Whether working in the field on a global grant project or collaborating with marginalized communities at home, Rotarians often confront challenging circumstances that can take a toll on their well-being. Rotary Peace Fellow Hanna Schubert will provide tools to help you cope with the stress of these situations. Learn how to take care of yourself so you can better help the community you’re serving.

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Resilience in the Field
Johanna Schubert
June 13th, 2017
Johanna Schubert
• M.A. Psychology, specialized on Clinical Psychology, Human Resource Development, and
Intercultural Communication, Licensed Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist and
psychotrauma therapy and crisis intervention expert
• Worked with the Lebanese Red Cross, UNDP Beirut, the Dart Center for Journalism and
Trauma, UNHCR Geneva, the German Armed Forces Bonn, and the Social Pediatric
Center at the Children’s Hospital Landshut, Germany
• Rotaract Club Landshut-Trausnitz Founding Member 2006, Past-President of the Rotary
Foundation Alumni Germany, Paul Harris Fellow
• Rotary Peace Fellow 2016-2018 at the Duke/UNC Rotary Peace Center:
pursuing a Master’s of Global Public Health Leadership and Graduate Certificates in
Peace & Conflict Resolution and Disaster Management
• Currently on her summer internship, assisting the Medical Services Division at United
Nations Headquarters with Global Staff Health Risk Assessments
• Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar 2005/2006 from District
1842, (Landshut, Bavaria) to 1180 (Bangor, Wales, UK)

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Breakout Overview
What is Stress?
What causes stress
on Rotary field trips?
What is Resilience?
What to do?
EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT IT, BUT:
What is stress really?
Tool #1: Knowledge on stress

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Stress as a continuum
Mild stress
e.g. driving,
family gathering
More intense stress
e.g. tough day at work,
moving house
Traumatic stress
e.g. severe accident,
witnessed attack
Increasing stress intensity

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Instinctive reactions to extreme stress
Freezing
Freezing,
Recall of
apropriate
action in face
of particular
danger
1
Flight
Depends on
location or
time; Panic
reaction
2
Fight
If it makes
sense and
improves
chances for
survival
3
Surrender
Dissociation,
Resignation,
Derealisation
“Playing Dead
Reflex”
4
Recovery
Coming back to
consciousness
5
Amygdala
Shock reactions,
activation of stress
hormone release
Hippocampus
Learned reactions to a
constellations of
triggers (stress
memory), shrinks
from chronic stress or
trauma!
LimbicSystem
Emotions, shock
reaction system
PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF EXTREME STRESS

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SUDDEN
MOVEMENT
LOUD BANG,
SCREAMING
IMMEDIATE STRESS REACTION
SUDDEN
MOVEMEN
T
Orientation reaction
FREEZING
Tunnel Vision
Focus on escape route
(FLIGHT)
or source of danger
(FIGHT)
More blood to the
muscles
(FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT-
REACTION)
Dissociation
(PLAY DEAD
REFLEX,
THANATOSIS)
Heightened senses and
memory of vision,
hearing, and smelling
(SURVIVAL)
Instincts take over most
of the control
LOUD BANG,
SCREEMING
IMMEDIATE STRESS REACTION

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Different stressors today, and
we’re basically not built for them!
Common stress reactions
Psychological
and/or somatic
reactions to
stress
• Emotional:
Shock, anger, terror, guilt, grief,
irritability, helplessness, despair,
dissociation, loss of pleasure from
regular activities, …
• Biological:
Fatigue, insomnia, hyperarousal,
somatic complaints, impaired immunal
response, headaches, gastrointes-
tinal problems, decreased
appetite, …
• Cognitive:
Impaired concentration,
confusion, intrusive thoughts,
decreased self-esteem, self-blame,
…
• Psychosocial:
Alienation, social
withdrawal, increased stress with
relationships, substance abuse,
vocational impairment, employment
drop-out, …
Culture !
Young et al. (1998), p.110

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Potential Stress Effects on Volunteers
Clinical
symptoms,
e.g. PTSD
Disengagement
Irritability
Hostility
towards
beneficiaries
Avoidance
Burnout,
fatigue
Weisaeth, 1993
Not the point of Rotary field projects!
SHARE WITH YOUR GROUP:
What causes stress
during Rotary field
projects?
Tool #2: Analysis of the causes of stress

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What is stress?
Living
Conditions
Working
Conditions
Social,
Interpersonal
Factors
Personality
Factors
Biological
Factors
Psychological
Factors
RESILIENCE

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpQrMqDoqE
Optimistic
Create a
positive
atmosphere
Use humor to
lift spirits
Stay calm
under
pressure
Don't feel
easily
overwhelmed
Have a
repertoire of
coping
mechanisms
Take action
to address
the problems
Control their
expression of
emotions
Reach out for
support
Tool #3: Learn from resilient people – what makes them stress-resistant?

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Kelly McGonigal: HOW TO MAKE STRESS YOUR FRIEND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU
What makes us sick is
not the stress itself, but
our attitude towards
stress and ourselves!
Tool #4: The right mind-set
Examples of limiting beliefs
and dysfunctional thoughts
• All-or-nothing thinking: thinking in “black & white”
rigid absolutes
• Overgeneralization: seeing 1 negative event as a
pattern of never-ending defeat
• Mental filter: taking a negative detail then magnifying
& dwelling on it exclusively so that you are unable to
notice any of the positives in a situation
• Minimizing the positive:
deflecting compliments w/ self-
deprecation; rejecting positive
experiences

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PUT AWAY YOUR PHONES
CLOSE YOUR EYES
Tool #5: Relaxation and mindfulness techniques
TAKE HOME
Many causes of stress are
preventable through good and
anticipatory project management.
Stress is a physical reaction, which,
in its extreme and/or chronic form
makes us sick in many ways, BUT
MAINLY IF WE ARE
CONVINCED THAT IT IS
MAKING US SICK!
So our attitude towards ourselves
(!) and our stressors influences our
way of dealing with stress (feeling
overwhelmed and giving up vs.
being nice to ourselves and getting
support).
Relaxation techniques don’t need
much time, make a big
(scientifically measurable)
difference and can be applied
anywhere.

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Your Questions
Johanna Schubert
johanna.m.schubert@gmail.com
This presentation and others
from throughout the
convention are available
through the convention mobile
app and on SlideShare at
www.SlideShare.net/Rotary_International.

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