What is Encounter Stress?

• Encounter stress revolves around people.
• You experience this type of stress when you worry about interacting with a certain person or group of people.
• You may not like them, or you might think that they’re unpredictable.
• It can occur if your role involves a lot of personal interactions with customers or clients.
• It also occurs from “contact overloads”: when you feel overwhelmed or drained from interacting with too many people.

Coping skills to manage encounter stress

KEY POINT: Because this stress is focused entirely on people, you’ll manage this stress better by working on your people skills.

Technique 1: Develop greater emotional intelligence

• ​​​​​​This is the ability to recognize the emotions, wants, and needs of yourself and others.
• It makes interaction with others easier and offers a foundation for building strong relationships.

Emotional Intelligence Resource

Technique 2: Recognize your own limits: Tune in to emotions and thoughts

• ​​​​​​Know the maximum number of conversations you can have with others before you get tired.
• A common symptom of encounter stress is isolating. If you notice yourself wanting to isolate, it’s a good sign that you’re feeling stressed.

How to Identify Your Boundaries 

Technique 3: When you experience stress symptoms, use self-care coping skills

Examples of coping skills:​​​​​

• Go for a walk
• Take a break
• Drink water
• Practice breathing exercises

• Headspace: Exercise mindful awareness, relieve anxiety, and reduce stress
  • Web | App Store | Google Play |
• Insight Timer: Sleep, anxiety, and stress
  • Web | App Store | Google Play | 
• Breathe2Relax: This app has specific breathing exercises to manage stress.
  • App Store | Google Play | 

Healthy Relationships

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