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Title: Navigating Trauma
Author: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
Language: en
Topics: mental health, mutual aid, trauma
Source: Retrieved on 28th March 2022 from https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NavigatingTraumaZine-WEB.pdf

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Navigating Trauma

It is very difficult to do long periods of intense solidarity work

without feeling emotionally exhausted. It can be emotionally damaging to

witness the suffering of others. Injustice hits you in the face again

with every new case — each new personal tragedy. Since grassroots

solidarity requires a genuine emotional engagement with those we’re

supporting, it also exposes us to their suffering. We may always dismiss

it as trivial in comparison, and while it’s true that we may not be the

ones experiencing the real violence or loss, we are susceptible to the

cumulative effects of exposure to story after story.

We have seen time and time again in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina,

doing human rights work in Palestine, refugee solidarity in Calais and

in so many other contexts, it is very common for people responding to

suffer from a complex mixture of guilt, shame and “low level

accumulative” trauma. On top of this, it is also common for there to be

a state of denial about people’s own symptoms, and if they do recognize

any symptoms they do not think they should be ‘’allowed’’ to have them.

So many of these people are our lovers, our friends, and our heroes –

people who inspire us — but we know we need to do a better job

integrating healing justice in our movements.

For those of you who have responded, we know you may be feeling a

mixture of guilt or shame for “not having done enough”. You might think

or say something like: “How can I have fun and relax when people are

suffering?”

The guilt and shame of not having done enough is the bane of almost

every activist’s life and every campaign. This all comes into much

sharper focus when the person suffering is somebody you have met,

somebody you know and love. This might seem obvious, but it needs to be

said over and over: IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT.

Catastrophes of climate chaos, war and exploitation will sadly continue

on. As solidarity-based relief and aid workers we need to practice

mental health awareness and caring for ourselves and each other in order

to be able to navigate through the trauma that working in these spaces

can induce. We ask that even in times of crisis, you take time to make

your physical and emotional well-being a priority. And please hold us

accountable to maintaining a sustainable, empowering, and supportive

organizational culture.

In movements for justice and liberation, we often talk about

sustainability in all things except ourselves. We can clear-cut our own

“emotional reserves”, or “burn the candle at both ends’’ and simply

expect our bodies and minds to deal with it. But everyone has a breaking

point, and going beyond it can take months or even years to recover.

Some people have learned where their limits are and try to work within

them. However, in what can be an intense atmosphere of a post-disaster

zone, people may be tempted to go well beyond their own limits or push

other people to go beyond what they feel able to do. Tragically, this

can lead people to drop out of our movements altogether.

If this does happen in the heat of the moment, it is essential that you

later take the time and/or other steps to recover.

Trauma and Toxic Stress

The fight, flight or freeze defense mechanism is a very powerful

reaction that automatically kicks in during threatening situations. In

the split second of a tense situation it controls what a person does.

The amygdala — the part of the brain that controls your fear response —

has to react so quickly because such situations are interpreted as a

matter of life and death, leaving only a short list of possible

reactions to choose from: fight, run or freeze.

While this is often a very useful and natural process, it has the

potential for many harmful effects if fired too many times through

repeated long-term exposure to traumatic and/or highly stressful events.

Traumatic events often create life difficulties that make further

traumatic reactions more likely, resulting in what is called complex

trauma, or the experience of multiple traumatic events in one’s

lifetime. Toxic stress, similarly, is the experience of living in an

environment of prolonged and frequent adversity. In truth, such

conditions exist for the majority of the communities we are working

with, and as activists we are working within these communities, we are

not immune to this toxic process.

It is important to acknowledge here that what makes an event traumatic

is different for everyone; we all have unique emotional experiences and

cope with trauma differently. Our brain’s reactions to trauma play out

in many different ways. Through this disruptive process in our brains,

particularly when this process is prolonged and/or intensified as is the

case in environments of toxic stress, it is often as if a rupture is

created between us and our own sense of self — trauma is both

existential and physical.

Being in this constantly stressed state can be unhealthy and leave you

open to a multitude of negative neurological and physical reactions:

from infection and risk of illness as our immune systems shut down,

short- and long-term memory loss, digestive difficulties, etc. The mind

and body are trying to deal with what they believe to be a short-term

crisis, by resorting to focusing primarily on necessary survival

functions.

Afterwards, our brain and body systems seek to regain control and make

sense of the experience to prevent it from happening again. The brain

may replay the experience in front of our inner eye to try and grasp it,

while at the same time we want to avoid anything connected with it. We

can become emotionally withdrawn because we do not feel safe and we feel

bad about what happened.

It is true that we don’t have total control over our lives, but in

understanding the way trauma works and practices for dealing with it, we

can work to regain a sense of power, wholeness, and personal

effectiveness. In addition, it is also possible to help others through

loss or crisis while mitigating the risk of trauma and gain a new sense

of what is possible through the process.

Understanding Vicarious Trauma

Vicarious (or bystander) trauma is the process of change that happens

because you care about other people who have been hurt, and feel

committed or responsible to help them. The effects of vicarious trauma

are nearly identical to those experienced in trauma, as discussed above.

Over time this process can lead to changes in your psychological,

physical, and spiritual well-being. The only difference with vicarious

trauma is that it is not something you directly experience, but

experience through another’s traumatic experience.

Vicarious trauma is cumulative. It is what happens when witnessing

cruelty and hearing stories of devastation, and can occur whether you

hear one story, or story after story, day after day, year after year.

This process of change is ongoing. Your experiences of vicarious trauma

are continuously being influenced by your life experiences.

Vicarious trauma happens because you care, you empathize with people who

are hurting. You have empathy – the ability to relate to and understand

another person’s experiences, reactions, and feelings. When you care

about people who have endured terrible things, you bring their grief,

fear, anger, and despair into your awareness and experience and feel it

along with them in some way.

Vicarious trauma occurs because you feel committed or responsible to

help. This is a good thing! But can lead to very high (and sometimes

unrealistic) expectations of yourself, others, and the results you want

to see. Your commitment and sense of responsibility can eventually lead

to feeling burdened, overwhelmed, and hopeless in the face of great need

and suffering, as well as cause you to over-extend yourself beyond what

is reasonable for your own well-being or the best long-term interests of

those you are attempting to be in solidarity with. And it is important

to note here that, in repeated studies, this effect is felt by every

individual regardless of how long they have been doing the work.

How does your sense of committment & responsibility to solidarity work

help you? How might it hurt you?

Three Reactions to Trauma

There are generally three different reactions that commonly occur after

direct or indirect experiences of brutality and suffering. These

reactions are often referred to as “Post-Traumatic Stress”. People might

experience one, some, or all of them. These are:

1. Re-experiencing the traumatic event: nightmares, flashbacks,

intrusive memories, the feeling of not being able to let go of the

experience,

2. Avoidance / Suppression / Emotional numbing: losing the memory,

self-medication (alcohol / drugs), self-isolation, social withdrawal,

avoidance of everything that may recall the experience (known as

avoidance behavior),

3. Increased arousal: Sleeplessness, irritation, rage, emotional

outbursts, panic attacks, fear, hyper-vigilance, difficulties

concentrating and performing normal tasks

Possible Reactions after a Traumatic Experience

Flashbacks

Depression-like symptoms

Physical discomfort

Emotional difficulties

Interpersonal Difficulties

enjoyed

community

doing enough”

intimacy

THESE ARE ALL COMMON REACTIONS TO EXTREME SITUATIONS!

What are some signs that you have experienced? Think back about what may

be the first signals that warn you that you’re beginning to struggle

with trauma?

Your struggles with trauma can have a serious impact on those close to

you as well. Withdrawal, overusing alcohol, lack of sleep, diminished

sexuality, over-protectiveness, loss of compassion or hope all influence

the way you interact with those you love.

Consider asking people you are close to “What have you noticed about the

way I behave and appear to feel when I’m under pressure?” or a similar

question.

People react differently and in different intensities to a traumatic

experience. They also have different needs in terms of support. You can

become traumatized by your personal experience, by witnessing, but also

outside the action by knowing the survivor or just through hearing about

it.

For most people, these symptoms slowly disappear after about 4–6 weeks.

But if they continue, this is typically diagnosed as a condition called

“PTSD” (post-traumatic stress “disorder” — though we disagree with using

the word “disorder” for something we see as a normal reaction)

In such a case, you may wish to seek “professional” help (which might be

helpful anyway if the reaction in the first weeks is strong). It may be

that post-traumatic stress occurs months or even years after the

experience because we don’t initially process the experience. The

experience is blocked, so it keeps on hurting. There is never any shame

in seeking help from professionals when the feelings seem too big in the

moment. However, it is also important that we, as a community of

activists, practice healing justice and community care within as well,

creating spaces where our collective empathy and grace can work to

lessen the effects of experiencing trauma, vicarious or otherwise.

Why Do Some People Recover From Trauma While Others Don’t?

The following factors appear to make it more likely that a person will

develop Post-Traumatic Stress:

and prison officer brutality)

which is why it’s so important to support each other more effectively

— the first minutes and hours can make a massive difference.

All of this being said, however, everyone experiences and reacts to

traumatic situations in different ways, and there is no right or wrong

way to react to traumatic events. The most important thing to remember

is: if it feels like a traumatic experience to you, then it is.

Essential Components of Recovery

people around you who you can trust and who can care for you.

friend in detail. Write down what happened. Express it in whatever way

suits you.

you take care of yourself – especially escape, rest, and play.

Examples of positive coping strategies may include: books, films, video

games, talking to friends about things other than work, taking time off,

lying on the grass, sipping tea, taking a nap, getting a massage, being

physically active, sharing jokes, being creative. It is important to

remember here to find whatever works best for you, and to not try to

emulate what works for someone else.

What are activities you enjoy doing that help you cope with trauma?

We do not just want to cope, however. We want to heal and transform.

Transforming trauma means identifying ways to nurture a sense of meaning

and hope.

Examples include: reminding yourself of the importance of your work,

staying connected with friends and family, paying attention to the

“little things”, partaking in traditions or rituals, reading, writing,

prayer or meditation, challenging your cynical beliefs, learning,

journaling, being creative or artistic.

What are activities you enjoy doing that could help you transform trauma

on a deeper level?

Three important themes in an effective action plan for dealing with

trauma are awareness, balance, and connection.

to them can lead you to a sense of what you need, and how to change

what’s happening or manage your own responses so that things don’t get

worse. Being aware of what you’re doing while you’re doing it,

deliberately keeping your mind and body in the same place may help

prevent or manage trauma.

Reflect on how you are feeling (physically, emotionally,spiritually).

Are you aware of anything out of the ordinary? If so, what might that be

related to?

the work you are doing and balancing really demanding work with less

challenging work. Make sure each work day includes breaks for

meals/physical activity/rest. Spend some time with people you don’t have

to take care of, or better yet, who take care of you. Understand that

exhausted activists and volunteers are prone to making mistakes, and may

do more harm than good.

Fill in the blanks: “I sometimes find it difficult to balance _____ with

_____.”

with others is one of the best things we can do to address vicarious

trauma. Connection also means being connected with what nurtures and

anchors you. Whether that is nature, religion, or another source of

meaning, awe, joy, wonder, purpose, and hope. It is very important as

well.

What are some communities that help you feel nurtured, supported, and

connected?

How you think about your work plays a big role in keeping you balanced,

healthy, and able to prevent or manage trauma. Ask yourself:

Aid Disaster Relief or climate justice more broadly?

changing?

determination, ingenuity, compassion, courage, resilience, heroism,

etc.?

What We Can Do For You

We want to integrate healing justice in all aspects of our work and

build an organizational culture of care and compassion for each other.

We encourage all participants to take time to talk together about and

reflect on disaster relief experiences. People in groups can go round,

taking turns to give everybody the space to talk about what happened,

where they were, what they saw and heard, what they felt and what they

thought. Participation is voluntary and it is more useful if people have

the same level of trauma. If you are no longer in a location with other

participants, we welcome you to use our Facebook group page to discuss,

connect, and reflect. When peer support isn’t enough, there is a 24/7,

365-day-a-year, free, and multi-lingual Disaster Distress Helpline that

provides crisis counseling and support to people experiencing emotional

distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. Call

1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained

crisis counselor.

What does Mutual Aid Disaster Relief do well to support you and help

reduce the risk or mitigate the effects of trauma? What could it do

better?

What You Can Do For Yourself

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and

that is an act of political warfare. -Audre Lorde

you feel safe and take care of yourself. This may mean allowing other

people to take care of you. Don’t isolate yourself. Turn to your friends

and tell them what you need. Family and friends often don’t know how to

help. Tell them what you need and don’t need.

for walks, cycle or run, do exercises.

yourself. Remind yourself: it was not your fault! Your reactions are

normal and there is help available; this is a difficult phase but you

will get better. Find out more about trauma. The more you know, the

easier it is to see your reactions as normal reactions to “abnormal”

events.

damaging effects in the long run and will restrict your life.

Self-medication with alcohol and drugs may seem to help for the moment

but has negative effects in the long run. The same is true for staying

in unhealthy relationships.

you deal with the emotions. Valerian is good for sleeplessness. Massages

and hot baths are always a good idea. Also, don’t be afraid to see a

professional if that is what you need. Good therapists or other

professionals can help. Make sure to find someone who you feel safe and

comfortable enough with to open up to. It also helps if they are

politically sympathetic or at least neutral. You’d see a doctor if you

had a broken leg. Trauma is a very real emotional wound.

what you achieve in the short term does not seem to be enough, it should

be viewed as part of a much longer struggle. Unfortunately, for the

foreseeable future, there will be disasters and disaster capitalists who

try to take advantage of disasters to further entrench their power and

privilege. You burning out will not change that, neither will it help

the people you are trying to assist. We all need to look at ways to

avoid burnout and blaming ourselves.

there that you can work, rest & play with. While buddying does not work

for everybody, many find deep solace in knowing someone is looking out

for them. Or, better yet, come with a whole squad. We encourage the

affinity group model of organizing, and one of the benefits of this is

the microcosm of care that hopefully will come with it.

be aware of your physical health. There are very few people out there

who can work incredibly hard for many years under very stressful

situations and seem to suffer very little ill effect from doing so. You

might feel bad if you think that others are dealing with an experience

better than you are. Remind yourself that people are different and react

in different ways. There is no “right” way to react. (If you have had a

previous experience of trauma, including childhood abuse, you may have

more intense reactions.) Also, more sensitive people often experience

stronger reactions. It’s not a sign of weakness to feel pain after being

attacked. If you think: “I don’t have the right to feel this bad — what

happened to me is nothing compared to X,” remind yourself that you have

experienced something terrible and that you have the right to feel as

you do. If you feel bad, that’s because the experience was bad for you.

There is no point in comparing and contrasting brutality. If you accept

your condition, you will get better faster.

some martial arts, get into the countryside, make love, or engage in

BDSM, eat well – do whatever you need to feel good and remind yourself

that life is worth living. And if/when those little/loud voices creep

into your thoughts allowing guilt in, acknowledge it, smile at it and

tell it to mind its own business. You are in this for the long haul and

you will be back in the fray soon enough if you look after yourself.

else on until you have recovered from the last escapade. For example, if

you find meetings difficult, and you don’t NEED to be there, then don’t

go.

nonconsumerist? And it’s FREE! Get as much of the lovely stuff as your

body demands.

don’t condemn yourself for your feelings and reactions. Inner wounds

take time and patience to heal, just like physical ones.

you need to be honest and think whether or not the way your current

actions are likely to help or hinder that. Think long-term. This is a

marathon, not a sprint.

How To Support Your Friend

The support of friends and families is enormously important, and cannot

be overstated. (Lack of support and understanding, on the other hand,

contributes to the persistence of trauma.) Lack of support can worsen

the reaction. This is called “secondary traumatization” and is to be

taken very seriously. It involves “shattered assumptions” – law

enforcement and perpetrators are known to be brutal, but if friends

don’t support you afterwards, you may feel as though the whole world is

breaking down. This is where you come in! And here are some tips to help

you be there for your friend.

private, that you have noticed some worrying changes in their behavior.

If it is affecting their ability to work effectively or get on with

other people, tell them. It might be useful to be specific. Make it

clear it’s their current behavior that you are commenting on, not “the

normal them”, and that it is because you care so much about them that

you are bringing this up. Take them out and have a good time, if

possible avoid talking shop. Consider showing them this zine.

Be proactive but not pushy. Don’t wait for them to ask for help. Be

there for them. The days immediately after the experience are crucial.

This is when all the emotions are easily accessible. It’s good to talk

then. Later on, people often close up. Often traumatized people withdraw

from social activities and isolate themselves. You may not see your

friend around anymore. Go and find them.

and over again, and one of the best things friends can do is to be

patient and sympathetic listeners so the person feels less alone. Avoid

talking too soon, too long and too much. We often long to give good

advice rather than be a good listener. Put yourself in their shoes. Try

and understand how they feel, not how you might have felt. Telling the

story in the order in which it happened, chronologically, helps the

brain process the experience. Carefully encourage your friend to talk

about what happened, what they saw, heard, felt and thought. But it may

be the case that your friend doesn’t want to talk about it, in which

case don’t force them. Have realistic expectations — It is also

important to have realistic expectations while the person is recovering

and not to expect too much or too little from them. Don’t expect a

traumatized person to recover quickly. Some will, but some won’t be able

to. If someone is taking a long time to recover from a crisis, offer

your support repeatedly, so that they don’t feel alone.

which are very hard for those around them to deal with, for example

anger, withdrawal, irritability, ungratefulness and being distant are

all common reactions. Bear in mind that the traumatized person is not

deliberately acting this way: it is the trauma which makes them behave

like this. Don’t take it personally, but recognize it as a symptom and

as a sign that they need your support.

to encourage the person to stop reliving and simply forget about the

trauma and get on with life. Unfortunately, this advice is usually not

helpful in this situation and is likely to make things worse, as it may

make the person feel even more isolated and hopeless.

give the message: “You are not to blame — and you are not alone.”

most important thing is that your friend feels safe and warm in your

presence.

more about trauma so you understand it better. Bear in mind that many

people seem all right after traumatic experiences and that reactions may

come later. Ask what they need, don’t impose your solutions

tasks. Cooking, shopping, and handling the chores for them can be

invaluable help, as long as you don’t patronize them or undermine their

independence. Or maybe go with your friend when, for example, they try

to go on demonstrations, actions or to other potentially triggering

situations again. Keep an eye on them, and check how they feel, before,

during and after. Also, when the symptoms of post-traumatic stress are

over, it is important to help your friend to reintegrate into an active

life.

supporter is essential. Helping and caring can be very hard for you,

too. Take care of yourself, do things that make you happy. Talk to

someone else about how you feel. Getting support for yourself will help

you support others.

Going through traumatic experiences can often have positive outcomes in

the end. A lot of people have been through these experiences and many

have reported breakdowns turning into breakthroughs and opportunities

for self-growth. For example: conscious enjoyment of life and the beauty

around us, being grateful for every day.

Facing your fears and overcoming them is very empowering. Having

abroader understanding and humility can make you a more empathic and

understanding person. And having been through a traumatic experience can

give you valuable insight on how to help another person through

traumatic experiences as well. There is much of this world that needs to

be composted, and you have wisdom, heart-breaking, hard-earned, wisdom,

that is needed in these times of death, birth, and renewal. Never give

up. The world needs us more than it ever has before. Sometimes we are

broken, but it’s the cracks that let the light come through. These

cracks just mean something is being born inside, something green,

something new.

Sometimes, it’s only through disasters that we unearth a power within

that can’t be measured or defined.

Sometimes darkness is our candle.

Sometimes our wounds illuminate our path.

And sometimes healing happens, in roundabout ways, all around and deep

inside us.

— To heal, we must resist. To resist, we must heal. —