Tips for Managing and Preventing Stress
A Guide for Emergency and Disaster Response Workers

Stress prevention and management should be addressed in two critical contexts: the organization and the individual. Adopting a preventive perspective allows both workers and organizations to anticipate stressors and shape responses, rather than simply reacting to a crisis when it occurs. Suggestions for organizational and individual stress prevention and management approaches are presented below.

Organizational Approaches for Stress Prevention and Management

1. Provide effective management structure and leadership. Elements include:

• Clear chain of command and reporting relationships.
• Available and accessible supervisors.
• Disaster orientation for all workers.
• Shifts of no longer than 12 hours, followed by 12 hours off.
• Briefings at the beginning of shifts as workers enter the operation. Shifts should overlap so that outgoing workers brief incoming workers.
• Necessary supplies (e.g., paper, forms, pens, educational materials).
• Communication tools (e.g., cell phones, radios,).

2. Define a clear purpose and goals.

3. Define clear intervention goals and strategies appropriate to assignment setting.

4. Define roles by function.

5. Orient and train staff with written role descriptions for each assignment setting. When setting is under the jurisdiction of another agency (e.g., Red Cross, FEMA), inform workers of each agency’s role, contact people, and expectations.

6. Nurture team support.

7. Create a buddy system to support and monitor stress reactions. Promote a positive atmosphere of support and tolerance with frequent praise.

8. Develop a plan for stress management. For example:

• Assess workers’ functioning regularly.
• Rotate workers between low-, mid-, and high-stress tasks.
• Encourage breaks and time away from assignment.
• Educate about signs and symptoms of worker stress and coping strategies.
• Provide individual and group defusing and debriefing.
• Develop an exit plan for workers leaving the operation, including a debriefi ng, reentry information, opportunity to critique, and formal recognition for service.

Individual Approaches for Stress Prevention and Management

1. Manage workload.

• Set priority levels for tasks with a realistic work plan.
• Delegate existing workloads so workers are not attempting disaster response in addition to their usual jobs.

2. Balance lifestyle.

• Get physical exercise and stretch muscles when possible.
• Eat nutritiously and avoid excessive junk food, caffeine, alcohol, or tobacco.
• Get adequate sleep and rest, especially on longer assignments.
• Maintain contact and connection with primary social supports.

3. Apply stress reduction techniques.

• Reduce physical tension by such activities as taking deep breaths, meditating, and walking mindfully.
• Use time off for exercise, reading, listening to music, taking a bath, talking to family, or getting a special meal.
• Talk about emotions and reactions with coworkers during appropriate times.

4. Practice self-awareness.

• Learn to recognize and heed early warning signs for stress reactions.
• Accept that you may need help to assess problematic stress reactions.
• Avoid overly identifying with survivors’/victims’ grief and trauma, which may interfere with discussing painful material.
• Understand differences between professional helping relationships and friendships.
• Examine personal prejudices and cultural stereotypes.
• Be mindful that vicarious traumatization or compassion fatigue may develop.
• Recognize when a personal disaster experience or loss interferes with effectiveness.

Normal Reactions to a Disaster Event

• No one who responds to a mass casualty event is untouched by it.
• Profound sadness, grief, and anger are normal reactions to an abnormal event.
• You may not want to leave the scene until the work is finished.
• You will likely try to override stress and fatigue with dedication and commitment.
• You may deny the need for rest and recovery time.

Signs That You May Need Stress Management Assistance

• Disorientation or confusion and difficulty communicating thoughts.
• Difficulty remembering instructions. Difficulty maintaining balance.
• Becoming easily frustrated and being uncharacteristically argumentative.
• Inability to engage in problem-solving and difficulty making decisions.
• Unnecessary risk-taking.
• Tremors/headaches/nausea.
• Tunnel vision/muffl ed hearing.
• Colds or flu-like symptoms.
• Limited attention span and difficulty concentrating.
• Loss of objectivity.
• Inability to relax when off duty.
• Refusal to follow orders or to leave the scene.
• Increased use of drugs/alcohol.
• Unusual clumsiness.

Ways to Help Manage Your Stress

• Limit on-duty work hours to no more than 12 hours per day.
• Rotate work from high stress to lower stress functions.
• Rotate work from the scene to routine assignments, as practicable.
• Use counseling assistance programs available through your agency.
• Drink plenty of water, and eat healthy snacks like fresh fruit, whole grain breads, and other energy foods.
• Take frequent, brief breaks from the scene as practicable.
• Talk about your emotions to process what you have seen and done.
• Stay in touch with your family and friends.
• Participate in memorials, rituals, and use of symbols as a way to express feelings.
• Pair up with another responder so that you may monitor one another’s stress.