Trauma toolkit
This is a toolkit of practices that can help you in the moment when you’re experiencing trauma symptoms. For example, if you’re experiencing overwhelming body sensations, emotions or memories.
The tools
Tuning into your senses
- Looking around you to notice what’s there, letting your gaze fall on each object in turn and perhaps saying the name of the object in your head or out loud.
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 exercise – notice five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.
- Finding things that you can smell – for example herbs and spices, toiletries, essential oils, flowers and food items.
- Finding things around you with different textures – soft, hard, prickly, warm, cold, rough, smooth etc – and noticing how they feel to touch
- Looking for things around you that are a certain colour or that begin with a certain letter of the alphabet.
- Running your hands under cold water and splashing your face.
Using your brain
Exercises that help you switch on your thinking front brain can bring you out of a traumatised state.
- Writing down everything you can think of on a certain topic.
- Counting backwards from a random high number (for example 124) in sevens (this is just an example, you might want to change the numbers each time so that it’s still a challenge each time.
- Adding and subtracting random numbers.
Feeling the ground beneath you
- Either seated or standing with your feet on the floor (or on a solid surface if you’re in a wheelchair), notice how the soles of your feet feel in connection with the surface beneath you. You might want to shift your weight back and forth or push your feet into the ground and see what that feels like.
- Feeling all of the places where your body makes contact with the floor, bed or chair in turn.
- Walking slowly with bare feet and feeling the ground beneath you.
Self-talk
- Repeating a mantra to yourself, for example, ‘I’m safe’ or ‘it’s not happening now’. Anything that seems soothing can work here.
- Talking to yourself out loud.
- Reminding yourself where you are (e.g. I’m in my home which is in such and such town, which is in such and such county etc).
Soothing self-touch
- Giving yourself a hug.
- Putting one or both hands over your heart and holding them there for as long as you need to.
- Sweeping your hands down your arms.
- Massaging your hands.
Breathing
(Sometimes tuning into your breath can be triggering in itself so take care when practicing these. These practices are known to stimulate your vagus nerve which can help you calm down).
- Blowing through pursed lips on your exhale
- Breathing in deeply and letting it out of your mouth with a ‘HA’ sound
- Humming on your exhale
Get moving
- Going for a walk.
- Shaking it out.
- Jumping up and down.
- Any movement of your choice.
Connect with others
- Call or meet up with a trusted friend.
- Send a message to your small group on your chat page.
- Say hi/smile at someone in the street.
Want more trauma resources? Subscribers get access to a growing video library of short grounding tools.
Get help in a crisis
If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, you may need additional support and care:
In an emergency
If your life or someone else’s life is in danger, call 999 in the UK or look up the emergency numbers for your country.
Contact a medical professional
In the UK you can contact your GP or call 111.
Outside of the UK this may be a family doctor or a specialist with whom you have regular contact.
Call a helpline
In the UK:
Samaritans – 116 123 (24/7)
Mind Support Line – 0300 102 1234 (9am-6pm, Mon-Fri)
Calm Helpline (suicide prevention) – 0800 58 58 58 (5pm-midnight every day)
National Suicide Prevention Helpline – 0800 689 5652 (6pm-midnight every day)
Elsewhere in the world:
Here is a list of suicide helplines around the world.
Ways to cope
Mind has a web page with ways to cope in a mental health crisis. It includes:
- Making a plan for the next few hours
- Doing calming exercises like creating something or getting out in nature
- Writing down all the scary thoughts that are coming up for you
Disclaimer
It’s your responsibility to make sure that you’re mentally and physically safe, ready, well and able to take part safely in the practices offered in the community, including, but not limited to, yoga, mindfulness, self-compassion exercises, self-reflection, readings and community meetup sessions. This may include:
- Seeking and following advice from a medical professional, a mental health practitioner, physiotherapist or other professional before taking part in the practices if:
- you’re pregnant,
- you have an injury,
- you have had recent surgery
- you are experiencing pain or severe discomfort
- you are having difficulty breathing
- you have another physical or mental health condition which may affect your ability to participate safely in the practice
- you are experiencing trauma symptoms such as flashbacks, hypervigilence or overwhelming emotions or body sensations
- you’re experiencing any unexplained symptoms or undiagnosed conditions.
- Making sure that you don’t push through pain, discomfort, trauma symptoms, overwhelm and any other physical or mental symptoms that may arise when taking part in the practices and stopping the practice when you need to.
- Modifying your practice where appropriate.
- Following the contraindications offered (and any other advice from your medical professional) and avoiding practices that aren’t suitable for you.
We, and our associates, cannot accept responsibility for any harm caused by you neglecting your responsibilities as listed above. Participation in the community membership and its practices is at your own risk. We cannot guarantee any specific results from this membership
The practices and any modifications, contraindications or advice are for information purposes only and don’t constitute medical advice. The modifications and contraindications are not an exhaustive list and can’t be tailored to your personal needs.
This community membership is not intended to replace therapy or other professional support, but it may be used alongside.