compose / team-based emotional resilience for pressured environments

TLDR
For public sector teams working under constant emotional strain. Helps you stay steady, support each other and manage pressure without burning out, building collective calm, trust and resilience.

A trauma-aware team resilience programme for public sector teams whose work regularly involves exposure to distress, conflict or emotionally charged decisions.

This programme helps teams build shared emotional regulation, strengthen co-regulation and reduce the emotional load of high-pressure work. It is designed for teams experiencing sustained emotional pressure, for example when staff are frequently exposed to distressing material, face hostility from the public or carry responsibility for decisions that have a major personal impact on others. It is particularly relevant where the cumulative strain is leading to stress, burnout or reduced performance, and where structured support is limited.

Drawing on principles of trauma-informed practice, the programme focuses on building psychological safety, reflective habits and emotional steadiness across the team. It supports teams to stay composed under pressure, support one another without burnout, and embed sustainable habits that promote trust, clarity and connection.

    • Recognise and shift unhelpful internal states using body, breath and inner dialogue to stay composed in pressured situations.

    • Influence emotional dynamics in teams through presence, language and self-regulation so pressure is shared and managed collectively.

    • Support others effectively without taking on their emotional load or adding to personal strain.

    • Embed simple practices and team habits that promote calm, trust and collaboration in environments of sustained emotional demand.

    • A team that can handle emotional demands with greater resilience and composure under sustained pressure.

    • Practical tools to manage stress and emotional load, individually and collectively within everyday work.

    • Stronger self-awareness and relational insight to lead and collaborate with clarity even when facing conflict, distress or sensitive decisions.

    • Shared habits that support balance, trust and co-regulation at the moments when pressure peaks.

    • A foundation for deeper personal development and wider cultural transformation in high-pressure public services.

  • Step 1 – GC Index Team View
    We begin by mapping the team’s energy and contribution styles using the GC Index. This shapes the programme to fit how the team naturally operates and highlights where emotional strain may be felt most.

    Step 2 – Full-day face-to-face workshop
    A practical, experiential day based on the Teamshaper’s Compose module.

    Step 3 – Monthly virtual drop-ins
    Facilitated 1-hour sessions to reflect, share challenges and reinforce habits of emotional awareness and co-regulation. Several facilitated sessions are often needed to embed the learning and build genuine team resilience. Over time, the team can continue these sessions independently.

    This programme can have a leaner structure and include as little as a single workshop, depending on the need and circumstances.

  • 09:30 – Welcome and housekeeping
    Setting the tone for the day. Introducing the aims of the session and the importance of emotional regulation and team resilience in trauma-exposed environments.

    09:45 – Delegate and team objectives
    Exploring what participants want to get out of the day. Reviewing pre-course reflections to surface shared challenges and opportunities for growth as a team.

    10:00 – Emotional agility in action
    Understanding how internal states affect presence, tone and decision-making. Introducing the concept of emotional agility and how small, intentional shifts in body, breath and inner dialogue can support regulation and safety.

    10:45 – Reset and regulate
    Guided practice to move from stress to steadiness. Learning how to recognise early signs of dysregulation and apply simple tools to return to a grounded, responsive state, individually and together.

    11:30 – Break

    11:45 – Motivation under pressure
    Exploring what sustains or depletes us in emotionally demanding work. Mapping personal and team energy patterns to support sustainable performance and reduce emotional overload.

    12:45 – Lunch

    13:30 – Co-regulation and team dynamics
    Understanding how emotional states ripple through teams. Practising how to offer steadiness and containment without absorbing others’ stress. Building shared awareness of tone, presence and non-verbal cues.

    14:00 – Respond, don’t react
    Applying the day’s learning to real-world scenarios. Practising how to stay composed and intentional in high-pressure moments, especially when facing distress, conflict or emotionally loaded conversations.

    14:45 – Break

    15:00 – Integration in practice
    Bringing together the tools and insights from the day. Identifying shared language, habits and rituals that promote psychological safety, trust and emotional resilience in everyday team life.

    15:45 – Commitments
    Each participant and the team as a whole identifies what they will do differently from tomorrow. Agreeing how to keep this work alive and embed it into the team’s culture.

    16:30 – Close

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Teamshaper's Compose training module