Looking after your wellbeing from Day One

Your journey after major trauma will be full of highs and lows. Sometimes it can be stressful and overwhelming, and you can feel powerless in the face of strong, negative emotions.

We asked a group of our volunteers who have experienced major trauma themselves to create resources that can help. Based on popular mindfulness techniques, these methods have proven helpful to our volunteers throughout their recovery journey. We hope that they will be useful for you too.

The grounding technique is a great, simple way to practice mindfulness. It can be done anywhere, at any time, and it doesn’t require any equipment.

Grounding can help you manage your emotions when you feel overwhelmed. It can be used every day to help you regulate how you feel.

Watch Helen’s video to learn more and download our guidance sheet to help you practice grounding.

The stress bucket is a metaphor that can help you identify the stressors in your life and explore coping strategies that can help you reduce stress.

Watch Helen’s video where she talks through the concept of the stress bucket and download our guidance sheet to help you develop strategies for reducing your stress levels.

If you’re experiencing difficult emotions, like feeling stressed or overwhelmed, it can be helpful to pause and make time to tune into the world around you. A mindful journey can support you to refocus by turning your attention to the here and now. You can take a mindful journey by going for a walk, a drive, or even by looking out of your window.

Find out more by watching Caroline’s video and downloading our guidance sheet.

It can be difficult to think about what you can do to make yourself feel better when you find yourself overwhelmed. Creating a personal wellbeing box filled with self-care resources can be helpful, allowing you to have some of the things you need to make yourself feel better close to hand.

Our wellbeing box guidance sheet will give you more information about how to start creating your own wellbeing box, as well as some advice on the sorts of things you could add.