Post Instruction
We are on fall break therefore submit a discussion post:Answer the following 2 questions in the forum and then respond to two other people. The examples are below:
1. What signals of your own distress did you learn that were new to you and can you link them to anything?
2. Share a new self-care activity that you will be using in the future when working with trauma. Share why you chose this one.
Example 1
1.) I find myself becoming distressed when I have too many things on my plate, especially if these are things with deadlines. My job is a place where I have lots of of been stress in my life. My managers transitioned me to a new role, which is a position with multiple deadlines daily and plenty of rules/exceptions. I find myself getting frustrated almost daily from the amount of work that is thrown my way. Several departments at my job send things to me that they are unable to identify, leaving it up to me to figure out. While I am flattered management felt confident in me to handle this new position, I am also frustrated because I was very vocal to management that I didn’t want this position. I explained I have a lot on my plate with school and that this wasn’t a good role for me in my current life situation. I find myself getting angry and irritated daily because of this role change. I also have a lot of extra anxiety to meet all of my daily deadlines. This was extra anxiety I didn’t want on my plate. I can link this extra anxiety and anger to my new role and the fact that I was very vocal to management that I didn’t want to perform this role.
2.) A new self-care plan I will be utilizing with trauma will be centered around mindfulness. Helping clients to become present when things get too overwhelming, or if the client begins feeling unsafe. Deep breathing and the “5 senses” technique are techniques I will incorporate to help alleviate difficulties the client could be experiencing sharing traumatic experiences.
Example 2
1. What signals of your own distress did you learn that were new to you and can you link them to anything?
As I worked through my self-care plan, I, at first, found it difficult to pinpoint exact signals of distress that weren’t as generic as “anxiety” “feeling overwhelmed” etc. I decided to first focus on some of the physical attributes that I experience in times of distress. For one, I noticed that I bite my nails when I am particularly stressed or overwhelmed. I also notice that my muscles will tense up and sometimes so extreme that my hands, neck, or shoulders will feel sore or tired due to this. One way I can combat this is by noticing when this is coming on and doing some deep breathing and meditating exercises. This can be as simple as taking 3 – 5 minutes to clear my mind and take a step back from the anxiousness that I was feeling. I notice that this distress will come on when I have a lot to do at work, have several assignments due at once, and overall just when I feel overwhelmed in several aspects of my life. Another sign of distress I noticed was negative self talk. I am a perfectionist by nature due to the family I was raised in with the high expectations for good grades, to excel in sports, and to be “the best version” of myself at all times. Because I am such a perfectionist, focusing on negative things or things that I did wrong is something that has become second nature to me but is something that does cause distress. I think a great self-care activity for this would be to focus on the positives, such as, using self-affirmations, talking through my accomplishments that I have already completed on that particular thing, or even just taking a step away to breathe and not focus on this specific task in the distressing moment rather than working myself up and causing even more distress.
2. Share a new self-care activity that you will be using in the future when working with trauma. Share why you chose this one.
I have always enjoyed exercising and believe that it has provided a great outlet for me in many different areas of my life. Although I do already exercise on a consistent basis, I hadn’t considered this as something that would be considered self-care, especially in regards to working with trauma. I also have noticed that I am less consistent with exercise when I am stressed, so it’s something that I believe I could do a better job of incorporating. Developing a good routine can allow myself to shift my mind from the emotional symptoms and preoccupation with the traumatic stories of my clients into a healthy way to decompress, release endorphins, and improve my outlook on life. In addition to this, I think trying out new workouts such as trying new types of exercise, new workout classes, etc. could be a great way for me to take my mind off of trauma and work by engaging in something that I have not in past. Lastly, I believe that finding a good therapist to discuss my concerns would be the ultimate form of self-care and something that I plan to focus a lot of attention on as part of my self-care journey.
Example 3
Well, just this week I learned for myself what it feels like to be fatigued due to (I think) adrenal issues or causes. I could feel tension around the area where my kidneys are, and a feeling or intuition told me it was adrenal related; I googled it and turns out they are located right on top of the kidneys. I learned that lack of sleep or interrupted sleep can contribute to adrenal stress which I’ve had less of over the last few months due to my early morning work schedule. The last week or two also added the additional tasks of preparing for the internship fair and reaching out after which added some additional work and stress.
I have learned a lot of self-care activities over the last several years so I do not have a new one, but I think when it comes to working with clients who’ve experienced severe trauma, I will most likely utilize some combination of walking, exercise, and/or what’s been dubbed “earthing,” also referred to as simply “grounding.” It just involves having physical-skin contact with the earth in some way, or it can be contact with a tree or plant that’s alive and connected to the earth. I have found this practice incredibly soothing and helpful for my own self-care.
If you haven’t experienced this yourself and you want to learn more about it there is a documentary free to watch on YouTube called “The Earthing Movie: The Remarkable Science of Grounding.” I watched about 3/4 of it last year and remember it being really good. I listened to a few more minutes of it just now and someone was claiming that there is evidence supporting the use of this intervention for treating depression. I quickly searched and found some scientific journal articles on the topic as well which I haven’t read personally but here is one if you’re curious: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265077/.
I chose to share this one with you all because I think it’s a pretty unknown form of self-care, and it may be greatly impactful and healing for you and those who you share it with. Watch it over the holiday break and maybe try it yourself before. For me, it doesn’t take long to feel an impact.
Example 4
When it comes to experiencing stress, I would say that I am pretty easily overwhelmed. In some situations my stress tolerance level is higher, school for example, probably because I have several years’ experience at managing school-related stress. When it comes to balancing multiple areas of stress at a time, vocational, educational, relational, or monetary stress, I do not have as much experience and find myself feeling overwhelmed relatively quickly. I noticed as I began to assess my signals of distress on a deeper, more intentional level, that I disassociate when I am stressed way more often than I realize. An example of this is that as a way to destressing, I will give myself a break to scroll through social media. This dive into the online world usually provides me with a few minutes of escape but then leaves me feeling worse than before I took a break because I didn’t actually rest or refill my own cup. While at first, it feels really good to detach and let my mind wander, I notice that my motivation level plummets and my stress level is either the same or raises after I am done scrolling. I’ve also noticed that my sleep quality is very poor when I am starting to get stressed. This is because I usually tend to sleep less when I am stressed and busy, leading me to be more tired throughout the day and to have a harder time waking up on time in the morning.
A new self-care activity that I want to use more in my everyday life and my future is the practice of journaling. I hope to implement this as a part of my nightly routine and as a way to signal the end of the day to my mind and body. I choose this activity because I find it very relaxing to free write and give my mind the chance to let go of some things by putting them down on paper. I also think that when it comes to processing trauma, having an outlet like writing out my thoughts, will help me to understand them, feel what I need to feel, and set them aside. It also gives me a record that I can go back to if I find myself wrestling with some of the same thoughts or stories at a later date.
Example 5
1. A lot of signals for my own distress often start as somatic. I get hungry (or a type of hungry) more often than normal. I get more easily fatigued than feels normal. My chest gets heavy and it becomes hard to concentrate. Mentally, I feel more easily overwhelmed by additional tasks/challenges/requests than feels normal. I start to feel alone even when surrounded by friends. It starts to take more energy to complete the normal activities that help me to cope (drawing/painting/exercise/playing musical instruments/singing/meditation/calling a friend/scheduling a therapy appointment).
I often want to believe that I can do my current work (and I assume this will apply to my future work in counseling) without feeling the weight of the work. That I can keep charging into visit after visit without personal cost. I have learned to see the truth behind the myth of “the invincible helper” (they don’t exist). But that doesn’t mean that I don’t still feel surprised when my mind’s racing and I find myself in the pantry again the night after a difficult encounter.
2. I have been touched by the “pre-verbal” aspects of trauma highlighted in Dr. Herman’s text. I plan to utilize art to explore the sensory/experiential aspects of an encounter or client’s story in order to better process the information, allow myself time & space to mourn, and empower me to better connect with my supervisors for help and guidance.
Example 6
1. What signals of your own distress did you learn that were new to you and can you link them to anything?
By doing this self-care plan, I learned that my main signals of distress center around negativity and hopelessness. When the doom and gloom of the world seems more present than not, that is the biggest indicator to me that I am not in my usual homeostasis state. The negativity aspect is related to both my past trauma and hearing lots of hard things from others past trauma. I didn’t realize it until I wrote out all the signals of distress on the document that this is the common theme for me.
2. Share a new self-care activity that you will be using in the future when working with trauma. Share why you chose this one.
I will be fact checking myself more when the negative/hopeless thoughts are present. My usual self can hold the negative/hopelessness and equally hold the counter of it; how there is good, progress, and positives in the world. Intentionally doing this when I’m in a distressed state will be important. Another thing I will be using more is the mental jar, especially when working with trauma. I find this technique to be helpful, but easily forgotten to practice. When done right, it can create a sense of ease that was not there before.
