Introduction
Reading accounts of others who have been through very difficult experiences is not always an easy task. Doing so can put you in touch with feelings that may still be raw. Sometimes it may bring back emotions you thought you’d learnt to live with or resolved as best way you could.
Whatever your responses please remember that these are normal. It is because you or someone you know has been through an abnormal experience that you’re affected in these ways.
If you’re working with people who’ve been exposed to a major incident you may get secondary or vicarious trauma. The more empathetic you are, the more at risk you are.
About this course
What is the purpose of providing these first-hand accounts? Perhaps it is helpful to reflect for a moment about your reasons for accessing this section of the course.
What were you curious to know? What were you hoping to hear or find out?
You might want to hear from people who’ve been through something similar to an experience that you may have had.
Reading about the responses and reactions of others at times of adversity, such as how they survived and responded to a major incident can help you understand more about your own experiences and those of children, young people or adults who are important to you.
It can help you to make sense of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, to know that you are not the only one. For those of who may feel overwhelmed or stuck for whatever
reason, it may help to know more from others who have faced similar difficulties about how they have learned to cope.
Listening to other stories helped me digest things.
A survivor of the Manchester bombing.
Survivors and responders who were interviewed were not asked to tell their stories of what happened to them as there is some suggestion this could re-traumatise the individuals concerned. However, it was interesting to note that despite this most people wanted to recount what had happened to them.
When reading the interviews focus on how the major incident impacted their lives, what helped them to cope with this and why.