![]() ![]() However, those systems and structures will not change immediately AND as we work to change them we should not undermine our own agency in navigating the world as it is to help us be more effective in working toward the world as it should be. It may be tempting to ignore our individual role and focus only on the institutional and societal issues, especially when the systems we work with in are flawed and inequitable. We need new models for our work and how we do it, individually and collectively. Student Affairs Work and Equity Work as Trauma Stewardship.Īs I work with student affairs educators, leaders, and organizations across the US and Canada, they all identify an increase in mental health crises, bias incidents, and Title IX response that is near unimagineable and not sustainable to manage under the old model. You are a renewable resource who must be renewed. AND if we don’t create space to figure our what we need and take time to replenish ourselves we undermine our effectiveness in that work and in the rest of our lives. Our work, our support of others in trauma, our commitments and responsibilities to justice and activism are all important. Engage in action to make someone’s life a little better or to make the world better and everything in between. Connect with your communities from the micro (household) to the macro (global). Cultivate relationships with friends and family. South – Building compassion and community.Īs I learned from Shawn Achor, social connections make the good days better and the bad days less bad. This doesn’t mean avoiding the tough stuff or pretending everything is good, but it means radically accepting reality and choosing our agency in our response. Moving from reaction to response – choosing agency in our focus and attention. Many of the daily practices are opportunities to create this space and inner inquiry. ![]() We can create space for inquiry by building in silence, meditation, time away, moments, breathing, therapy, coaching, spiritual practice, and reflection. These practices are the container within which we can develop each of the following four directions. Instead, as daily practices they become integrated into how we live our lives. Integrating these practices into daily rituals and routines means that we don’t engage in these practices when they occur to us or when we feel we need them – which is often when we are already overwhelmed. This includes daily practices such as journaling, meditation, prayer, yoga, exercise, and many other rituals. The authors recommend a compass with five directions, which is tied to several indigenous spiritual traditions. Live your life from the here and now not in an anticipated future or ruminated past. As they note, Pema Chodron describes this kind of mindfulness as “wholehearted, open-minded interaction with our world.”Īncient traditions and contemporary teachers consistently valued being awake, present, and aware in this moment. Critical to this is being able to be present. This means exploring our own values and purpose, feelings and emotions, and past experiences and the meaning we continue to make of them. The authors recommend deep inner work for each of us to identify what it is we need and to be diligent in practicing not just for ourselves but also for those who seek to support in their trauma. Trauma research has shown that people are capable of experiencing, managing, and enduring very hard realities when they believe in and act on their own agency to take steps to tend to themselves. It is a long-term approach to tending to our own wholeness so we can be helpful to others in our full integrity. ![]() Trauma stewardship is being fully present with others their pain, trauma, and suffering without taking it on as our own. Trauma stewardship is work that can be done at the individual, organizational, and societal level. The authors define trauma stewardship as “how we come to do this work, how we are affected by it, and how we make sense of and learn from our experiences.” It is how we manage and navigate what they call trauma exposure response, which others name as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress disorder, vicarious traumatization, empathic strain, or secondary trauma. Her approach is grounded in psychology, a substantive oppression analysis, and wisdom and practices bridging many different spiritual traditions traditions. She works with emergency room doctors, child protective services social workers, social and environmental justice activists, and more trauma stewards. Author Laura van Dernoot Lipsky specializes in helping individuals and organizations who support others in their trauma. Trauma Stewardship, written by Lipsky with Connie Burke, is a great resource for those working directly with others in trauma or those supporting, leading, or supervising those supporting others in their trauma. ![]()
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