Mitigating the impact of stress

What to do

The CAF has adopted four primary skills or countermeasures (goal setting, self-talk, mental rehearsal, and visualization) that have been proven to be effective in building resilience, and assisting members to bounce back from difficult and challenging situations.

The Big Four

Goal setting

Goals provide direction, feedback, and motivation. A goal should be out of reach, but not out of sight. Break goals into smaller chunks, take action, evaluate progress.

While goal setting may come easily to some, others struggle a great deal. However goal setting is a skill and if you remember these key SMART points it can be learned:

• "S" - Specific: Goals must include a specific behaviour that you take — you cannot make goals for others. The action must focus around you.
• "M" - Measurable: You have to be able to see progress — if you can’t measure it then how do you know when you’ve achieved it?
• "A" - Attainable: Goals must be attainable and possible to achieve.
• "R" - Relevant: Goals need to be relevant and motivate you — they must be either desirable or necessary. You must either want it OR need it.
• "T" - Time-bound: You need to know when you will achieve the goal. It is helpful to break each step down into manageable chunks.

Mental rehearsal / visualization

Mental rehearsal involves mentally preparing yourself for the what ifs. This is not about being negative and becoming overwhelmed, rather it is predicting possible problems and working out a solution in advance.

Ensure that you consider the following tips:

1. Start calm and relaxed, then increase stress as required
2. Use all senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
3. Help the subordinate control the mental images — you want them to see success
4. Keep it simple
5. Use movement
6. Practice, practice, practice

Self talk

It is not an event that leads to our emotions and behaviour but rather our thoughts about this event. The key to self talk is to make the messages positive rather than negative.

• Become aware of self talk
• Stop the negative; replace with positive
• Use key words: Ready. Focus. Persist. Overcome. Confident.

Arousal reduction: Tactical breathing

Tactical breathing is based on the observation that many people breathe shallowly or irregularly when anxious or tense. These breathing patterns lead to an imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, which can cause the physiological symptoms of anxiety. The diaphragm is a kind of mobile partition that separates the lungs from the other organs. It does not move much with shallow breathing, but with deep breathing, the lungs fill more completely and the diaphragm moves down, stimulating the organs like the stomach and the kidneys to enhance their functioning. This eases up on the “accelerator” effect that intense stress has, and is the most natural way to find the inner “brake”.

Basically, it is one of the most portable and effective tools we have to turn off the fight or flight response and regain control of our physiology.

• The Rule of 4’s
  • Inhale to count of 4
  • Exhale to count of 4
• Repeat for 4 minutes

Mentoring the Big Four

Science tells us that if these skills are to be helpful and effective in stressful situations, we must practice, mentor and coach application of the skills during routine tasks and training. In considering how to imbed these skills into collective training, leaders should:

• Teach the Big Four
• Emphasize the importance of the skills
• Include cues to use skills
• Boost belief in subordinates’ ability
• Set up exercises to practice skill set directly
• Encourage the setting of goals and breaking these down into manageable pieces
• Demonstrate and model techniques

Ad Hoc Incident Review (AIR)

In addition to the Big Four, as leaders you must be prepared to intervene and provide support to your subordinates after exposure to a stressful event.

The Ad hoc Incident Review (AIR) is simply a tool you can use to structure your supportive intervention with the group and reduce distress. The process can be implemented either formally or informally, as a small unit or sub-group, or within the more informal buddy system.

Step 1: Acknowledge and listen

Acknowledge:

The leadership has a responsibility to acknowledge the event: “Something bad just happened.” “That was a tough one.” It is okay to make a global statement about how the group is feeling. Do not ignore the event, or carry on without acknowledging the event. However do not over-emphasize the event either. Talk about facts only. What you could do: approach it the same way you would send a message over the radio: calm, straight forward and clear.

Listen:

Your job is not to fix it (you can’t). However, you can help by providing an opportunity for discussion. Expect that some members will not want to talk about the event, or other may only wish to discuss it with their peers not with you. This is okay. Each person will cope with an event in their own way, and we do not want to interfere with people’s natural coping strategies. What you shouldn’t do is force someone to talk to you; this can be detrimental. All discussions should occur voluntarily and naturally.

Step 2: Inform - Check in and apply the model

Most individuals (80%) will have some short-term reaction to operational stress or difficult events. The best interventions are the simplest, non-medical ones that can be implemented by the chain of command.

After acknowledging the event and providing the opportunity to talk, you should remind your subordinates that it is important for them to take care of themselves. For some they may not be bothered at all, but for others some symptoms of distress may continue over the next few days or even weeks. Reinforce that this is normal, however, if these symptoms become too distressing there are resources available and that you will help access them.

Step 3: Respond - Observe, follow up, model

Observe and follow-up with members later on to see how they are doing, as well ensure that you model healthy coping. A note on modeling: People want to hear leader’s negative emotions or thoughts after a distressing event. They don’t need you to pretend that everything is okay. However, they also need to see their leader managing their reactions in a healthy manner, including seeking care when/if necessary.

Adverse events not only provide leaders with a challenge, but also provide them with an opportunity. Effective leaders actively demonstrate concern for individuals, acknowledge loss, communicate directly with CAF members and their families, and send a message that the unit/crew is expected to recover. Through good leadership, you can strengthen cohesion, resilience, and readiness.