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Actions to help manage trauma
- Be aware of what triggers you. Make note of the actions, words, smells, sounds, tastes, situations, and/or activities that can trigger you. As you become more aware of these, it can be easier for you to address them, prevent them, or come up with actionable steps you can take when they occur.
- Be aware of what grounds you. Make note of actions or activities that can help ground you when you’re feeling triggered. As you’re building your list, share what’s on it with people in your personal and professional life who can suggest them to you when you become triggered.
- Don’t feel pressure to share. Sometimes those with trauma feel pressure to share the event with others to help provide an explanation for the side-effects they experience. However, talking about the event can provoke the side-effects of trauma and not help the individual to process it. If someone asks you to share, or you feel pressure to, you can respond by saying:
- “Thank you for your concern. This isn’t something that’s helpful for me to talk about. Instead, you could support me by...”
- “Sharing that information can be harmful and is something I only feel comfortable doing with a trained professional I trust. What I need in this moment is…”
- “I’m feeling triggered right now. I’d like to pause this conversation so I can go somewhere quiet and ground my thoughts.”
Managing trauma at work
- Have a safe room. Inquire with your leader, human resources, or your organization’s wellness team to see if there’s an available “safe room” in your work environment. This room is meant to be a quiet, private place where you can go to decompress, ground yourself and relax if you’re feeling activated or triggered at work. If you work from home, travel for work, or work on the road, think about how you can create the experience of a safe room in these situations.
- Know who you can contact for support. Work with your leader, wellness group, and human resources to complete an employee resource list that contains the names, locations, and contact information for the organizational and community resources that can support you. Go one step further and reach out to some of the resources to get an understanding of what they can offer you and what the experience is like. This can make it easier to reach out for support when you’re feeling triggered, because you already know what to expect.
Ways you can be supported when managing trauma at work
- Share your connections. Give your leader, a co-worker, or someone from human resources the contact information for an individual outside of work they can connect with if you become activated or triggered at work and need support. This trusted individual can be a family member, friend, or close community member.
- Offer permission to act. If you’re comfortable, give your co-workers permission to engage with you and support you if they notice your behaviour has changed, or if they notice you’ve been triggered. Give them the words they can say in the moment so you’re aware they’re trying to help, rather than trying to judge. This phrase could be something like:
- “How are you doing today?”
- “I’ve noticed a change in your behaviour today and I’m wondering how I can support you?”
- “I can see you’re upset. I’m here to support you. What do you need right now?”
- Frequent check in with your leader. These one-on-one check-ins | PDF can be 20-30 minutes in length and are meant to support your well-being at work and help you to complete assigned tasks. During this conversation, your leader can ask you:
- “How are you today?” This question can help your leader understand how you’re feeling, while also building a baseline so they can begin to notice changes in your behaviour faster and step in to support you.
- “What challenges or frustrations are you dealing with right now? How could we resolve them?” This is an opportunity to share where work is challenging you, so you don’t find yourself feeling stuck or overwhelmed. Share whether your leader can help with the challenge with specific actions, or you may find that having encouragement and someone to help keep you on track is the support you need.
- “What’s something you feel proud of this week?” End the conversation on a positive note by reflecting on something that made you feel good.
- If it occurred at work, reach out. If the traumatic event happened at work, reach out to your leader, wellness group, or human resources to work together to discuss:
- Actions that have been taken to prevent the incident from happening again.
- If the incident can’t be prevented, adjustments to your job role to protect you from experiencing the incident again.
- Whether it’s better for your well-being to be moved into a different role within the organization or elsewhere, and how you can be supported to do that.
Additional resources
- Anger. Anger can be a very difficult emotion because of our upbringing, societal norms and our fear of the intensity this emotion can bring. Anger is a valuable emotion; it’s our reaction to it that we may need to adjust to prevent harm to ourselves and others.
- Grief response for leaders. Learn how to support your employees during loss and while at work. Effective strategies can help employees who are experiencing grief remain productive while they heal.
- Impairment and addiction response for leaders. Information to help identify the signs of impairment and respond effectively. These strategies can also help accommodate an employee’s return to work after treatment.
- Leader support for newcomers. Strategies to protect psychological safety for employees who are new to the country. Learn about the value immigrants can bring to your workplace and how to support their needs.
- Trauma in organizations. Help prepare leaders and employees to respond to traumatic incidents at work. Planning ahead can help reduce negative mental health effects.
- Violence response for leaders. Questions for assessing an employee's propensity for violence in the workplace. Consider recommending that the employee see a trauma counsellor.