Tools for Thriving
A separate collection of interactive tools for pressure, workload, reflection and sustainable practice — designed for the person doing the work.
Wellbeing & timekeeping assessment
Answer 50 questions across purpose, workload planning, timekeeping, resilience and organisational culture, then receive a personalised profile.
Are you carrying productivity debt?
Most social workers are carrying productivity debt without realising it. You skip a break to finish recording. You stay late to clear emails. You stop exercising because you are too tired. Each one feels small. But they compound.
We would not expect a phone to run all day at 5% - yet we often expect that of ourselves. And over time, the very things that keep you effective - your clarity, your energy, your capacity to think - are the things you have been borrowing from.
The guilt around self-care runs deep. Telling ourselves we do not deserve a break until everything is done. Always putting others first. Trying to optimise every last minute. But social work is not a warehouse. People are not packages. And some things cannot and should not be rushed.
The tools below are designed to help you recognise where the debt is building and start paying it down:
See where the debt is building
Reveal the pace creating the debt
Contain the demands driving it
Prevent the debt accumulating
Reconnect with what makes it worthwhile
Workload Planner
A colour-coded system for containing your workload. When tasks are held in a safe container, your brain can let go.
Download Your Planner
This Excel template uses a colour-coded priority system (urgent, do soon, fine for now, done) to help you see the shape of your workload at a glance. It includes a status dropdown, space for key details and actions, and guidance on why this approach works. Use it on your work device, print it weekly, or bring it to supervision.
Based on the Zeigarnik Effect: unfinished tasks stay active in your mind until they are completed or captured somewhere external. This planner is your safe container.
⬇ Download Excel TemplateMoments of Magic
These moments do not go on a to-do list, but they are why we keep showing up. Capture yours in a sentence you can hold on to.
Your Moment of Magic
Hold on to this. On harder days, come back and read it. These moments are not small - they are the reason this work matters.
Balloon Check-In
A model for thinking about pressure, release and your own wellbeing. Your capacity for stress will differ depending on what else is going on in your life.
▲ What fills your balloon?
Pressures and stressors
▼ What is your release valve?
Strengths and coping strategies
Balloon Health Model created by Ken Drewell and Kayleigh Rose Evans
Cheetah or Sloth?
Do you rush around like a cheetah: fast, focused, always in motion? Or do you allow space to move like a sloth: slow, steady, with time to breathe?
Be honest with yourself. Where are you right now?
Protect Your Reflection
Staying late does not always mean better work. Long hours can reduce clarity, creativity, and good judgement. Reflection and rest are part of good practice, not a luxury.
End of Day Closing Ritual
Spend two minutes before you finish. The Zeigarnik Effect means unfinished tasks stay active in your mind like open tabs in a browser. This ritual helps you close those tabs so your brain can rest.
Weekly Reflection
These questions are designed to slow you down. Use them with a colleague, in supervision, or on your own.