Nowadays it is easy to feel overwhelmed and to think that we cannot manage our daily tasks. Stressful situations can manifest themselves both in our professional and personal life and it can be difficult to avoid conflict when we find ourselves in a stressful environment. Learning how to cope with stress and how to deal with conflict management is a crucial soft skill in our modern workplace. In this course the participants had the opportunity, through theory and practical activities, to learn about the tools to manage and overcome conflict and stressful situations. 
​The new edition of the course “Stress and Conflict Management: the way to resilience and satisfaction​” took place in Bologna from 26/06/2022 to 1/07/2022. The participants came from all across Europe, with Noneta Bakiroviene and Gvida Rinkevičienė from Ukmerge Nursery-Kindergarten “Saulute” in Lithuania, Marta Alexandra Marques Bento, Ana Paula Muacho, Nádia Lopes de Figueiredo and Francisco Manuel Pereira Destapado from Agrupamento de Escolas Emídio Navarro in Portugal, Ilona Kovács from HMSZC Bornemissza Gergely Technikum, Szakképző Iskola és Kollégium in Hungary, Gabriela Fischer and Christine Mössler from HLW Schrödinger in Austria, Petra Hamnar and Ann-Catrin Malmmark Svensson from Alviksskolan in Sweden, and Susana Pérez from Institut Cal.lipolis in Spain.
​On the first day participants reflected on the meaning of the word stress by brainstorming in groups. Stress is caused by a series of stressors that can be related to many factors: physical, environmental, family-related, or work-related. However, small amounts of stress can also have positive outcomes and push us to achieve our goals or to respect a deadline for example. For this reason the group learned to distinguish between Distress (negative) and Eustress (positive). 
​During this course the participants analyzed a series of strategies, both cognitive and behavioral, designed to overcome stressful situations in the workplace. Through group activities they had the opportunity to increase their planning and time management skills and methods. In order to manage stressful situations better they practiced various breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, visualization and refraining. 
​Another topic that was discussed during the course was assertiveness, which is a fundamental skill when it comes to dealing with conflicts. It can be tricky sometimes, especially when we fear we will hurt the feelings of the person in front of us. However, in every conversation “no” should be also taken into account. We also discussed about resilience and gratitude. 
​In order to solve conflicts it is necessary to know how to communicate effectively. The participants discovered the different communication styles and were asked to do a group activity in which each member had to contribute in resolving a conflict in a specific way. Although it can be difficult to solve a conflict, as this activity demonstrated, the team members saw how this situation could also be an opportunity to grow and learn. Moreover they discovered how each conflict might need a different communication style to solve it. This method can also be applied to a workplace and a classroom.   
During this week everyone kept in mind one important concept: to always approach any conflict with two different point of view. The first one as an individual (as a parent, friend…) and the other one from their role inside the school, as educators. This helped them to bring the topic home and built an open-minded environment.    
Discover more about this course in: https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/early-school-leaving.htm