Trauma Resilience Training Survival techniques for those in harm’s way Introduction to Trauma Resilience Training Online events 27th May 2012 Felicity Biggart Martin Weaver

Introduction What is Trauma Resilience Training Three core elements: Education - The Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic Nervous System Creating the Blue Print for action under stress Psychological tools to help mitigate distress post the incident

TRT RESILIENCE MODEL

Key Learnings of our training  Harness / use the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol Aid your body’s natural ability for balance (homeostasis) by ‘switching off’ the body’s alarm response

What Actually Happens? Prolonged Flooding and Damage to the Immune System Telegraph Article ‘You Really Can Die Of a Broken Heart Danish & Swedish studies into Myocardial Infarction Prolonged Flooding and Damage to Psychological Perception of Risk - PTSD 5 5

What is the significance of these factors to TRT? Normalising – understanding why sight/sound/smell an trigger a stress response and the importance of aiding our natural ‘negative feedback’ loop Creation of a blue print for future action Importance of intervention and dialogue with your body to stop repetitious cycles of thought patterns leading to amplification and flooding of the stress system – potentially leads to PTSD

Secondary Traumatic Stress Symptoms:- Work-Related Burnout Compassion Fatigue Vicarious Traumatism Solutions:- Awareness of boundaries Awareness of client profile Increased supervision Defusing network Distractions

What is Defusing? Fact Finding Inquiring about thoughts A Brief 10 to 15 mins conversational intervention Informal in Nature – in a relaxed environment Fact Finding Inquiring about thoughts Inquiring about feelings Support and Reassurance

Grounding The ability to stay in the ‘now’ in a resourced healthy state and avoid associating into the trauma Before associating into any memory of a traumatic event or when a client becomes too associated into a negative event Keeping the client & counsellor resourced Relaxation is a conscious process

Cue Controlled Relaxation What is it? Why use it in TRT? Stages: Classic technique of tension / relaxation of muscles Condition relaxation of muscles to a word Staged portability of skill Use in increasingly stressful situations Increased cognitive awareness of early stress signals Unconscious competence