Areas of expertise
About Psychosocial Prevention
EARLY SIGNS AND SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Psychosocial prevention is about addressing the conditions in work that influence our wellbeing, mental health, and social functioning. The aim is to create a healthy and safe psychosocial work environment where risks are identified early and action is taken before challenges develop into stress, burnout, or other health-related consequences.
Prevention concerns the organisational level, the collegial community, and the individual’s access to support. It is often described across three levels:
- Primary prevention: reducing risk factors so problems are avoided
- Secondary prevention: identifying early signs and limiting strain
- Tertiary prevention: preventing escalation and recurrence
Effective prevention involves strengthening what protects — and addressing what strains — before it develops into overload.
MORE THAN WELLBEING
Prevention is not something individuals should carry alone. It requires shared responsibility and interaction between colleagues, leadership, and the organisation as a whole. A holistic and proactive approach plays an essential role here — with clear guidelines, ongoing dialogue, and a culture where psychological safety is a foundational value.
A strong psychosocial work environment is not only an investment in workplace wellbeing — it is a strategic advantage. It attracts skilled professionals, supports retention, strengthens collaboration, and fosters sustainable wellbeing over time.
At the same time, Danish working environment legislation requires all workplaces to ensure a healthy and safe psychosocial work environment — on equal footing with the physical work environment.
As Professor Shoshana Zuboff says:
“The shift at the workplace comes at the moment when you realise that what you thought was hard is soft.”
TOOLS THAT WORK
This course provides a practice-based understanding of the difference between proactive, collective prevention and a more reactive, individualised approach. It introduces central models from strain psychology and presents concrete examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
The course is designed for those with particular responsibility for the psychosocial work environment — including leaders, occupational health and safety organisations, shop stewards, and internal consultants. It is grounded in a holistic approach where prevention is understood as a team effort: only when everyone understands their role and responsibility can prevention succeed.
Danish