In 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) published the book Doing What Matters in Times of Stress, which offers the public validated and tested methods for becoming aware of stress, and trying to respond to it using basic psychosocial skills.

The first edition of Doing What Matters in Time of Stress

It became apparent that the format of the original book was not suitable for the Caribbean region: the illustrations and organization of the information did not allow the method to be properly appropriated. The Ink Link was asked to create a new version of the guide.

Our analysis suggested the following adjustments:

- Design each page as a card, to have one concept per page. In the original version, a concept could spread over several pages with very little text. This was accompanied by the creation of titles that clearly marked each stage of the book;

- Bringing exercises together on a single, practical page, to make them easier to achieve;

- Reduce repetition, with some concepts being re-explained several times, to create a much shorter manual (from 132 pages to 53 pages);

- Create characters closer to the Caribbean style. To do this, we asked several of our authors to submit illustrations. These were then submitted to a group of local people. Sess' style was chosen.

A new edition by Sess and Guillaume Biasse

Sess work, whose simple black-and-white graphic design makes for clarity in the illustrations, while leaving plenty of room for explanations and written exercises. The book was designed by Guillaume Biasse, one of our graphic designers with experience of scientific books.

The success of this new edition has led to the guide being translated into Spanish (with drawings adapted for the Latin American region), French, Portuguese (for Brazil), Dutch (for Suriname) and Haitian Creole.

The guide is divided into 5 parts: 

- Grounding: the ability to refocus on oneself and disregard an emotional storm;

- Unhooking: the ability to identify the source of stress that clings to us and move away from it;

- Acting on your Values: the ability to stand up for the values we hold dear;

- Being Kind: the ability to surround ourselves with a caring environment;

- Making Room: the ability to control and tame our emotions, and make room for painful feelings as part of life.

This guide is aimed at everyone, offering a series of concepts for managing stress, either to deal with a difficult situation in the short term, or to combat stress over the long term.