The KonTerra Group

What helps you manage stress at work? At The KonTerra Group, our team members spend their days supporting others through challenge and change. This month—during International Stress Awareness Week—we also asked them to reflect on what they do within their workday to stay grounded and maintain balance. 👉 What is something you do that is work-related that helps you manage stress or overload? 👉 How or why does this help you? From taking mindful pauses to debriefing with colleagues or ignoring email(!)—our staff shared practical, meaningful ways they care for themselves while caring for others. Swipe through to see their answers, and maybe find a few ideas to try in your own workday. 💛 #InternationalStressAwarenessWeek #StaffCare #Resilience #WorkplaceWellbeing #StressManagement

How do people who support others through stress and trauma manage their own? At The KonTerra Group, our staff spend their days helping others build resilience and cope with stress in challenging contexts. This month—during International Stress Awareness Week—we turned the question around and asked our team: 👉 What is something you do outside of work that helps you manage stress and find balance? 👉 How does this activity help you? Their answers are as diverse as their roles—ranging from time in nature and creative hobbies to movement, music, and connection with loved ones. We’ll be sharing some of their responses to these and other questions throughout the month. Swipe below to find them, and we hope they spark a few ideas for your own wellbeing toolkit. 💛 #InternationalStressAwarenessWeek #StaffCare #Resilience #StressManagement

Today is the International Day of Climate Action! Many people think of climate change in terms of rising temperatures and more frequent disasters. But its effects extend far beyond the physical environment — they touch our mental and emotional wellbeing too. As the planet continues to warm, research shows growing links between climate change and mental health challenges, including: ➡️  Increased anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress ➡️  Greater rates of substance use and intimate partner violence ➡️  Higher risk of suicide attempts ➡️  Poorer outcomes for pregnant and new mothers It’s understandable to feel fear, grief, hopelessness, and numbness in the face of what can feel like an unfixable problem. Yet tuning out can lead to more anxiety and stress over time. Creating an action plan can help you replace helplessness with a sense of control, work through distressing feelings as they arise, and build resilience. To get started, try following these tips:  🌱 CONNECT – Join a local support group, community project, or Climate Café to connect with people who share your concerns.  💪 ACT – Volunteer, advocate, or support organizations working toward solutions.  🍃 REGULATE – Spend time in nature every day to calm your own nervous system.  📰 BALANCE – Seek out news sources that highlight positive or solutions-focused climate stories and avoid doom-scrolling or only reading about climate disasters.   🤝 REACH OUT – Connect with a climate-informed therapist to work through specific concerns and develop your own climate action plan. (Author Melissa Porrey (She/Her) LPC, NCC is a licensed professional counselor and PhD student at the University of Colorado, Denver studying climate change and health.)

KonTerra congratulates International Location Safety on hosting its third annual Duty of Care Pavilion at AidEx2025. The Pavilion will be hosted Oct 22-23 at Palexpo in Geneva. ⏰ The timely theme of this year’s Duty of Care sessions is "Escalating Risks x Decreasing Budgets: Collaborative, Cost-effective Innovations for Staff Safety and Care." 🌟 Kudos to International Location Safety and partners for hosting two insightful sessions focused on staff mental health and wellbeing. Risks to aid workers’ mental health are as high as ever. Attacks against humanitarians are on the rise and recent cuts to foreign aid have significantly stressed humanitarian organizations and their employees. Ensuring staff mental health and wellbeing remains a critical component of an organization’s duty of care.   Follow the link in the comments to see the session line-up. #DutyOfCare #AidEX2025 #ProtectAidWorkers #MentalHealthAtWork

When it comes to protecting nonprofit leaders and staff facing harassment or threats, we don’t need to start from scratch. Lessons from international humanitarian organizations offer practical approaches that can strengthen safety and security here at home. Read this Chronicle of Philanthropy letter from our CEO, Lynne Cripe, PhD, on how the nonprofit sector can draw on global experience to meet today’s challenges. 👇 #NonprofitLeadership #DutyOfCare #Security #PsychologicalSafety

The theme of World Mental Health Day this year is "Access to Services, Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies." This resonates deeply with our work at The KonTerra Group. 2025 has brought an unprecedented series of natural disasters and conflict-related crises that have impacted millions worldwide. And while we seek to support those directly affected by these catastrophes, we must also recognize the mental health needs of the humanitarian workers, first responders, and service providers who dedicate themselves to helping others in their darkest hours. At KonTerra, we exist for a simple but vital purpose: to help those who help the people most impacted by disaster and poverty. We understand that caring for others in very difficult situations takes an enormous psychological toll. The weight of witnessing suffering, making life-or-death decisions under pressure, and working in dangerous conditions creates unique mental health challenges that require specialized support. Employers have a fundamental duty of care to support staff working in emergency and disaster response. This isn't just an ethical imperative—it's essential for sustainable, effective humanitarian action. When we fail to help protect the mental health of our responders, we compromise both their wellbeing and their ability to serve those in need. HOW YOU CAN HELP ENSURE ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES 🔹 Normalize conversations about mental health and stress management in high-pressure work environments.  🔹 Advocate for proactive mental health support in your organization. Develop trauma-informed and people-first policies that prioritize mental health support 🔹 Empower and equip managers as frontline responders. Provide your managers with tools, training, and language to recognize distress and guide people to care with confidence and compassion. Supporting Employees Returning to Work After a Mental Health Crisis, Traumatic Event, or Suicide Attempt is an example of such a resource and is linked in the comments. 🔹 Create clear pathways for employees to access confidential mental health resources. Ensure that every employee, regardless of location or level, knows what services are available, how to use them, and how to extend available services to their families.  The helpers need help too. On this World Mental Health Day, let's commit to ensuring that those who dedicate their lives to serving others in crisis have the mental health support they need to continue their vital work—and to thrive as human beings. #WorldMentalHealthDay #MentalHealthInEmergencies #HumanitarianSupport #KonTerraGroup #MentalHealthMatters #DutyOfCare

Every October, National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month reminds us of important truths: depression is common, treatable, and recovery is possible. Yet far too many people suffer in silence because they don’t recognize the signs of depression or aren’t sure what steps to take. Just as we regularly check our blood pressure or cholesterol, mental health screenings can help us recognize when we might need extra support. If you’ve been feeling persistently low, overwhelmed, or disconnected, taking a screening can be a simple first step toward clarity.  Copy and paste any of the phrases below into your search engine to find free, reputable, confidential, and quick screening tools for depression: ✅ Mental Health America Screening Tool ✅ Mayo Clinic Depression Self-Assessment ✅ Psychology Today Depression Test 👉 Remember: a screening is not a diagnosis. It’s a guide that can help you decide if it may be time to talk with a mental health professional, your doctor, or someone you trust. 📌 And in the comments, find a free resource from KonTerra: Understanding Depression and What Helps.

This week at #UNGA80, over 100 governments signed onto the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel. The signatories committed to reversing the deadly trends impacting the safety and security of humanitarian personnel. Importantly, the Declaration acknowledges the vital role that mental health and wellbeing play in the protection of humanitarian personnel. Signatories committed to, "Provide support that allows international, national and local humanitarian personnel to access timely and relevant information, training and systems, to promote measures to support the physical and mental well-being of humanitarian personnel." (emphasis added) Humanitarians are at significant psychological risk due to the insecurity and threats they face while delivering services. 2024 marked the deadliest year for humanitarian personnel, with more than 380 aid workers killed worldwide and many more kidnapped, detained, or wounded. In just the first eight months of 2025, 265 aid workers have already been killed. In addition to physical insecurity, humanitarian personnel are at significant risk of mental health challenges due to: ⚠️ Traumatic events, including witnessing death, injury, or human suffering 🔄 High workloads, often in chaotic, under-resourced environments 🏡 Long-term separation from family and support networks ❤️🩹 Moral distress and injury, especially when unable to meet overwhelming needs 🧩 Organizational stress, resulting from poor leadership, lack of job clarity, or insufficient support. These challenges require comprehensive mental health and wellbeing solutions and signatories of this important Declaration can begin to put their words into action by: ➡️ working with implementing partners to establish minimum operating standards for mental health and wellbeing services for humanitarian personnel,  ➡️ requesting implementing partners to incorporate plans to provide comprehensive and culturally appropriate mental health support for staff in their proposal narratives and budgets, and  ➡️ funding comprehensive and culturally competent mental health services for humanitarian actors.  As a company that was founded in 2007 to support humanitarian and development organizations and their staff, KonTerra applauds signatories’ efforts to protect those who protect others. The full text of the Declaration can be found in the comments. #HumanitarianProtection #DutyOfCare #PsychologicalSecurity #WorkplaceWellbeing #StaffCare

📰 World News Day this weekend on September 28 is a day to recognize the vital role of journalism in keeping communities informed, supporting accountability, and strengthening democracy. Journalists take on enormous responsibility to bear witness and share stories of disaster, conflict, and tragedy. Their work is hugely important and matters deeply. But there’s another side to this industry that we don’t often talk about: the impact of consuming too much difficult news. Repeated exposure to stories of violence, loss, and suffering doesn’t just inform us — it can also increase secondary stress, trigger vicarious trauma, and contribute to compassion fatigue. If you’ve noticed yourself feeling drained, numb, or overwhelmed after watching or reading the news, you’re not alone. These are common human reactions to the current state of our world. Here are a few ways to stay informed and protect your wellbeing: ✔️ Set limits on how often you check the news each day ✔️ Choose a few trusted sources to visit to help prevent endless scrolling on social media and other platform ✔️ Balance difficult news with uplifting or restorative activities ✔️ Pay attention to your emotional state and take news-free breaks when needed As we honor the work and sacrifices of journalists this week, let’s also care for ourselves as consumers of the news. Staying informed is essential — but so is protecting our own mental wellbeing. #WorldNewsDay #VicariousTrauma #CompassionFatigue #Wellbeing

Nonprofits in the U.S. are facing growing security risks. As our CEO, Dr. Lynne Cripe, shares in this reflection on a Chronicle of Philanthropy article, effective security must address not only physical safety but also psychological security. Protecting people means caring for both body and mind. Read more ⬇️ #NonprofitLeadership #DutyOfCare #PsychologicalSafety #ResilientOrganizations