As our hearts ache, again, following another terrorist attack, many of us feel that restlessness that forms in the aftermath of atrocity. What can we do? How can we help? ​Many of us are far away and feel so much sorrow. We are challenged, again, to know how best to encourage, support, and enact care. ​

Here's a few practices that ICTG staff, directors, advisors, and colleagues have found most useful following human-caused disasters that occur far away: 

Spread love locally

• Gather together. Comfort one another, say prayers, sing, light candles.
• Spend this week expressing love to your loved ones
• Reach out to your neighbors with acts of goodness and kindness
• Extend acts of care to strangers you meet this week

 
Spread love throughout the country and the world

• Call a loved one or an old friend you haven't talked to in awhile to share how much you still care
• Gather with family and friends to create preparedness kits or to create care kits for a nonprofit that collects them for sudden events like these (Ready.Gov, Red Cross, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance). 
• Make a donation to your favorite nonprofit in honor of those who have died. Many denomination relief agencies are combining and sending monies together to help with foreign aid – give to your denomination's relief agency and make a greater impact. 
• ICTG makes resources available online for ordained and lay ministers to access anywhere they have internet service. Further training also is available. 

With these acts you get involved in countering terror locally and globally. These acts make a difference. Be a blessing this week. 

Here's how a common conversation I have with an organizational leader who has just been through a natural disaster, mass casualty, or technological disaster tends to go: 

Me: "Tell me about how the last couple days have been going."

Leader: describes chaos, endless decisions needing to be made, experiences of shock and disorientation, feelings of heartache and exhaustion, and experiences of adrenaline rushes

Me: Expressions of appreciation, and then, a few questions about how basic daily habits are going, including eating, sleeping, movement, and fellowship with housemates or close friends

Leader, many times: expression about how things have been far too chaotic or their have been far too many decisions to make to do any of that. 

Me: Expressions of appreciation, then, gently: "So, when is the next time you will be having a meal with your family (or housemates, or friends)?"

The leader, at this point, often blinks at me, as reality registers: if they keep going at the same pace they have been going for the last few days, they honestly have no idea when they will spend regular time with their loved ones again. Or, exercise regularly. Or, sleep regularly. Or, eat regularly. Or, engage in hobbies again. I sometimes ask, "Does it feel like it might be six months or a year before you do that again?" The leader often nods, as they consider all the work and enormity of needs surrounding them. ​

This moment of recognition is when the difference between the stress of long term recovery and other types of stressors begins to dawn on a survivor, if it hasn't already, and especially a survivor who has responsibilities for leading an organization through the aftermath of disaster. 

Though doing so may feel counter intuitive, we have found that one of the most essential practices for becoming restored after disaster is to begin to implement nourishing routines, even if only in very little ways, as soon as possible. Without forcing or rushing, but rather incorporating them a step at a time sooner than later. 

Here are some of the tips that we encourage our leaders to consider resuming, even within the first days after disaster:

• Drink water throughout the day.
• If you have to sit or stand for long periods of time, set an alarm to take a five minute walking break every hour. Within a week or two, try to incorporate ten-twenty min walks at least a few times per week, until you gradually can increase to or resume 30-60min of daily movement. 
• Periodically stretch your body throughout the day. 
• Give people in your home, or, if you live alone, at least one close family member or friend, at least ten-fifteen minutes of your time in which you do not talk about what's happened or how work is going. If you do not know what else to talk about, try asking them to simply tell you about other things that are going on in their life or the world beyond the disaster. Notice how your body feels after the conversation, and continue to foster conversation topics that give your spirit a bit of a lift. Continue to practice this daily routine, and consider incorporating a nourishing meal with it. 
• Smile at people you love, reminding them and you that circumstances do not determine your love. 
• Practice breathing slowly throughout the day. 
• Eat foods that give you healthy energy, help you think clearly, and encourage your spirit. 

These practices will not magically make things better. But you will notice, incrementally, that they help you feel some relief and take another step forward in a healthy way. 

At the Institute, we often equate Long Term Recovery with training for a marathon or an extreme sport event. We consider the tips above to be like the water or supplement packets you would take along with you or would stop at a station to receive while you are training or completing the event. Long Term Recovery is a long haul. You will do well to consider what truly nourishes you along the way. 

​How is your congregation generating goodness in the world today?

A lot of people in the world, and particularly in the United States, feel distraught. They worry about having a job, having a home or shelter, getting a good education, having health care, and being safe – let alone being happy, feeling free, or having wealth to share.
 
We witnessed this weekend how millions of people voted for the current administration and how millions of people marched against the current administration. Interestingly, many congregations today have members from both of these groups. They are struggling to bring reconciliation within their own walls, as well as in their communities. 
 
Loving a neighbor as yourself is a primary commandment. Perhaps what's most striking about the command to love one's neighbor is how it requires crossing so many arbitrary human-made lines . . . lines of faith, economic status, ethnicity, politics, and education. Learning how to love the person most different from you – to provide for them – stretches our capacities greatly. How is your congregation doing that now, in light of so much division? What's working best for you? ​

As a Christian pastor, I also see how the story of the Good Samaritan inherently is about responding to trauma as well. Being a good neighbor means responding to the wounds my neighbor has with effective care.
 
This weekend, as a country, we were presented with a lot of wounds in front of us. People who voted for the current administration, who have long felt forgotten and ignored. People who voted against the current administration, who have long felt forgotten and ignored and now fear it even more. And people who feel a wide range of other experiences, much of which is based on pain from the past.
 
There are many people hurting. Many who have been hurting for a long time. The State of the Union is beleaguered, at best, and there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to stabilize it.

The following is an adapted excerpt from our training materials, which provide useful information for leaders to learn how to respond well to trauma. 
VIEW TRAINING MANUALS

What Are Panic Attacks?

Panic attacks (abrupt periods of intense anxiety, fear, discomfort) can occur at any age and any stage of life. They occur when a person’s body temporarily is overloaded with stressful communication. Faith leaders may experience them, personally, in the aftermath of trauma, or may encounter them among people to whom they are ministering. Panic attacks usually last for 1-10 minutes, though some have been known to last for a few hours.

Panic attacks can be scary. At the same time, they are common responses to trauma and usually are not life-threatening. Persons suffering from a panic attack often report feeling as though they are having a heart attack, “going crazy,” having a “melt down,” etc. Panic attacks are linked to “fight or flight” biological responses to threats, and they involve spontaneous flooding of the body with adrenalin and cortisol hormones. They are momentary chemical imbalances in persons’ bodies, which usually are attributed to external stresses or anticipatory anxiety and fear.

What Can Contribute to Panic Attacks?

However, a range of substances are known to overload a body’s communication and limit responsiveness when combined with heightened stressful environments.  These substances include:

• Caffeine (i.e., caffeine in tea, coffee, candy, chocolate, cocoa, cola & drinks including Dr. Pepper and Red Bull) 
• Red dye food coloring 
• Alcohol 
• Nicotine 
• ​Other prescription and recreational drugs, including marijuana
• Spicy Foods​

Keeping these in mind when you personally are under duress, or are working with individuals experiencing great stressors, may save you value time and energy in response. Any of these substances, or intense temperature changes, can initiate an internal biological shift. When combined with emotional strain and excessively stressful environments, they can overload bodily systems and induce panic attacks.

Tips for Responding to Panic Attacks

When someone is having a panic attack, it's important to regulating the body as soon as possible. For example, you may have a person sit in a comfortable seat, in a mild climate, either indoors or outdoors. You may have them sip a cool glass of water, and steady her or his breathing. Use a gentle voice, reminding the person you are with them. Speak to them about how safe they are, here and now. You might ask them if they can feel physical things around them – the sturdiness of the ground and their seat. You may ask them to tell you what their throat, stomach, hands, or feet feel like. If any of these feel clenched, you may ask them if they feel they can relax them. 

Frequently, practicing methods of self-regulation and calming can help a person’s body begin to communicate well within itself and bring about overall senses of well-being. 

If calming is not possible, further medical or psychological professional assistance may be necessary. 

Share your Best Practices

What's worked well in your community for caring for people suffering from panic attacks? Have you encountered these experiences? What's been most helpful? Share in the comments below. ​

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