Everyone will respond to a traumatic event in their own unique way. You may find it difficult to come to terms with what has happened or how it may have changed your life.
After a traumatic event it can be helpful to:
- Understand that it’s normal to have strong reactions. It’s important to give yourself some time to recover.
- Keep up your daily habits.
- Try to maintain regular sleeping patterns, healthy eating and exercise, even if you don’t feel up to it.
- Don’t keep your emotions bottled up – express how you feel by talking to someone, writing about it or finding a creative outlet to share your feelings.
- Reflect positively on the small things you have done in your journey to pull everything back together.
- Avoid using drugs or alcohol.
- Get more comfortable asking for help from family, friends or professionals.
If you are finding it hard to cope with a traumatic event it might be helpful to seek professional support.
Some reasons for seeking professional support may be if you are:
- Avoiding reminders of the traumatic experience.
- Noticing that your feelings of distress are not subsiding after a few weeks.
- Having difficulty functioning normally in day-to-day life or returning to work, feeling on edge and easily startled, strained relationships with friends and family.
- Reliving the traumatic experience.
Professional support can help you to make sense of what has happened. They can help with moving forward after a traumatic experience.
