Many people talk about how stress is bad for your health. This is true of chronic stress - we regularly post about allostatic load, the physical wear and tear of long-term stress on your body. But there is an important piece of research that brings in an important distinction - for short term stress, your mindset will dictate whether it is physically harmful or not. 

The research asserts that viewing physiological stress symptoms (e.g., a racing heart, quickened breathing) as helpful bodily preparation rather than a sign of anxiety alters your body's cardiovascular profile, reducing allostatic load. This will also boost performance by reducing the associated negative thoughts and worries.  

Empresa Psychology supports organisations to address the psychological and neurobiological drivers of commercial issues such as absenteeism and presenteeism, through evidence-based team training. This topic is a great example of how we apply neuroscience to boost performance and resilience. 

Our workshop on 'The Neuroscience of Stress' supports attendees to understand their body's natural stress response, and harness it to boost their performance, through neuroscience-backed physiological tools. Each session is tailored to the sector and team context, and is highly practical and immediately implementable. Here is some feedback we've received from attendees:

💡 "A scientific explanation of how threat systems work followed by lots of practical tips, delivered in a very open and engaging way."

💡 "The strategies to protect yourself in real life scenarios and techniques to keep your composure worked really well."

💡 "Good practical tips, helpfully put in the legal context."

This month we're highlighting an awareness day that many won't hear about in the media - International Day on Judicial Wellbeing (25 July 2026). This event highlights a set of well-evidenced pressures across the judiciary:

‼️ sustained exposure to high-stakes and often distressing material;

‼️ the cognitive load of continuous complex decision-making; and

‼️ the professional isolation that can come from operating without regular peer reflection.

Over time, these factors are associated with burnout, vicarious trauma, reduced decision quality, and what is increasingly recognised as moral injury, particularly where outcomes carry significant human impact but there is limited space to process them.

Reflective practice offers a structured, preventative solution. Facilitated by a Clinical Psychologist, these sessions create a confidential forum for judges (and are also recommended for barristers and solicitors) to step back from the immediacy of cases, reduce isolation, and make sense of the emotional and ethical load of the work. They support clearer judgement under pressure, strengthening resilience in adversarial contexts, and reducing the cumulative strain that can erode performance over time.