About the Institute for Strain Psychology

Addressing Psychological Strain as an Organisational Responsibility

The Institute for Strain Psychology develops research-informed, practice-based approaches to strengthening occupational psychological health in psychologically demanding professions.

Across sectors such as healthcare, education, emergency response, social services and law enforcement, the Institute supports organisations in building sustainable psychosocial work environments.

The Institute works from the recognition that psychological strain is inherent in the core tasks of many professions and shaped by organisational structures and professional culture. For that reason, strain must be addressed through shared professional language, collective responsibility and systematic organisational action.

The Institute translates psychological knowledge into structured workplace practices that integrate peer support, leadership responsibility and organisational follow-up.


From Foundation Course to Organisational Implementation
As part of this work, the Institute offers structured, digital, group-based Foundation Courses designed for collective learning and professional development. The courses combine short instructional films, guided reflection, structured exercises and practical tools that support integration into everyday professional contexts.


When delivered through the Institute’s digital platform, MentiMove, each Foundation Course forms part of an organisational implementation process. The platform structures group-based learning across teams and leadership levels and provides overview of participation and progression. This supports systematic follow-up and integration of learning into everyday professional practice.

Psychological First Aid at Work

Colleague, Leadership and Organisational Response to Critical Incidents

In many mission-driven organisations, exposure to human suffering, moral complexity, security risks and high operational pressure is not the exception. It is part of the job.

Whether staff work in humanitarian response, advocacy, health services, protection or high-risk field operations, they are repeatedly confronted with situations that test their professional competence, emotional resilience and fundamental assumptions about safety and justice. Traumatic incidents may occur suddenly. Strain may also accumulate gradually, almost invisibly, over time.

The decisive factor for long-term impact is not only what happened. It is how the organisation responds. Structured colleague-to-colleague support is therefore not a matter of personality or goodwill. It is a structural element of organisational risk management and psychological sustainability.

The Institute for Strain Psychology develops research-informed, practice-based approaches to strengthening occupational psychological health in psychologically demanding professions.

 

Across sectors such as healthcare, education, emergency response, social services and law enforcement, the Institute supports organisations in building sustainable psychosocial work environments.

 

The Institute works from the recognition that psychological strain is inherent in the core tasks of many professions and shaped by organisational structures and professional culture. For that reason, strain must be addressed through shared professional language, collective responsibility and systematic organisational action.

 

The Institute translates psychological knowledge into structured workplace practices that integrate peer support, leadership responsibility and organisational follow-up.


From Foundation Course to Organisational Implementation
As part of this work, the Institute offers structured, digital, group-based Foundation Courses designed for collective learning and professional development. The courses combine short instructional films, guided reflection, structured exercises and practical tools that support integration into everyday professional contexts.


When delivered through the Institute’s digital platform, MentiMove, each Foundation Course forms part of an organisational implementation process. The platform structures group-based learning across teams and leadership levels and provides overview of participation and progression. This supports systematic follow-up and integration of learning into everyday professional practice.

Foundation Course in Psychological First Aid and Crisis Management

The Foundation Course in Psychological First Aid and Crisis Management is a structured training programme designed to strengthen occupational psychological health in psychologically demanding professions.

Psychological First Aid is positioned within a Workplace Support Pyramid, where self-help, peer support, leadership action and professional care function as connected levels of responsibility within the organisation. The course integrates individual crisis psychology with organisational structures and workplace health leadership.


 

Strengthening Structured Peer Support
A central focus of the programme is strengthening colleague-to-colleague support through a clear and shared operational framework. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is introduced as a structured method for stabilisation, orientation and early intervention when work-related strain intensifies or critical incidents occur.

Peer support is understood as a collective professional responsibility within the organisation. When colleagues operate within a shared language and method, responses become more aligned and predictable. This reduces uncertainty, prevents withdrawal and isolation, and mitigates the risk of secondary victimisation.

 

Addressing Acute and Accumulated Strain

The programme links response to critical incidents with the broader patterns of strain that develop over time. Participants learn to distinguish between traumatic strain arising from acute events and accumulated strain that develops gradually through repeated exposure, responsibility and moral complexity.

 

By recognising escalation patterns early, organisations strengthen their capacity for timely and proportionate intervention. Psychological First Aid is therefore presented not as an isolated technique, but as one structured component within a broader preventive and response structure.

 

Integrating Leadership and Organisational Response

The course develops competence across four interconnected domains: individual self-help; structured colleague-to-colleague support including PFA; supportive leadership response; and organisational procedures for follow-up and escalation.

 

Leaders are equipped with principles for timely conversations, coordinated communication and responsible follow-up. Organisational procedures are aligned with peer support practices to ensure coherence across levels of responsibility.

 

Designed for Collective Learning and Organisational Anchoring

The programme consists of 10 modules delivered through short, focused video sessions combined with guided reflection exercises. The modules are designed for group-based learning within teams or departments, strengthening shared professional language, coordinated action and organisational anchoring.

 

Organisational Objective

The objective is sustainable organisational capacity: to ensure that exposure to psychologically demanding work and critical incidents does not evolve into preventable psychological strain, fragmentation or erosion of trust.

 

By embedding structured crisis response within workplace health practice and leadership structures, the programme strengthens psychological safety, professional responsibility and operational resilience.