This is a provocative question which no-one seems to have addressed. How effective are stress managers?

The standard advice to anyone carrying an unacceptable burden of stress is to see a stress manager, who will help and advise them.

Any help that stressed person receives will depend on two things:

• the personal qualities of the stress manager, eg, empathy and a true ability to listen constructively; and

• the quality of their training.

The personal qualities of a stress manager aren’t something which can be controlled by legislation, certification or any other regulatory method. One can only hope that anyone motivated to work in this field at least has the wish to help others.

It’s true that some might regard stress management as an easy career option, whilst totally lacking those necessary interpersonal skills. However, they’ll soon find they lack something else – clients! Stress management involves working with clients over a period of weeks if not months, and unhappy clients tend not to return after the initial visit.

The personal qualities of a stress manager therefore, while being essential, are not an issue because the problem corrects itself.

The exception is where the stress manager is excellent at self-promotion, and their abilities come a sad second place. The client, regrettably, may not know they are receiving bad therapy.

The larger issue is the quality of some of the training on offer.

Stress is a complex subject. Anyone working with stressed people has to be able to offer a range of different skills. The client is short-changed if the therapist doesn’t have the full skill-set.

Yet even now, much training in stress management only scratches the surface. A good stress management course should include training in physiology, interpersonal skills, client management, targeted questioning and constructive listening – to name only a few of the topics which should be covered.

Sadly, the standard of courses varies hugely. Therapists study in the genuine belief that they’ll receive the training they need, but on occasions this isn’t provided. Without a means of comparison they may never know that their skill-set is lacking. This means they are less effective than they should be.

This will certainly an unpopular opinion. However, the truth is, if you don’t train someone properly to do something, they won’t be able to do it, and this applies to any endeavour.

In order to ensure stress managers are as effective as possible, it’s time to raise our expectations of what a good stress management training should include.