Originally a Mental Health England tool. Read about there use of this tool with individuals here. I have modified this to work as a retrospective or stand alone session with teams creating the forum to discuss how the team manages stress.

Goal

The goal of this session is to get individuals talking about their current stress levels and discuss what the team can do to help those individuals manage that stress and support each other.

Instructions

1. Introduce the concept and mental health first aid.

2. Ask each individual to mark with a line across the container their current stress level between 0 – 100. This works really well as a quick check in on it’s own.

3. Ask the team to add post its to the adding stress area and discuss.

4. Ask the team to add post its to the tap area, things that help individuals and the team release stress.

5. Ask the team to again put post its in the blocks area, things which stop you from releasing stress.

6. Dot vote and discuss the things which the team value

7. Take one or more actions to improve how the team manage their stress.

Notes/Tips

If available in your organisation it can be useful to have a mental health first aider talk to the team about the concept first with the team.