FølHosp stands for emotions in hospitals. And that is exactly what the research project is about: What do you do when emotional demands are part of the work – and prevention therefore needs to be part of the workplace?
Hundreds of professionals have completed the Institute for Strain Psychology’s occupational health and safety training over the years. Now, the programme is being relaunched in an expanded format.
The Consultant Goes Home. The Colleagues Stay. 8 min. read. After nearly 20 years as a crisis psychologist and leader in organisations including the Red Cross, the Danish Cancer Society and the Danish Armed Forces...
Why Do We Make Managers’ Work Environment a Personal Responsibility? There is something odd about the way we talk about managers’ well-being. When employees...
Who Is Responsible for Managers’ Well-Being? “Dear manager, who is responsible for your well-being?” That question set the scene for a well-attended debate at Folkemødet 2026,...
Malene Friis Andersen – Employees and the Consequences “When the system does not add up, employees start compensating” When expectations and working conditions in the welfare system do not align,...
Susanne Ekman – The System and the Toxic Debt “We have built up a toxic debt in the welfare system” We often talk about the solution to the pressures on the welfare system as...
When the Impossible Becomes Part of the Job – and a Shared Responsibility On the crisis of expectations, loss and moral stress. We often talk about the crisis of expectations...
Catch-22: When Professionalism Makes It Difficult to Rely on Others In many professions, the ability to take action, assume responsibility and maintain an overview is an important part of...
Psychological strain at work can arise when people are exposed to danger, violence, or other dramatic events. Such experiences can leave deep marks and require careful professional attention. But stress can also occur when work places us in situations where our values and conscience are under pressure. Here, we introduce the concepts of moral stress and moral injury.
In high-risk work – both physical and mental – the line between courage and recklessness can be very fine. We make decisions based on professional knowledge, data, and experience. We assess carefully and do our best. Yet even when a decision is well considered, the outcome can depend on factors beyond our control: luck, misfortune, and chance.
Teaching is one of the professions where the highest number of employees report psychological illness as a work-related injury. In many cases, however, it is possible to prevent the situation from escalating to a formal occupational injury claim.
A crisis psychologist is not always the best or only solution when you experience a traumatic event at work. Instead, use your colleagues and the collective support of your team, say two experts on psychological strain.
Hold Off on the Crisis Psychologist – The Team Can Handle a Lot! This is how Tom Ekeroth begins his review of “The Handbook of Psychological First Aid and Crisis Management”, which is this month’s featured book,…
The unthinkable happened. An employee died during a company event, and as a relatively new leader, Casper Borgen Larsen had to figure out how he…
From the Sector Working Environment Council – 08-2025. Employees at Nykøbing F. Hospital have learned to manage high emotional demands as a team effort across professional groups. The entire organisation...
Accepting support can be more difficult than it might seem – especially for professionals whose sense of agency, responsibility, and oversight are central to their professional identity. Psychologist Rikke Høgsted calls this the Catch-22 of professional identity – a paradox in which the desire to appear strong can get in the way of seeking help.
Employees affected by stress result in lost productivity. And it is costly for workplaces, according to a new study from NFA. The study highlights significant potential in prevention…
Article from the Danish Midwives’ Association Psychological safety can be described as the “mental climate” of a workplace. So, how high is the level of psychological safety where you…
Certified accountants are public trust representatives. It is an important role — but also a source of cross-pressure for accountants. There are naturally requirements…
From Social Development – 05-2021, Feature Article 1/2 During the post-Christmas period, an employee in social psychiatry lost their life due to violence from a resident at a care facility…
From Social Development – 05-2021, Feature Article 2/2. During the post-Christmas period, an employee in social psychiatry lost their life due to violence from a resident at a care facility…
From the Danish Association of Social Workers – 04-2021 It is challenging to have a job where day after day you face high emotional demands, where…
From the Danish Association of Social Workers – 04-2021. As a social worker, you typically work in a mental high-risk job, where you encounter people affected by crises and trauma or have tasks that...
Humor provides extra energy and can be used to break a heavy or tense atmosphere. It can make a workgroup smile and even laugh together, offering the participants a brief distance from the potentially tragic situation they are in. Laughing together can be liberating and strengthens the group’s sense of community, which can in turn enhance effectiveness.
From the Danish Social Educators – 01-2021. Is there anything more important than helping vulnerable people who are struggling? Most social educators would say no. But when…
From the Danish Social Educators – 12-2020. When working with traumatised individuals, there is a risk of burning out yourself. But your body, mind, and…
Preventing mental strain is a team effort that only succeeds if everyone in the organization—management, colleagues, and individual employees—understands their roles and responsibilities and actively contributes.
Professions in which individuals work daily or regularly with trauma, death, suffering, violence, neglect, or threats place special demands on employees and expose them to potential psychological strain.
For many employees in psychologically demanding jobs, the answer to the question WHY relates to experiencing meaningful work. That it matters to help others, defend democracy, create safety and security, care for the planet, or perhaps document the history of the oppressed.
The Red-Green-Blue Model illustrates what characterizes being “overinvolved” and “underinvolved” versus being “attuned and in contact.” The model supports a shared language and can thereby strengthen proactive, collective, and holistic strategic prevention.
No one can withstand everything. Everyone has a “breaking point” – a moment when they can’t handle any more. We know this, and it’s not new knowledge; it’s something that professionals have understood since World War II.
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