For those of you who have experienced trauma, I know you feel it deep inside you. It can be a struggle to remain in control and go through the motions of life. Even when you think you have a handle on things, you find yourself pulled into the memories, the experiences and the feelings. So you cope. You find ways to deal with it and try to plug forward.
Did you know this is actually the first step when we think about treating trauma? Safety & Stabilization. We increase the skills for the client so that they can be resourced to handle when things come up. Because we know that they will come up. We also know the power clients hold in being able to do something about it. At times, this is the key to unlocking the power and control to move through life. Instead of things happening to them, it is just something that happens.
So, what are you coping skills? Well, start with your symptoms. Know what you are facing. Being aware of how it shows up, when it shows up, how intense it is when it shows up, and so on doesn’t change it. It doesn’t make it show up more or less. It just is you noticing. Once you notice, you can start to focus on the skills to lessen the symptoms. This means, lessen the intensity, lessen the impact, lessen the duration. You shift that power of control from the symptoms to yourself.
Then start the list of coping skills. What do you do? Does it work? What have you tried? Did they work? It is ok if they didn’t. It’s about having options. It’s ok if they lessened it just slightly. Less is more, well in this case it is.
So here is your starting point. Here is step 1 & 2. Then reach out and we can look at next steps. You don’t have to do it alone but if you want to, you can. You can also aren’t meant to know how to do all by yourself. So have someone to guide you along the way. Teach you. Help you. Hear you. Emphasis on YOU!