live life deliberately! last updated: may 20, 2001
healing trauma for activists

welcome to this site--a space for people in activist communities who have faced trauma in actions, people who want to learn about trauma recovery and other generally interested folks. this site was established quickly to get info out to all the people who were assaulted by the police during actions against the ftaa and has grown daily since then. we want to explore issues of mental health as they relate to activist communities--including political trauma, ptsd, dissociation, burnout and how to create healing spaces to work through trauma and sustain the important work we do.

dealing with anxiety:

when traumatized, one thing that is very common in people is anxiety. there is much that has been written on anxiety, and it's all over the web. i just want to say here that if you are "triggered" (reminded of traumatic events and mentally brought back to it) you can deescalate your anxiety with a few of the following things:

1. deep breaths

2. get some lavender essential oils, and either put a little dab under your nose, or get an aromatherapy diffuser and diffuse some near you, or boil a pot of water and put some lavender in it and breath the steam.

3. get some five flower remedy (aka rescue remedy). this stuff is powerfull and will quickly bring you back into your body and will help your anxiety not get out of control.

4. count backwords from 100, taking deep breaths the entire way down.

5. 5-4-3-2-1
this exercise will help you get in touch with the present moment, and with your physical surroundings. identify five things you see ("a robin red breast, my hands, a blue trash can, ...") , five things you hear ("a plane, my breath, power lines humming..."), and five things you physically feel ("my shirt on my back, the ground under my feet, cat whiskers tickling my leg..."). then you say four, three, two, one. it is good to do this out loud alone or with another person. hopefully by the time you are finished you will be feeling considerably more grounded in your body annd in the present reality, where the trauma is not occurring.

the work on this site was compiled and put together by the planting seeds community awareness project. all content of this site is owned by each contributor, respectively. if you want to use their work, get in touch with them, or write the webworker. © 2001.