March On Stress

Sustaining Resilience at Work (StRaW ®) is a peer support system to detect and prevent occupational mental health issues and boost an organisation’s psychological resilience.

The StRaW package has been developed by leading mental health professionals, including occupational, academic and forensic psychiatrist, Professor Neil Greenberg. Unlike many other psychological first aid packages, StRaW is based on up to date scientific research, including the growing evidence base around peer support.

StRaW not only focuses specifically on mental health conditions and issues that are likely to affect the working population but is also unique in being designed as a comprehensive peer support system for use within high pressure organisations. StRaW aims not only to educate/inform but also enables delegates to take action in order to bolster resilience.

StRaW training

StRaW training takes place at two levels; Practitioner and Manager.

StRaW Practitioners

The StRaW Practitioner course provides individuals working within organisations who do not have any specialist medical or psychological expertise with both the knowledge and skills to become a StRaW Practitioner.

StRaW Practitioner training includes:

1. The detection of workplace stress, spotting the signs of psychological distress that might otherwise go unnoticed;

2. The knowledge and skills necessary to help improve the mental health of colleagues suffering from psychological distress, through planning, guidance, signposting and, where appropriate, effective mentoring.

The training focuses on:

• What is workplace stress?
• What is the impact of workplace stress?
• How do you detect it through a structured interview process?
• The use of the 10 point StRaW checklist
• How to conduct a StRaW assessment interview
• When to trigger a StRaW response
• Specific topics, including self-harm and managing your own mental health
• Strategies to overcome resistance to referral/accessing treatment
• Effective mentoring skills, including decisional balance

The StRaW Practitioner course is two days. We can deliver training at your organisation for groups of up to 9 (with one instructor) or 10-15 (with two instructors). Or you can attend one of our all comers courses.

StRaW Managers

Having qualified StRaW Practitioners is a positive step forward for any organisation that wants to offer evidence-based support in the workplace to those suffering psychologically. The next step is to identify those within an organisation to be StRaW Managers so that they can oversee those StRaW Practitioners and advise their organisation’s management about its Occupational Stress/Mental Health Policy and procedures.

A StRaW Manager is responsible for:

• Supervising, co-ordinating and advising an organisation’s StRaW Practitioners;
• Delivering StRaW awareness and induction training to all staff within an organisation;
• Ensuring StRaW Practitioners are up to date and competent.

The course also provides a unique opportunity for an organisation’s StRaW Practitioners to discuss their Occupational Mental Health Policy with highly qualified and experienced March on Stress StRaW instructors.

The StRaW Manager course is two days. We can deliver training at your organisation for groups of up to four (with one instructor) or 5-8 (with two instructors).Or you can attend one of our all comers courses.

Who is StRaW aimed at?

Organisations that want to build their psychological resilience through the prevention and detection of occupational stress.

StRaW BTEC

Our StRaW courses include the opportunity to complete a BTEC qualification.

The StRaW Level 3 BTEC award is a customised programme aligned to the March on Stress StRaW Practitioner course. It requires firstly attending the two-day StRaW Practitioners course and then completing a post-course assignment, the content of which is based upon the two days training. This is a great opportunity to further learning from the course and gain a qualification. 

What do our delegates say?

We regularly receive great feedback from StRaW delegates; here is just some of the positive feedback to recent StRaW courses:

"Very good approach with tools that will make a real different in reducing stress in the workplace".

"The course content was expertly tailored to suit the culture and challenges of [our department] and [the organisation] as a whole. It exceeded expectations, which were high!"

"I am always a little sceptical about ‘bought in’ courses but had no reason to be in this instance. The value we will get out of this is likely to be significant".

"Very applicable to all line managers and created awareness of very real issues affecting many people of all backgrounds".

"The decisional balance exercise was excellent".

"An excellent and extremely valid and worthwhile training course. Well delivered with professionalism and a personable and interactive manner. Highly recommended for all types of business".

"A very well rounded and thorough approach to aiding people who are experiencing stress in the work place or at home".

I gained much more awareness of how stress affects, how to conduct a StRaW assessment, what to look for, how to help people to help themselves, rather than fix. I learned not to make assumptions and how to question/listen more effectively".

To find out more about StRaW and for course booking, please contact us at info@marchonstress.com.