Crisis Response Tools
Navigating a time of crisis changes every part of us – our behavior, emotions, thoughts, and our spiritual life. While our reactions may surprise us, they may not be abnormal, given the situation. We may be experiencing a normal response to a crisis and, in time, find that things resolve on their own.
There are many types of Crises; Evacuations, wars, and global pandemics are some examples. It is wise to pay attention to our reactions during this time. If the symptoms we’re experiencing don’t subside or they worsen, more help may be needed.
If these persist for a long time, worsen over time, or overwhelm your ability to live well, you may want to seek additional help.
- Behavioral: Change in your sleeping or eating patterns, hyper-alertness, use of substances
- Emotional: Anxiety/fear over your health or a loved one’s health, guilt for leaving field location, numb from being overwhelmed
- Physical: Headaches, stomach problems, low energy, fatigue, and/or worsening of chronic health problems
- Interpersonal: Heightened frustration and irritation, withdrawal from human connections, hypersensitivity, inappropriate sharing (i.e. “over-sharing”) of experiences and thoughts
- Cognitive: Difficulty concentrating and making decisions, spaciness (brain fog), confusion.
- Work: Less productivity in your work, transition to a different location making work more difficult, over-engaged in work or finding it difficult to focus
Resources for after a crisis
Adult Material
- Frequently Asked Questions about Crisis Debriefing
- Common Reactions to Trauma for Adults
- Post Trauma Triggers
- Ways for Adults to Cope after Trauma
- Common Signs and Symptoms of Trauma
Teen and Children’s Material
- Why am I so Angry (Teen guide to reactions after trauma)
- Ways for Teens to Cope After a Trauma
- Post-Trauma Triggers for Teenagers
- Children’s Common Reactions to Trauma
- Common Reactions to Trauma for Teens
Family Resources
- HELPING CHILDREN COPE WITH TRAUMATIC EVENTS. This is a comprehensive guide created by Wheaton College’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute.
- Helping Children Cope with Disaster. This is a simple and easy-to-use guide for how to talk to children about disasters and exercises that families or classrooms can do together.
- Beyond Disaster Folder – Trauma Healing Institute response material, designed to be used as a self-guided or to go through with a friend or group after a crisis or disaster. Available in French, Spanish, or English and can be used in person or online.
- Unstuck – A Teen Guide to Troubled Times: An interactive story for teens to go through during or after a crisis.
- Peace Be Still; A Kid’s Guide to Crazy Days – A Disaster Response Curriculum for families to go through together.
- Things to Try: Some practical things to do in the immediate aftermath of a crisis.
- How to Help Someone After a Crisis. Basic ways to help someone after a crisis.
- Children’s Development and Grief Impact. Learn some of the ways children of different ages can be impacted by a crisis.
Recursos em Português
- AJUDANDO AS CRIANÇAS EM MEIO A CRISE: Instruções para pais e cuidadores de crianças
- MANEIRAS DE LIDAR COM UM TRAUMA: Após um trauma, os níveis de estresse são elevados e nossas formas normais de lidar com a situação podem não ser suficientes.
- Adultos Reações Comuns ao Trauma: Abaixo estão alguns sintomas e reações comuns de adultos que passam por um trauma. Marque aqueles que você está passando ou que fazem sentido para você agora.
- Crianças Reações Comuns ao Trauma
Grounding and Stabilization Resources
After a Crisis or Trauma it can be helpful to have a number of tools or exercises to help regulate and integrate your mind and body. One of the key purposes is to help you be in the present.
Grounding Basics
Rationale: external and internal stress triggers have an accumulative effect during the day.
- We cope better with stress when we stay within our arousal “window of tolerance.”
- An antidote to stress triggers: frequent random monitoring of stress levels with simple stress reduction actions to keep stress levels within our “window of tolerance.”
- Four Elements Option 1: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire: This is a series of grounding exercises.
- Here is another version of Four Elements to try as well.
Breathing: While included in the Four Elements exercise there are many ways of doing deep breathing as a way of calming and controlling your body’s resposne to stress and triggers after an incicdent.
- Breath Prayer: Incorporates breathing with communicating to and from God
- Box Breathing: Another way to do deep breathing
- Hot drink Breathing: A breathing and grounding exercise good for kids
Imaginative Exercises: These can be used in the “Fire” section of the four elements or on their own. Ways to help our brains be able to disengage from the trauma and its triggers.
- Container exercise: You don’t have to think about difficult or heavy things all the time. The Container exercise gives your brain permission to turn off and container something that has been difficult.
- Safe Place Exercise: Use your imagination to be reminded of a place you feel calm and safe, usfeul to lower your current arousal (or triggered) state.
- Spotlight Exercise: A way to invite God to help you notice all parts of you being (mental, physical, spiriutal, emotoinal, social)
- Body Scan Exercise: To be aware of how your body is responding post crisis.
Spiritual Exercises
These are exercises that you can do anytime but can be grounding and stabilizing after a crisis. Often, trauma or crises can cause a deep wound in the heart that can take a long time to heal. Spiritual exercises can be helpful but often need to be used or shared with wisdom about timing.
Guide for Cross-Cultural Workers 