, called stress management trainers, might be psychologists, counselors, social workers, life-skills coaches or others educated in therapeutic fields.

Recognizing that stress can result in poor workplace performance and days lost to illness, some employers implement formal stress management training programs. In these programs, stress management trainers assess the reasons for stress and the levels of stress of employees, and they teach methods for reducing stress. Training might come in the form of a seminar that is just a few hours long, or it could be a regular ongoing program, depending upon the organization and its concerns. Stress management training might be offered to an entire company or to specific employee groups.

Individuals can find stress management training through classes at community centers, community colleges, dedicated stress management centers and elsewhere. Some individuals opt to learn how to better handle stress privately by seeing psychologists or therapists who are trained in stress reduction techniques. Training can be found through online courses and classes. Books that teach stress management also are available.

Stress management training teaches people how to better manage their lifestyle for reduced stress. Basic things such as eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep and taking time for enjoyable hobbies and activities often are discussed in stress management training. Techniques to relax the body and calm the mind, such as yoga, tai chi, meditation and other methods commonly are part of stress management training. Correct breathing, how and when to use creative visualization to reduce stress and the value of rehearsing potentially stressful situations also are things that might be taught. Other stress management training techniques include humor, music and art therapy.

Stress management is something that must be practiced regularly to be effective. Stress management training can provide the tools for reducing stress, but a week-long training program or a seminar will not eradicate it. Incorporating stress reduction and management techniques into one's daily life is the ultimate goal of stress management training. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to handling stress, so individuals must choose the techniques that best work for them and practice those techniques regularly.