Module 6:
Trauma and Self-Care
Overview
This module is focused on trauma and giving ourselves the tools and space to heal from it.
Why? With or without recognizing it, we all care trauma with us. It can be hard to identify without something which triggers are reaction.
Learning outcomes: You will be able to describe trauma and vicarious trauma. You will also build a self-care plan to help yourself when you feel the effects of trauma. These are tools you can share with other people in your life.
What we will do: We will read, watch videos, create a researcher identity memo and self-care plan, and share our self-care strategies on Slack!
What is trauma?
Anything that your body feels like you cannot handle: too much or too little of something for too short or too long.
Often times when we think of trauma, we think of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short. Before our modern understanding of how prevalent trauma and traumatic experiences can be, this was known as "shell shock," and only a label given to soldiers who came back from the brutality of war and struggled to feel safe or "normal."
Now, we know that not just veterans or survivors of violence can feel these effects of trauma. Think of a time you were unable to sleep because you were worrying money or food. Or even an event you weren't involved in - maybe you drove by a car crash and couldn't shake the imagery or thoughts of what happened out of your heard.
Though these weren't acts of violence directed towards you, the stress and anxiety from any sort fear like this can be traumatizing. And your inability to sleep may be an example of your body having a trauma response - where your body shuts down or freaks out over stress and anxiety.
What is a trigger?
Triggers are how we refer to what causes us to have a trauma response. They are threats or events within yourself, family, or environment which cause the adverse reactions which may come with trauma.
Trauma can be triggered by any number of things, and a trauma response can feel like many things, a few we've listed below in our section on symptoms. This variance makes it difficult to pin down when we're feeling traumatized, but regardless of that, we all deserve to feel safe and heal from our traumas.
Given our own lived experiences and positionalities, we must be mindful of the potential for vicarious trauma throughout the project.
Vicarious trauma is the result of being exposed and empathically listening to stories of trauma, suffering and violence, caused by humans to other humans (Pearlman and Saakvitne 1995). The trauma response may worsen with repeated exposure to traumatic material. Repeated exposure to traumatic interview material is an unavoidable part of the research process, and vicarious trauma is thought to be a normal process resulting from exposure to such traumatic materials (Campbell 2002; Morrison 2007).
In other words: vicarious trauma is a build up of the burden you carry when helping so many others work through their own trauma and suffering. No one expects you to be impervious to this; instead, we want you to take care of yourself in the same way you do for the people in your life and work. We've outlined simple self-care plan below. If you have self-care techniques you find useful and wish to share, we'd love to hear about them.
Vicarious Trauma Symptoms:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms (nightmares, intrusive images and thoughts, emotional numbing) and / or depression (hopelessness, depressed mood, despair);
Alterations in views of themselves, their identity, their society, and the larger world;
Loss of a sense of personal safety and control;
Feelings of fear, anger, and being overwhelmed;
Feelings of guilt and/or diminished confidence in capacities and frustration with the limits of what one can do to improve a situation;
Increased sensitivity to violence;
Altered sensory experiences, such as symptoms of dissociation;
Loss of ability to trust other individuals and institutions;
Inability to empathize with others;
Social withdrawal;
Disconnection from loved ones;
Inability to be emotionally and / or sexually intimate with others;
Lack of time or energy for oneself;
Changes in spirituality and belief systems;
Cynicism;
Loss of self-esteem and sense of independence;
Minimizing the experience of vicarious trauma as trivial compared to the problems of respondents
Take a look at the pdf to the right. This resource is yours to keep - return to it whenever you feel some amount of vicarious trauma.
os_guildelines_for_researchers-508.pdfIf you get a chance to read through it, what sticks out as advice to carry with you? There's a lot that can cause, and even more which can result from, trauma. Recognizing the signs within yourself is difficult, but with practice you can find ways to soften them.
What is self-care?
Self-care is not selfish, it is essential to protect your emotional and physical well-being. In order to do the work, we must take care of ourselves first. There are four types of self-care:
Watch this YouTube video about self-care and why it is important.
One example is grounding activities to regulate your physical and emotional reactions. Practice with this video (only 5 minutes long!)
Take a look at some examples of self-care the Urban team does in the drop downs below.
Physical Self-Care
"Movement and dancing!" - Lauren
"I like going for a walk or going into some body of water. It helps me feel connected to nature and my body to feel my legs working or water rolling over me." - Sam
"Grounding techniques like in the video above to slow down fight/flight response. I like to feel the table or chair and count my breaths." - Bree
Mental Self-Care
"Going outside and noticing three things I find beautiful (practicing being present)." - Lauren
"When I'm feeling down, I think of the things in my day that have gone well. It helps me recenter that things may be bad in the moment, but I'm still surrounded by comforting things." - Sam
"Yoga: I take a class with my favorite instructor whose goal is to get us all out of heads and stay present." - Bree
Social Self-Care
"Making food with friends." - Lauren
"Sometimes I just really need to talk to my dad. He understands me and we can just talk about anything." - Sam
"Art, board games, or trivia with friends." - Bree
Emotional Self-Care
"Letting myself feel what I'm feeling instead of pushing it down (often with help from my therapist!)" - Lauren
"Music is something I deeply connect with on so many levels. I can find the right song for any mood that just gives me the room to feel." - Sam
"Thinking or talking about things that happened throughout the day/week and noting how they made me feel - the physical reactions like feeling hot or heightened heart rate." - Bree
Activity: Create a self-care plan
Copy this text and outline a private self-care plan for you to refer back to throughout the project (or continue to fill out your Google Doc):
1) Identify potential triggering content that may come up during the project:
2) When such content comes up, what will you do to prepare yourself?
3) While reading/watching such content, what will you do to stay calm?
4) What will you do if the content or situation becomes too distressful?
5) What resources are available to you?
In this next print out, we'll combine the last two sections into one document. Save a copy of it to your computer and phone and fill it in as much as you feel comfortable. Don't worry about sharing this with anyone, this is for you to have for your comfort and safety.
This module is heavy!!! Please take care of yourself! In the Trauma Module discussion on Discord or privately in your own notes, share 1-2 things you do for self-care! Bree's is listening to music, especially while driving around! Added challenge: actually do one of the things this week!!
The Takeaway: Trauma is unfortunately pervasive in our society. This trauma information training can only give you words and tools. The rest of the healing, for you and your mentees, comes from your strength, experience, and willingness to be an agent of growth and change for your community. Keep your self-care plan handy, either physically or mentally. Taking care of yourself is more important than anything revolving around research - always put yourself first!