Exploring responses to trauma
A reflective tool for exploring how trauma may influence the way we experience
ourselves, others, and the world around us
Public safety work can involve repeated exposure to traumatic, morally challenging, and highly stressful experiences. These experiences can affect mental health and well-being in many different ways. Sometimes those impacts are obvious. Sometimes they are more difficult to recognize – or may not seem connected to trauma at all.
Over time, trauma can influence how we understand ourselves, other people, and the world around us. In some cases, trauma can become a lens through which we interpret our lives and day to day experiences.
This tool is designed to support reflection and self-understanding by helping users explore how trauma may affect important aspects of life, including one’s sense of safety, connection, control, identity, and purpose. It may also help identify and make sense of emotional experiences, self-beliefs, and coping responses that may be connected to trauma exposure.
Please visit our Resource Hub to order free copies of this resource for yourself or your team.
Additional resources
Visit CIPSRT’s PTSI resource page at CIPSRT | Shifting barriers around posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)to learn more about the signs and symptoms of posttraumatic stress injuries, evidence-based treatment options, and the lived experience of PTSI among first responders and their families.
These self-assessment tools can support further reflection on your wellbeing. They may help you identify symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress injuries and other mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, insomnia, posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, stress, and risky alcohol use.
While these tools cannot provide a diagnosis, they can offer valuable feedback and help you determine whether additional support or assessment may be beneficial.
PSPNET Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy
PSPNET offers free, confidential, internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) tailored specifically for public safety personnel and their spouses or significant others. Options include therapist-guided or self-guided therapy modules in area such as well-being, navigating PTSD, and sleep challenges.
PSPNET Families offers free resources designed to support public safety personnel families who may be navigating the impacts of trauma. Topics include recognizing signs of trauma in loved ones, understanding how trauma can affect family relationships, and developing practical skills and strategies to support well-being.
Disclaimer
Please note that reflecting on traumatic experiences and their impacts can sometimes bring up strong emotions or distressing memories. If reflecting on these experiences becomes overwhelming, consider pausing and returning to the resource at another time or with the support of someone you trust.
This resource is not a diagnostic tool. Instead, it is intended to support reflection on your responses to trauma or potentially traumatic experiences and may be a helpful first step in considering whether additional information or support might be beneficial.
- If you are in immediate danger or experiencing a mental health emergency, call 9-1-1.
- If you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 9-8-8 to reach Canada’s Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- If you are experiencing ongoing mental health concerns, consider reaching out to a primary care provider or a qualified mental health professional.
References
Contractor, A. A., Weiss, N. H., Forkus, S. R. & Keegan, F. (2022) Positive internal experiences in PTSD interventions: A critical review. Trauma Violence Abuse, 23(1):101-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020925784
Currier, J. M., Holland, J.M. & Malott, J. (2015) Moral injury, meaning making, and mental health in returning veterans. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71(3):229-40. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22134
Erbas, Y., Ceulemans, E., Lee Pe, M., Koval, P. & Kuppens, P. (2014) Negative emotion differentiation: Its personality and well-being correlates and a comparison of different assessment methods. Cognition and Emotion, 28(7):1196-1213. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.875890
Fleming, W.H. (2022) The moral injury experience wheel: An instrument for identifying moral emotions and conceptualizing the mechanisms of moral injury. Journal of Religion and Health, 62: 194-227. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-022-01676-5
Gohm, C. L., Corser, G. C. & Dalsky, D. (2005) Emotional intelligence under stress: Useful, unnecessary, or irrelevant? Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 1017-1028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.03.018
Kalokerinos, E. K., Erbas, Y, Ceulemans, E. & Kuppens, P. (2019) Differentiate to regulate: low negative emotion differentiation is associated with ineffective use but not selection of emotion-regulation strategies. Psychological Science, 30(6): 863-879. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838763
Wagner, S. L. & Martin, C. A. (2012) Can firefighters’ mental health be predicted by emotional intelligence and proactive coping? Journal of Loss and Trauma, 17(1): 56-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2011.584027