Workplace Stress and Trauma: Counselling is not enough

Workplace Stress and Trauma: Counselling is not enough Theres no denying that Workplace Stress is a problem in the UK. The HSE have published data suggesting that work-related stress costs over 3.7 billion (based on 95/96 prices) annually and accounts for 6.5 million lost working days a year. For this reason, UK law requires that organisations must take action to prevent and it. New standards will be introduced by HSE during 2004. So how do companies ensure that a Stress Management programme delivers real benefits to the business?

Workplace Stress and Trauma: Counselling is not enough

Theres no denying that Workplace Stress is a problem in the UK.
The HSE have published data suggesting that work-related stress costs over 3.7 billion (based on 95/96 prices) annually and accounts for 6.5 million lost working days a year. For this reason, UK law requires that organisations must take action to prevent and it. New standards will be introduced by HSE during 2004.

So how do companies ensure that a Stress Management programme delivers real benefits to the business?

The controversy continues about whether counselling is useful in cases of workplace stress and/or trauma. However, the arguments put forth on both sides often do not express a constructive level of knowledge about either individual or organisational needs and issues relating to workplace stress and trauma.

Further, the arguments about counselling often express the polarisation of the interests of the individual and of the organisation. HSEs directives on duty of care leave the organisation potentially vulnerable to legal action on the part of stressed or traumatised employees who are seen to be "victims" of organisational "neglect" or "abuse".

Employees, on the other hand, can find that compensation for stress and/or trauma is awarded based on their supposed inherent mental health or emotional stability. In both cases, the "counsellor" can be seen as an unwelcome collaborator for the opponent party and counselling as exacerbating rather than solving the problem

In response to this, we suggest that the salient issues are:
1) supporting the worker in the context of his organisational
environment

and

2) engaging an appropriate consultant, not only a counsellor, to support both the individual and the organisation in cases of
organisational stress and post critical incident trauma.

What is required is a professional with a specific set of skills and expertise, a consultant we shall call a "behavioural consultant", and we believe this professional needs to have the training and experience to be able to:

- diagnose an individuals emotional state, to discern between critical stress or trauma (based on specific current events) and developmental stress or trauma (that emerges from the persons past experience),
and to detect cognitive and behavioural habits that undermine the persons work performance;

- refer individuals for mental health treatment or support as required -- substance abuse treatment, medium- or long-term
psychotherapy, or other mental health treatment.

- coach individuals in work-life balance and or interpersonal skills if these address their issues related to stress;

- understand organisational objectives and issues -- i.e. the organisational culture and dynamics, the organisations health and
safety policies, team dynamics, organisational roles, and so on.

- liaise and work well with HR and OH professionals, while maintaining a contract of confidentiality between the individual and
the organisation.

Ideally, this professional will have psychotherapy or psychology training at a postgraduate level and, also, training or experience in management, organisational or occupational psychology, or human
resources. It is both unreasonable and unrealistic to expect every graduate of a two-year diploma in person-centred counselling to have the breadth of experience and training to be able to offer what
is required in cases of organisational stress and trauma.

Counselling cannot be relied upon to make a difference to the individual and to the organisation. Rather, a behavioural consultant is able to take a systemic view of the situation and work to address
the issues involved for the organisation as well as for the staff member.

The benefits of this to the organisation include circumventing the potential of costly litigation and, also, returning workers to optimum performance as quickly as possible.

Further, these interventions -- unlike some counselling interventions -- have the effect of increasing worker morale and loyalty to the
organisation.

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Kurt Lewin, a founder in the field of organisational psychology,
stated the obvious as early as the 1930s: 'the behaviour of a person
and his environment have to be viewed as variables which are mutually dependent upon each other. -- from Lewin, Kurt, "Behavior and
Development as a Function of the Total Situation", FIELD THEORY
IN SOCIAL SCIENCE, Harper Torchbooks: New York, 1951

For further information, please contact:

Theresa Howard
Principal Consultant
Working with Conflict
email: theresa.howard@workingwithconflict.co.uk
Voice: 44-(0)-161-941-2037
Cell: 44-(0)-7831-292899

Working with Conflict (http://www.workingwithconflict.co.uk) is
an UK based company committed to delivering high value, customised solutions based on the belief that conflict can be a
positive and powerful stimulus for change and development.