Supporting Yourself
Any time you are working with people, it’s important to be aware of your own well-being. Self-awareness and self-nourishment are essential in this work. This is especially relevant if you are supporting someone who is in crisis. There is a real risk of you experiencing re-traumatization if you have been through something similar. Please support yourself and reach out for support when you need it. If you need to pass the baton, please do. If you need to take some time off for yourself, please advocate for that. Working when you are unwell can be potentially damaging to both you and the person you are supporting.
Hope
Let’s look again at this quote that we referenced at the beginning of this module. It’s from Crisis and Connection (Mead, Hilton 2002):
When people are willing to listen to each other’s stories without providing analysis, and at the same time compare and contrast experiences, possibilities for transfiguring meaning are endless. When we become part of each other’s narratives, we not only offer possibility for alternate (mutually enriching) interpretations, our new shared story becomes a way to negotiate future challenges and crises while building real communities.
When we learn to reframe crisis and are able to support someone through crisis with a lens of hope, we are able to create new shared meaning. This way of being supports interconnection, hope building, and resilience. We can learn to reframe our approach and find hope and possibility in crisis.