StressStop

According to a poll conducted by Willis Towers Watson, a global HR Research firm, the one thing that employees want most from their wellness programs is help with managing stress. And according to the American Psychological Association, as the result of all the turmoil going on in the world right now, employee stress is at an all-time high.

Stress is also implicated in many negative health outcomes, including poor sleep, depressive mood, and health problems related to chronic low-grade inflammation. The cost of stress for any employer can be measured in terms of decreased productivity, increased turnover, increased absenteeism, and an increase in medical claims. Despite these troubling statistics, many employers don’t know where to begin to address this problem.

That’s where StressStop’s unique online platform—My Stress Tools—can help: Giving employers an antidote to this ever-increasing drain on their employees’ mental well-being.

My Stress Tools (which can be used on any device) offers an array of resources that address stress. Employees can assess and track their stress, change their stressful thinking patterns, and learn how staying in the present moment can actually reduce worry, fear, frustration, and anger. “Sometimes just a five-minute break to connect with nature, or learn about cognitive restructuring, or practise mindfulness meditation is enough to break the stress and burnout spiral. That is what’s available to employees 24/7 through My Stress Tools,” says Jim Porter, CEO of StressStop, and an author of dozens of books, workbooks, audios, and videos on managing stress, including “The Stress Profiler,” “Stop Stress This Minute,” and “The Employee Stress Reduction and Resilience Handbook.”

My Stress Tools is well-appreciated for the following reasons: Ease of use, customizable design, variety of options, quality of materials, accessibility to top tier experts like Dr. Dan Goleman and David Katz, M.D., and finally, price.

Porter highlights, “No one comes close to matching us in this category. We charge a fraction of what other similar online platforms charge.” Plus, other platforms on the market have underwhelming experts and feature goofy, inexpensively produced cartoons to illustrate their content. Some platforms use no visuals whatsoever, just audio tracks. StressStop features MDs, PhDs and truly qualified experts who are in many cases either best-selling authors, university professors, or nationally known experts in their fields. “We have no silly cartoons and almost all of our audio content includes some kind of visual content as well,” states Porter.

Sometimes just a five-minute break to connect with nature, or learn about cognitive restructuring, or practise mindfulness meditation is enough to break the stress and burnout spiral. That is what’s available to employees through My Stress Tools anytime they need it

StressStop has designed a real-time stress prevention model and a comprehensive program to go with it. Built on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness, and problem-solving, this platform is dedicated to helping people understand how their thinking plays a major role in the stress they experience and how to use this awareness to manage stress on the fly while at work. “Most people use stress management reactively- after work and only on days when they have spare time—which come all too rarely. With this platform, participants will learn six steps that they can use to manage stress proactively, in real-time, while their stress is happening,” Porter adds. These six steps include Raising Awareness, Problem-solving, Cognitive Restructuring, Mindfulness, Resilience, and Social Support.

Having carved out a unique niche, StressStop aims to grow its platform in the future. “The most important changes we’re making in 2021 is to have our web-portal be even more inclusive than it is already,” informs Porter. “If we are going to get as many folks as possible practicing wellness and learning about mental wellbeing, we need to make our platform feel like it was built specifically with each user in mind. We want every user to feel at home here no matter what their background or skill level might be.” This will mean offering up an even greater variety of options from yoga you can do sitting in a chair, to emotional intelligence techniques you can use in everyday conversations.