Southern Region Patroller Wellness

Stress Awareness is becoming aware of our feelings and recognizing the signs and symptoms of our stress. We are not always aware of our mental state as we move through our day until we are confronted with challenges that change our state of mind.

Refer to the Individual Stress Continuum below. The Stress Continuum provides a color-calibrating technique that helps to determine our state of mind and how we are feeling: Ready, Reacting, Injured, or Critical. It also serves as a transitional tool to assess whether further methods may be useful to reduce stress levels from Critical (red) to Injured (orange) to Reacting (yellow) and back to Ready (green).

Using this color calibration process is a way to self-assess and respect one’s privacy. The patroller can use this Continuum for self-assessment as well as assessing a fellow patroller (i.e. Peer Support). Calibration on a scale from green to red helps us monitor our current feelings and easily track our status. If we are feeling ready to go, we’re Green. If we are feeling critical and challenged, we are Red.

Resiliency is why Stress Awareness is important. Knowing where we are on the Stress Continuum tells us something crucial. For example, if we’re already in a yellow or orange state, should we be doing more, or should we consciously decide to "stand down"? Being aware of our stress allows us to become more resilient by making conscious choices to de-stress and try relaxation or coping skills, guiding our mental state back in the "green" direction.

Explore official national patroller wellness modules, training, and emergency responder support tools designed to help ski patrollers manage stress, resilience, and mental well-being:

Stress Assessment is the active recognition of our feelings (state of mind) and stress signs. Just as we assess a patient in our OEC training, assessment includes management of the patient. We can think of green on the Stress Continuum as the homeostasis state that we strive for in our OEC training.

Using the Stress Continuum, we can self-assess to recognize our state of mind in the stages of the continuum. Ask yourself: "How am I feeling when I'm stressed or angry or when I've gone through a traumatic experience?" Knowing how we feel and our state of mind when stressful events occur helps us deal with stress directly. When we are stressed, we need to de-stress using coping skills or—even more importantly—realize when it is time to seek help.

Making mindful decisions to de-stress changes the direction of our mental state back toward "green". Explore our suggested Coping Skills section for practical strategies.

Meet the dedicated members of the Southern Region Wellness Team. We are patrollers helping patrollers. Feel free to reach out to any of our team members for guidance, resources, peer support, or just a listening ear.