Trauma- Steps to cope with traumatic events

What is trauma?

Trauma is any lasting emotional response that leaves us feeling disconnected from our body, mind and spirit.

Trauma is caused by a distressing event that we were not able to cope with.

Trauma can affect:

*your sense of self and safety, *emotional regulation and *Your relationships

Traumatic events in life are inevitable. No matter what age, we all are likely to experience them. We cannot prevent all of them. So what can we do then?

Here's few ideas;

1. Check your own body responses first. Pay attention to all parts of your body. Do you feel your heart-beating faster? Are you tensed? Where do you feel it? Breathe to that part of the body. Note ! Attending to your feelings first will enable you to be more prepared to support your child. As our slogan says supported parent = supported child

2. Assess the situation. Pay attention to how your child feels. Does he/she look scared? Shocked? It is very important to slow the child down. Some children may straight away want to come back to play. lf they do, the small trauma event may stay in their unconscious and become not addressed. It is recommended to reassure the child that he/she is safe in a confident and calm voice and then mention that you are here to stay with them until the feeling wears off as well as after for a bit to make sure they are still ok, make sure to always reassure.

3. While the shock is wearing off, guiding attention to the child's sensations When you see that the child's skin colour, breathing and face expression return to normal, you can start to ask about the child's sensations. How do you feel in your body could be a starting point question. lf it doesn't bring any answer be more specific, Focus on specific parts of the body. This cycle of asking questions can be overwhelming for the child. Make sure to take a pause between questions, if you notice the child getting uncomfortable or distressed.

4. Support your child's emotional expression. If your child cries, feel angry or sad. Let it last as long as it needs. Rushing it will not support child's recovery process.

5. Check in with yourself and let the child choose what to do next. Check what you feel in your body. Take a few breaths. Be aware by this time your child may want to go back to play or hug you for longer. Depending on what is the choice let it. The Child needs to have a level of normality in this process. You've done your part of reassuring the child, attending to the child's feelings that led to calming them down

6. Help a child make sense of what happened. Last step perhaps to be done next day, is to ask questions to help the child understand the event. Ask about the event first, then feelings. Reassure a child that all feelings are okay. They are created by our body to inform us about something.

Looking forward to hearing more tips a advice anyday, Keep watch for more tips

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