What are effective self-care strategies for trauma-informed leaders during a critical incident?

Take yourself out of the environment and stressors. Personal safety and connections with trusted people are initial steps to apply. Share your vulnerabilities, feelings, and necessities with trustworthy people. Make arrangements to take a break from your regular commitments so that you can reflect better and regain your confidence. Monitor your feelings and thoughts regularly and seek professional help from a counselor or psychologist if required. Create routines to care of your body, mind, spirits, and relationships. It takes time to accept reality and regain the strength to bounce back. Pause, reflect, and decide to restart your regular schedule. Regular physical exercises, enough sleep, and meditation are some techniques for self-help.

Pause! Body attunement through a brief body scan offers trauma-informed leaders a vital tool during critical incidents by fostering a grounded presence within themselves. This practice allows us to regulate our own emotions, providing a stable and empathetic anchor for those affected by trauma. By tuning into bodily sensations, leaders cultivate self-awareness, enabling them to respond rather than react, fostering a safe and supportive environment essential for trauma recovery and resilience. This attuned presence aids in leading with compassion and understanding, contributing to a more effective and supportive response during critical incidents.

Be honest with yourself. It's ok to acknowledge the fear or feeling that the situation is more than you an cope with. Knowing your strengths and where you need support from your team will enable you to manage the situation more effectively and promote the wellbeing of those involved. Using key grounding skills such as the breath, counting in squares or visualising roots from your feet into the floor will help you to stay calm and reduce the impact of the fight or flight response on your critical thinking skills, facilitating improved problem solving. Self reflection when the incident has been resolved will help to address and work through the thoughts and emotions experienced with compassion helping you to prevent living in survival mode.

Staying safe first and practicing deep breathing to stay calm is very important. Connecting with trusted colleagues for support and setting boundaries is necessary. Taking short breaks to recharge and delegating tasks to avoid overwhelmedness can also be very helpful. In rare cases, you need to access support services if required. One of the most important things is to reflect on the experience afterwards and start doing stress-reducing activities such as exercises, walking in the park, massages, mental relaxation, and limiting work hours to prevent burnout. It would help if you remembered that self-care is crucial for effective leadership during challenging times.

Many people have trouble identifying their feelings. One way to get in touch with your feelings is to do a body scan. Note if there are areas of tension. What is the quality of your breath? How does your chest feel? Your belly? Are your cheeks flushed, your hands sweaty? From these body cues, you can make deductions about the possible feelings. After doing this practice many times, it will be easier to perform body scans and recognize feelings quickly.

Asking for help is a sign of strength rather than a sign of weakness. Be brave and vulnerable. Remember, others appreciate being asked for help because it shows that you trust them and rely on them.

1.Reach out to trusted friends or family members and share your feelings. 2.Consider seeking professional support from therapists, counselors, or support groups. 3.Communicate openly with your support network about your needs, allowing them to understand how they can assist you. 4.Remember, seeking support is a sign of strength, and connecting with others can play a crucial role in your healing journey

Pensez à consulter des professionnel·les, en fonction des situations, les proches, amis, famille, peuvent être bien intentionnés, mais ne pas être capables de l'écoute attendue et face à un récit d'agression, ils peuvent développer un traumatisme vicariant (ou secondaire), donc attention à la manière de chercher du soutien et à qui le demander.

You may also acknowledge that you are suffering, that suffering is part of every living beings condition, that many people are suffering and that you are suffering together. This will help you to feel connected to others even if your feelings are intense and seem unique and avoid the pain of feeling isolated and all alone with your pain. You may then search for a kind word or gesture towards yourself like "This is really a very hard experience for you to live. I am here for you whatever." And maybe give yourself a hug, caress the part of you that is the most impacted, let a person who loves you deeply be by your side in your inner world. This person may also help you to be as loving to yourself as you can.

Setting up boundaries one can feel secure and one can build self confidence to cope up with the situation. Boundaries will build up self-esteem. setting up boundaries will make the person aware of the consequences that will help us to deal with the stressful situation to a great extent.

Just as you are required to put your mask first in a plane before putting one on your child, as a trauma informed leader you need to take care of yourself first. Create boundaries that will allow you to do so. You cannot help others and be efficient if you don’t take care of yourself first.

Boundary management plays a crucial role in positively impacting trauma or crisis situations and promoting self-care. Establishing clear boundaries helps individuals create a sense of stability and control, particularly during times of crisis. Setting limits on external stressors, such as limiting exposure to negative news or managing workload, prevents overwhelming emotional burdens. This enables individuals to focus on self-care without feeling constantly besieged by external pressures. Healthy boundaries facilitate emotional processing and recovery. Individuals can create safe spaces for themselves, both physically and emotionally. It also helps in communicating personal needs and limits to others, fostering understanding and support.

Setting boundaries is an act with a global magnitude, but concurrently from an internal source. The only way to set a boundary in the interpersonal and professional realm is reflecting to the parts of self that do not accept limitations, mostly as a trauma response. It is essential for trauma informed leaders to acknowledge their limitations so they can voice out clearly.

Totally true .To absorb other peope’s emotions is to focus on the problem structure . When the creative structure is adressed things can be solve easier and better .

An undisclosed nature of self-care is that its a “continuum”. This means that the concept of taking breaks is not a response but rather a mechanism, habit, or a need that shall be prioritized regardless the situation or load. Taking a break only after a burnout phase can really do any good.

Regularly scheduled breaks and digital detox are crucial tools for self-care in today's fast-paced, technology-driven world. Scheduled breaks allow individuals to recharge, reducing mental fatigue and preventing burnout. They improve focus and productivity by breaking up continuous work periods. A digital detox, involving intentional breaks from screens, mitigates the adverse effects of constant connectivity, such as eye strain and mental exhaustion. It promotes better sleep, mental clarity, and overall well-being by reducing exposure to the constant influx of information and notifications, fostering a healthier balance between technology use and personal time.

Personal life is more important than our professional life so Consider taking a sabbatical to recharge and focus on personal well-being, allowing for an extended period away from work.

Practicing gratitude can empower a trauma-informed leader to lead effectively by fostering resilience and empathy. Acknowledging and expressing gratitude for the strengths and efforts of team members creates a positive and supportive work environment. This practice helps cultivate a culture of appreciation, boosting morale and team cohesion. For a trauma-informed leader, gratitude can be a powerful tool in building trust and connection, essential elements in leading through adversity. It enables the leader to acknowledge the collective strength and resilience within the team, promoting a shared sense of purpose and unity in navigating challenges.

Utilize EFT (emotional freedom technique) by tapping your acupressure points to flood yourself with endorphins. This resets your emotions, state of mind, and can be used to re-pattern your thought, and habits.

Acknowledgment of what you have and how far is that of what you had last year, 6 months ago or even yesterday comes out with feeling gratitude deeply for what you have How much God was there for you countless times even when you lost faith with yourself, Reminds you that you are meant to deliver, achieve, and even conquer new limits and potentials

Try to Show empathy towards others, also understand that everyone has their own struggles and perspectives, So ofer support to those in need, whether it’s a friend, family member, or colleague facing difficulties and in workspace foster a compassionate work environment by recognizing and appreciating the efforts of your teammates.

Compassion starts by being self compassionate and will empower the compassion that you have for others. So why not start by giving yourself that so needed hug.

Self-compassion starts with awareness, then radical acceptance and non-judgment. We all have a running narrative of self-talk in our minds, often times unnoticed. This self-talk includes negative self-statements formed from core negative-beliefs, such as, "I'll never be good enough," or, "I'm unworthy." Once you become aware of your negative thoughts, such as, "I'm such an idiot!" after making a mistake, you can practice non-judgment. Eventually, you can begin to accept your imperfection and replace the negative thoughts with neutral or positive thoughts: "I make mistakes like everyone else. I'll use this as an opportunity to learn."

Trauma is real.Please Do things that feel good to you – take baths, read, exercise, watch television, spend time with friends and family, fix yourself a special treat, or whatever else feels nurturing and self-caring. Walks and runs work for me. Facial and body massage work for my friends. Make genuine connections and allow yourself to cry, rage, and express your feelings when you need to.

Life's challenges, or "tests," are like surprise quizzes. Imagine studying hard for a test (being prepared) versus not studying at all. In my experience, success often comes when we're ready. Similarly, life throws unexpected challenges, or "traumas," at us. Instead of stressing, remember past victories over tougher situations. Think of it as life's way of preparing you. Once you see it as a test, your mind shifts from resistance to acceptance. This change helps your brain find solutions effortlessly. Like facing a surprise quiz by recalling your study efforts, facing challenges becomes a chance to showcase your preparedness! So as a Life and mindset coach I help my clients to reframe these events as empowering moments of their life.

Trauma can be debilitating for many people. A certain sound, smell or sight of some thing can trigger a trauma reaction. When this happens one of the very first things to notice is what you are telling yourself. Be mindful of your thoughts and the language you use. When we say thoughts that disempower us, emotions often follow. An example is "I can't handle this or this is too much for me to take right now." Thoughts like these can trigger emotions of fear, worry and anger. Instead shift your thoughts to something that will drive inspired action, such as: I am safe, this is only temporary and I will move past this quickly. If you are a person of faith, prayer also helps immensely.

Don't forget diet! Trauma = stress and stress will quickly deplete the body of minerals such as sodium and magnesium. It creates a higher demand for healthy fats, cholesterol, protein, and believe it or not, sugar. These, and other nutrients, are critical to maintaining balance and giving the body the tools necessary to produce and regulate hormones - which will be thrown out of rhythm when under duress. Left unchecked, health problems ensue. Offering support through diet and lifestyle will allow one to navigate the ups and downs in life with minimal collateral damage.

Ces approches ont leurs qualités, mais avant tout, il faut penser les différents temps de la prévention et intégrer dans la prévention tertiaire (après coup, lorsqu'il est trop tard et qu'on répare les dégâts), les préventions primaires et secondaires alors que les incidents n'ont pas encore eu lieu. D'un point de vue organisationnel cela est essentiel pour la sécurité de chacun·e. Et d'un point de vue de la gestion du stress, savoir qu'une telle situation ne risque pas de se reproduire, est un gros top!