Healing Secondary Trauma: Proven Strategies for Caregivers and Professionals to Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Compassion Fatigue

Just some of many healing strategies from the book:

Understand Your State of Mind

When you’re having trouble reframing a difficult thought, the downward arrow technique can help. It’s a simple but powerful exercise taken from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Begin with the thought you want to explore and ask yourself, “What is the meaning of that thought?” Repeat with each answer, continuing until you gain an insight into that thought. The goal is to understand the original thought better.

Practice Mindfulness and Self-Care

If you think your eating habits need improving, but you’re not sure where to start, a food journalcan reveal the patterns that you need to address as you heal. With a bit of searching, you can find many commercially available food journals available as websites, apps, paper diaries, and other forms. Some even encourage you to take a picture of everything you eat. If you’d like to create your own version from scratch, this exercise includes a format you can follow.

Acknowledge Struggles and Celebrate Change

If we don’t recognize the importance of the changes we make, we won’t sustain them. In this exercise, you’ll document and celebrate what you’ve learned during your recovery. Take the opportunity to be proud of what you accomplished. Acknowledge your struggle, and feel the deep satisfaction of overcoming so many obstacles.