Stress buster program wins support

A program that teaches people how to reduce stress and simplify work, life and relationship problems has been commercialised by a University of Adelaide PhD graduate.

Dr Janette Warwick is successfully marketing her program to the South Australian education sector, private businesses, health professionals and youth workers after being awarded a University Graduate Entrepreneurial Program scholarship valued at $30,000.

"Strategies for Stress" links decision-making and stress and offers a range of training programs to help people simplify their problems by transforming their thinking, Dr Warwick says.

"One of the difficulties with stress is that people can so easily become caught up in situations where they can't see the forest for the trees. As a result, they find it difficult to solve problems because they are caught up in all the details," she said.

There are no formal indicators of the overall cost of stress to the workplace, but current estimates indicate that work absenteeism costs Australian businesses $2.6 billion a year (Morgan and Banks 2003). A recent study also put the total cost of workplace bullying and violence - which causes enormous stress - at $13 billion dollars a year when absenteeism, labour turnover, productivity and legal costs are taken into account.

The Graduate Entrepreneurial Program, offered by the University of Adelaide's Thebarton Research Park since 1993, includes a package of training and assistance for university and TAFE graduates who have ideas for new business ventures.

Dr Warwick, a graduate with a PhD in Psychology, is one of seven people who has been undertaking the Graduate Entrepreneurial Program in 2007.

Previous success stories from the program include highly successful outback tourism operator Drew Kluska; Smartyhost web provider Anoosh Manzoori; multimedia gaming entrepreneurs Luke Beard and Brian Doidge, of Monkey Physics; and Emily Humphries from Purely Cotton Co, an organic underwear company.

Story by Candy Gibson