This reminded me of Trauma Informed Care. We never assume we know everything about the people we support and no matter how they appear, we always support them assuming that they have been through trauma. But how often do we take that practice into the other relationships in our lives? It’s true of everyone, isn’t it? It’s not only people with specific diagnosis that have trauma, challenges, or hard times. It’s impossible to know when we are with someone, what has happened in their past or what they are facing in this moment. This doesn’t mean we walk on eggshells, it means we show a little extra compassion, smile a little more, offer to lend a hand, ask if they need to talk when we notice they aren’t quite themselves. It means we are a little extra present regardless of who we are with.

In addition, we really need to ask… are we being kind to ourselves when we are facing a challenge? We matter too!

Sarah Deats
Sarah Deats is a Behavioral Health Technician at RI International and the Hope Inc. Stories Inspiration Engineer