Mission, philosophy and history of stressinsight

About Stressinsight

Our mission

Since 2013, our mission has been simple: make work better for everyone. We help reduce stress so people feel well, perform well, and contribute to workplaces that thrive.

We support employees in rediscovering meaning and motivation by aligning work with their strengths — and by removing the daily stressors that drain energy and health.

We help organizations build healthy, high-performing cultures backed by science, not slogans. Stress is a leading driver of absenteeism and a major financial cost. Reducing it isn’t a luxury; it’s an investment that pays off through engagement, resilience, and better results.

Work should be both fulfilling and sustainable — for individuals and for organizations.

Our approach

Stress is not one-dimensional — and the solutions shouldn’t be either.
Most stress advice focuses on only one part of the picture: calming techniques, productivity habits, psychological insights, or workplace tips. Each is helpful, but chronic stress usually emerges when biological, psychological, and organizational factors interact over time.

StressInsight brings these layers together in a science-based approach built on three foundations:

1. Calm the Nervous System

Before you can think clearly or take action, the body must shift out of survival mode.
We use physiological tools — breathing, grounding, awareness, and cognitive reframing — to reduce hyperarousal and create the mental space needed for clarity.

2. Rebuild Resilience and Recovery

Chronic stress requires restoring capacity.
This means improving sleep consistency, reducing cognitive overload, increasing predictability, and building habits that support emotional stability, mental clarity, and sustained energy.

3. Change the Conditions That Create Stress

Lasting relief often depends on improving the work environment itself: workload, expectations, clarity, autonomy, communication, conflict, and fairness.
We provide realistic, actionable strategies to help individuals and organizations create healthier, more sustainable ways of working.

By aligning biology, psychology, and workplace realities, StressInsight helps people reduce stress in a way that is practical, evidence-based, and built for modern work — not just for the moment, but for the long term.

The three C's of Stressinsight

We bring our mission to life through the StressInsight Community, our course Surmounting Stress, and tailored Consultancy services — the three C’s that support both individuals and organizations in reducing stress and building sustainable success.

1. Community

Our StressInsight Community is a low-cost, high-value space for anyone who wants to understand stress better and manage it more effectively. It has three core goals:

a. Make science accessible

Breakthroughs in stress research rarely reach the public. They’re buried in specialized journals behind paywalls or written in technical language.
We translate this science into clear, practical insights — understandable, actionable, and affordable.

b. Create a safe, stigma-free environment

Stress is often treated as a weakness. It isn’t.
It’s a normal biological response to difficult conditions — and it can affect anyone.
Our community offers a supportive space to ask questions, share experiences, and learn from others on a similar path.

c. Offer personalized guidance

Stress is deeply personal. The community provides tailored advice for both individuals and teams, helping you identify your specific stressors and find realistic strategies that fit your situation.

2. Course: Surmounting Stress

Our course gives you the knowledge and tools to understand and manage stress at a deep level. Through engaging video lessons, you’ll learn:

What stress really is — biologically and psychologically
How personality shapes your stress response
Which practical steps prevent and reduce harmful stress at work

You’ll also receive tools to apply what you’ve learned, including:

a structured stress diary
a personality quick-reference sheet
ongoing access to review materials whenever you need them

And on top of this:

your personalized Stress Coach Companion (Chatgpt subscription required)

This course is ideal for individuals ready to take control of their work life — and for businesses wanting to equip their teams with science-based stress-reduction skills.

3. Consultancy

For those who want direct, tailored support, we offer one-on-one sessions and organizational consulting.

For individuals

We help you map out your specific stressors and provide clear, actionable strategies tailored to your personality, work style, and goals.

For organizations

We identify structural stressors — in workflow, leadership, communication, or culture — and design custom solutions that reduce chronic stress and improve teamwork, clarity, and performance.

The results?
Healthier employees.
Fewer sick days.
Stronger engagement.
And a more resilient, successful organization.

Our history

About stressinsight

Stressinsight has evolved over more than a decade — always with one purpose: to make high-quality scientific knowledge about stress accessible and actionable for everyone.

We began in 2013 as part of the Biosphere Science Foundation (BSF), a non-profit we co-founded to bring science to the public. Stress soon became one of our central topics. We launched a dedicated website and published a well-received book on stress in the Netherlands.

Readers appreciated the book’s clarity — but many wanted a format that could grow and adapt as new research emerged. This led to a membership-based stress journal, modeled after traditional newspapers, where we shared new discoveries and practical insights in real time.

In 2021, Stressinsight became fully independent from BSF.

But one challenge remained: interactivity. A newspaper can inform, but it cannot connect. That’s why in 2023 we launched the Stressinsight Community — a space where people can access expert knowledge, ask questions, and receive personalized guidance.

Stressinsight continues to evolve, but our goal remains unchanged: helping individuals and organizations reduce stress, build resilience, and create healthier, more sustainable ways of working — one insight at a time.

Meet the team

Erwin van den Burg

Co-founder — Neuroscientist & Stress Researcher
Specialist in stress physiology, workplace dynamics, and how chronic stress shapes the brain and behavior.

Ines Gomez Campos

Co-founder — Psychiatrist
Expert in workplace mental health, emotional well-being, and the clinical impact of stress on individuals and teams.