Stress awareness month: Beyond awareness

By Nick Burnett

April is Stress Awareness Month. For many people working in education, children’s services, health, and adult social care, stress is not an abstract topic. It is a daily reality. The weight of the work, the relational demands, the gap between what staff want to give and what the system allows, these are real. They deserve to be taken seriously.

And yet awareness alone is rarely enough. We have spent years talking about stress in these sectors. The question worth asking this April is not whether stress exists, but what we actually understand about it, and what might genuinely help.

Not all stress is the same

Not all stress is the same. Hans Selye’s distinction between eustress and distress is useful here. Eustress is the kind of pressure that motivates, stretches, and produces our best work. Distress is the kind that overwhelms and depletes. The difference is not just about the amount of pressure we face. It is about how we experience it, and whether we have any agency over it.

In our work at PRICE, we have seen this play out in settings across the country. The same level of demand that energises one person pushes another into their anxiety zone. Stress tolerance is not a fixed trait. It shifts with context, support, workload, and what we are carrying outside of work. What looks like resilience in one person may simply be a different threshold, or a different kind of hiding.

The goal of Stress Awareness Month should not be to eliminate stress. It should be to help people understand where they are on the spectrum, and what might help them move in the right direction.

For individuals: two things you can do this month

1.    Notice and name your state

Before you can do anything about stress, you need to notice it. Not in a mindfulness-poster way. In a practical, honest way. Ask yourself: am I currently in my growth zone or my anxiety zone? Am I stretched in a way that feels productive, or am I past the point where pressure is useful?

The act of naming your state creates just enough distance to choose a response, rather than simply react. It is a small thing. It makes a real difference. We have written previously about the distinction between stress and overwhelm, and the importance of recognising that not everyone has the same threshold.

2.    Do an honest energy audit

Look at the people you spend your time with at work. Look at the tasks that fill your week. Which of them leave you feeling energised, even when they are demanding? Which consistently drain you, even when they are not especially difficult?

This is not about avoiding hard work. It is about noticing where your energy goes and making more deliberate choices about it. The research on workplace wellbeing is consistent: relationships and meaning matter at least as much as workload. Spending a little more time with energy creators, and a little less with energy absorbers, is one of the most practical things you can do for your own sustainability.

For leaders: two things worth doing differently

1.    Make wellbeing conversations normal, not emergency-only

In most organisations, the wellbeing conversation happens when something has already gone wrong. A member of staff is struggling visibly, or they have reached a breaking point. By that stage, the conversation is harder for everyone.

The micro-action here is straightforward: check in before you need to. Not a formal welfare meeting. Not a survey. A short, genuine conversation. How are you doing at the moment, and we mean that seriously. The caring end of the leadership conversation continuum is not soft. It is what prevents you from needing to have the harder conversation further down the line.

Staff wellbeing is both a leadership responsibility and an individual one. But the power imbalance in a line management relationship means that staff will rarely raise their stress levels unprompted. The leader needs to create the opening.

2.    Name what you are taking off people’s plates, not just what you are adding

Stress Awareness Month often prompts organisations to add things. A new wellbeing initiative. A lunchtime workshop. A resilience resource pack. These are not bad impulses. But in settings where people are already stretched, adding more, even more support, can land as more pressure.

The more honest leadership question is: what can we stop? What are we asking people to carry that is no longer serving anyone? Sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do for team wellbeing is to subtract, not add. In our work with schools and care settings, we have seen how much energy gets spent on processes, reporting, and initiatives that have outlived their usefulness. Clearing that space does not require a policy review. It starts with a leader who is willing to ask the question.

Beyond awareness

Awareness is a starting point, not an outcome. The people working in our most demanding sectors do not need another reminder that stress exists. They need the conditions, the conversations, and the permission to do something about it.

Wellbeing is not a programme you roll out in April. It is built in the small decisions leaders make every week, and the small choices individuals make about how they spend their energy.

What is the one thing, for you or your team, that would make the biggest difference this month? Not in theory. In practice.

Published 31 March 2026