What does the word 'Trauma' mean to you?
Everybody has their own personal definition of trauma, and that’s because trauma affects us all in very different ways.
Many people assume that trauma can only result from a unique event that is recognisably shocking, such as being a victim of a serious crime.
But the truth is that physical and emotional trauma can be caused by any number of life events, including those that may appear ‘harmless’ to those on the outside.
That’s why our experienced therapists at Beyond EAP treat each and every employee as the unique individual they are, with judgement-free respect and understanding throughout the entire therapeutic process.
Trauma has no hierarchy
Think about a glass smashing to the floor.
There are many reasons why this could have occurred: somebody innocently knocking it as they walked past, throwing it in a rage, or it slipping out of their hand while they were washing up.
But no matter how that glass got smashed, the end result is exactly the same.
This is a good example of how trauma affects us all individually. There is no hierarchy, and no degrees of seriousness to consider.
In other words, what might present as traumatic to one person could seem like a minor, common, or ‘everyday’ event to another. As far as your brain is concerned, trauma is just trauma.
Some examples of traumatic events
Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples that may lead to an employee experiencing trauma.
• A traumatic birthing delivery, affecting both the mother and father
• Their child becoming ill and receiving ongoing hospital treatment
• Miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death
• Assault, abuse, coercive control, sexual harassment, and rape
• Therapeutic or elective abortion
• Fertility and conception issues
• A loved one’s substance misuse issues
• Their partner running up an unpayable debt
• Supporting a loved one’s long-term illness
• Sudden death of a family member
• A traumatic relationship break-up
• Their own serious or terminal illness diagnosis
• Being a victim of any crime
• Witnessing a terrorist attack
It’s important to keep in mind that people can also experience the delayed effects of unprocessed trauma from childhood.
Even members of the Royal Family are not immune to this: for example think about Prince Harry, who has spoken publicly about the delayed effects of his PTSD (or PTSI).
PTSD (or PTSI?)
(PTSD) is a mental health issue that can develop following a traumatic event.
First recognised in war veterans, PTSD was once known as ‘shell shock’, but these days it isn’t just soldiers who are known to suffer. Around 20-25% of people who have experienced trauma will later develop PTSD, and its cause can stem from a wide range of traumatic events.
While this seems bleak, we have seen many people recover from PTSD. So many, in fact, that we have often thought about renaming PTSD to PTSI – or Post Traumatic Stress Injury.
The value of support
A traumatised nervous system can take weeks to return to ‘normal’, so employers should be wary of encouraging their employees back to work immediately following a traumatic event.
Sadly, in some cases we have even seen un- treated trauma develop into more serious illnesses in the years following the original event.
But with the right support, we all have the potential to heal from the most intense trauma, even coming back stronger and more resilient than we were before.
This is not to say that recovery from any kind of trauma is easy.
Wellness is not a passive process, but an ongoing state of action. Recovery from trauma and PTSD will not happen overnight, and it will not happen by magic.
Both the employer and employee have important roles to play in the recovery process. As an employer, you need to accept that the process will take time. As an employee, you need to be ready and willing to work on healing and recovery.
Our approach to trauma therapy
At Beyond EAP, our approach is unique to each employee.
However, our experienced therapists will always aim to create a safe environment right from the start; one that minimises the employee having to re-tell their ‘trauma story’.
This is because the brain cannot distinguish between real and imagined trauma, so the sympathetic nervous system will react, and the body will go into stress mode regardless.
(You can imagine the effect of re-living your trauma over and over again... it would be exhausting, leaving you feeling scared and drained – hardly an effective way to begin therapy!)
Once the employee feels secure in the knowledge that we won’t ask them to dredge up every detail of their personal trauma, we can focus together on what is most important.
This is: starting on a transformational path towards self-discovery, resilience (mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual), and post-traumatic growth.
Although our session content is neither standardised nor sequential, below is an example of a trauma therapy session plan, to help form an impression of some of the areas our trained therapists aim to cover.
Trauma Support Therapy Session Plan
Section One: Creating a Safe Environment
Using empathy and a collaborative, non- judgmental approach, we will gain the employee’s trust and begin building rapport.
We will then elicit the employee’s engagement and commitment to the therapeutic process.
Below is an example of the process we might follow:
• Identify and screen for exposure to trauma/ multiple traumas/traumatised nervous system • Understand the employee’s life experiences and trauma history
• Consider the overall effect of destabilisation on the employee, and resist re-traumatisation (trauma loop)
• Identify secondary traumatic stress
• Consider any additional adverse experiences
• Detect instances of chronic trauma stress/ PTSD (such as flashbacks and night terrors)
• Analyse the impact of trauma
• Ensure the employee is ‘resourced’
Section Two: Delivering Effective Support
This section focuses on the employee’s continuous role in their treatment and recovery plan and its outcome.
We will discuss the plan in detail with the employee, while gaining an understanding of the signs and symptoms of their recovery, and their pre-existing knowledge of trauma.
• Work together to relinquish responsibility and alleviate shame
• Ascertain neuropsychological understanding
• Apply PE Exposure Therapy/EMDR
• Trauma Therapy as required
• Develop new levels of emotional resilience
• Form coping strategies and techniques
• Initiate wellness and wellbeing
• Build and develop post-traumatic growth
Our ultimate goal is to guide employees towards strategies for resilience, so that they will emerge feeling confident and able to deal with life’s many future challenges. To find out more about the bespoke employee support we provide at Beyond EAP, please get in touch.