Trauma-Informed Workplaces Post-COVID19

Never before have we experienced a collective trauma like COVID19. Returning to work after a global pandemic will not be "like it was before" and may be inherently triggering for employers, employees, and consumers. This talk explores how to cultivate a trauma-informed workplace post-COVID19 and offers options to help return to a safe and empowered workplace. The talk ends with a simple guided practice to assist with workplace triggers.

Speaker: Megan Kirk Chang, Ph.D. (c), Founder of Heal My Trauma

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

Thanks for tuning in today.

My name is Megan and I'm the founder of the Heal My Trauma program.

For today's discussion,

I feel compelled to reflect on what it's going to look like to return to work post-pandemic.

And I want to spark a little bit of inspiration,

Whether you're joining me as an employer,

An employee,

Or a consumer,

To consider what it might look like to advocate for and cultivate a trauma-informed workplace.

Now,

Before we even dive into the topic,

I think it's important that we understand what trauma-informed actually means.

And I'll start by saying that there's actually no common definition.

I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a singular definition since the lived experience of trauma is so diverse.

However,

Some of the grounding or common areas of trauma-informed definitions include really having this awareness of the prevalence of trauma in addition to understanding that a large stigma exists,

Particularly among minority groups,

To report trauma.

So this awareness of the prevalence,

But also reading between the lines that the prevalence is probably a lot higher than what is currently reported.

Trauma-informed means working towards an understanding of the impact of trauma on the whole person.

We often focus heavily on the psychological impact of trauma,

But trauma really imprints on every single fiber of our being from physical,

Social,

Emotional,

Occupational,

And intellectual health.

And so if you are sitting here thinking an occupational impact of trauma,

It means doing the work to discover and learn how trauma shows up in our behaviors,

In our actions,

In our habits,

How it shows up differently depending on the hats that we wear.

Trauma shows up differently when we are at work than it does when we're with a friend.

And trauma-informed really means understanding that the work environment is a place where re-triggering of traumatic symptoms is possible.

There's one definition that I will share that's out in the research world by Hopper and authors in 2010 that I think kind of sums up trauma-informed care quite succinctly.

And they refer to trauma-informed care as a strength-based framework that is grounded in the understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma that emphasizes the physical,

Psychological,

And emotional safety for providers,

Employees,

And survivors,

And that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.

And one of the things I really like about this definition is this idea of rebuilding a sense of control.

Trauma takes away a person's control.

And so trauma-informed practices give that sense of choice and control back to the survivor.

One of the things that I would add to this definition is to call on you to understand trauma through multiple lenses,

Not just what's in the research,

Not just through your own lens.

Given the underrepresentation of minority groups like people of color,

Women,

People with a disability,

Often their voices of trauma,

The impact of trauma are hidden.

And now more than ever,

Trauma-informed workplaces need to do the work,

Need to stop denying that there are multiple lenses,

And work towards learning what the experience and lived experience of trauma is from multiple perspectives.

And I've always said that there's no one definition of trauma.

There's just eight billion versions of it.

And so one of the things that I believe,

And you may or may not,

And that's okay,

Is that trauma is experienced physically.

The experience of trauma leaves people feeling this sense of being chronically unsafe in their bodies with this all-consuming fear that the threat or danger may return at any moment.

And this represents a dysregulation in our nervous system.

And so this shows up in our bodily systems,

Like the sensation of being in fight-or-flight mode,

Agitated,

On guard,

Defensive.

And I truly believe that these physical experiences come first,

That they're a bit below our conscious and our subconscious autonomic patterns.

And then the layer of the psychological or cognitive impact emerge.

And this includes the narrative that we give to what we feel in our body or the story that we've created about our experience.

This shows up as fears and anxious thought loops,

Negative self-beliefs.

And so I truly believe that trauma is a mind and body manifestation.

We can't look at one without understanding the other.

And the difficulty,

Especially in workplaces,

Is understanding that we can't always see another person's trauma,

And we can't expect that someone will come forward about their experience of trauma.

And so as we think about returning to work,

We should collectively assume that others around you are dealing with trauma,

That it is the norm now,

Not the exception.

And so I'd like to talk about a few different strategies to consider,

Reflect upon,

And expand or add to as you think about what returning to your workplace will look like.

And I think the first step is to really recognize that we've never done this before.

We've never collectively been in a pandemic like this at this time in history.

And so letting go of this idea that you have to get it right on the first try or that you have to know how to return to work perfectly,

To ease the expectation,

To soften,

To let go of that.

This requires radical self-acceptance,

Patience,

Sitting with the discomfort of not knowing,

And really honoring and recognizing that we are all impacted in some way.

And that there's no hierarchy of who's had it worse or less bad or more bad trauma.

Trauma is trauma.

And so as an employer or an employee,

Returning to work means not questioning people about their traumatic experience or what they've endured during COVID,

Rather simply making the assumption that we are all collectively healing from this global trauma and to resolve to act and respond accordingly.

The second strategy that I would recommend is establishing emotional safety.

So many organizations right now are doing an excellent job generating public policy around physical distancing practices and PPE measures.

And it's not about silencing that,

But it's also about raising the bar on establishing an emotional safety protocol alongside your physical PPE protocols.

One of the unfortunate side effects of PPE or personal protective equipment is the loss of human connection and safety cues.

We look to others' faces,

The eyes,

The facial expression for a sense of safety.

Our nervous system responds to what we see in another person.

And so when we return to work and we're required to wear PPE,

We no longer have the same capacity to assess safety.

And this may be extremely triggering and potentially re-traumatizing for yourself,

For your employees,

Or as the consumer.

And so we need to expand our policies to include emotional safety policies in the workplace.

And this will look different depending on the culture of the workplace.

But it is necessary and important to implement a strategy to better listen and understand the individual triggers,

Fears,

Or anxieties that your team may have so that you can identify workplace triggers and put measures into place early to prevent as opposed to react.

So some of the suggestions that I've seen across social media platforms might be to generate a team building activity returning to work where perhaps you have a photo shoot where each employee takes their headshot with a friendly,

Engaging,

Approachable facial expression and you work together to create facial recognition name tags.

So if you're wearing masks and visors or goggles,

Let your customers and clients see your face with a facial recognition name tag.

You may wish to send out an anonymous survey or implement a response box asking for insights or doing a pulse check on what's coming up for your staff or clients as being triggering,

Uncomfortable,

Or anxiety provoking and commit to consistently addressing these issues knowing that your responses must be consistent,

Predictable,

And respectful are key to establishing emotional safety.

And finally with emotional safety policies is really understanding that you're not going to always hear from everyone.

So just make the assumption that everyone is impacted.

Another strategy to consider is building your sensitivity to cultural perspectives.

Recognizing that gender,

Race,

Socioeconomic status all play a role in lived experience of trauma and that this will undoubtedly add different layers and perspectives to how to go about best addressing and understanding.

If you do not identify as a person of color,

You need to do the work to learn to understand,

To implement cultural sensitivity into your trauma informed practices.

Information on how to do this has existed for hundreds of years so it's not about reaching out to a black person and saying,

How can I do better?

We've already shared how you can do better.

So the work is on you.

Coming to terms with the ways that you deny cultural perspectives in the workplace,

Coming to terms with how you might bypass the experience of marginalized or underrepresented groups and taking ownership over that.

And this first starts with yourself and doing the work to uncover your blind spots and committing to doing better.

Taking that responsibility to hold up a mirror and commit to showing up in your workplace doing better.

Another really important strategy for trauma informed workplaces is to emphasize choice and options for employees and clients alike.

Again this is going to look different depending on the workplace but wherever possible,

See if you might be able to offer flexible solutions such as work from home policies,

Perhaps a menu of to do tasks that range in focus,

Concentration,

Cognitive load.

So that if somebody's arriving to work feeling depleted or distracted,

They still have a sense of choice over what they might work on that day and setting them up for success and feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Modeling that it's okay that we're not at 100% today.

We have come through a global pandemic and so providing choice on when and where and how to do work really puts the person at the center,

Not your bottom line.

And then the final strategy that I would offer to consider is adopting a personal and team mindfulness practice.

And this doesn't have to look in any specific way.

You could create walking meetings,

You could create a five minute breath collective session,

You could create a weekly journal prompt.

But adopting some form of a mindfulness practice where you're building self-awareness,

Self-acceptance,

Non-judgment of your experience and emphasizing responding versus reacting is essential for teams to function coherently and cohesively together.

And so I would recommend establishing a personal practice for yourself first and foremost.

And it can be as little as five minutes.

Just because something isn't 45,

60,

90 minutes of your day doesn't mean it's any less valuable.

Start with five minutes or even start with five breaths.

Make it mandatory for your workplace to adopt some form of a mindfulness practice.

It doesn't have to look uniform or the same way but putting the mental health and well-being of your team at the forefront,

Not your bottom line is how we're going to return to work in safe and healing ways.

And so I understand that some of these strategies might be easier in some workplaces than others.

But I would ask you to think about what comes up for you as you listen to this talk.

Does the inner skeptic emerge?

Does the inner critic emerge?

Does the yeah,

But surface?

And these are all considered our knee-jerk reactions to addressing change,

To taking responsibility over change.

And so my call to you is to sit in the discomfort.

My call to you is to move towards curiosity and away from critique.

My call to you is to not leave it up to your manager or your boss or your CEO,

But to be the example of bringing trauma-informed practices to your workplace.

To understand that you play a role in this,

You play a vital role in how the return to work will look.

No matter what your position is within the company or if you are a client or a consumer,

You play a vital role.

And so with that in mind,

I wish you patience.

I wish you acceptance,

Peace,

And healing as you return to work.

And so we'll end this talk with a short and simple mindful breath strategy that you can put in your pocket and use at any time when you notice that familiar feeling of tension or agitation or fight or flight emerge during the transition back to work.

And so wherever you're at right now,

Find yourself in a comfortable seated position.

Take a couple of moments to acknowledge how you're arriving to this practice.

Notice the bodily sensations.

Notice the thoughts.

Allow all of it to be there just as it is.

Come home to your breath when you're ready.

Notice what it feels like to pay attention to and ground into your rhythm of breath.

Remembering that there's no right or wrong way that you need to breathe right now.

Your body already knows.

Just tuning in non-judgmentally,

Observing your pattern of breath.

Perhaps noticing the relationship between your triggers and your breath.

Perhaps considering how might your breath give you cues on your internal state.

I know for myself when I'm irritated,

Triggered,

Or stressed,

My first instinct is to hold on to the breath or my breath becomes really rapid and shallow.

And so when you feel ready,

See if you might envision in your mind's eye a figure eight.

It can be upright,

It can be horizontal or vertical.

Whatever comes naturally to your mind.

And we're going to begin to match the breath to this shape.

So on your next in-breath,

Trace up one side of that figure eight around the curves.

And when your in-breath reaches its end point,

Instead of stopping the breath,

See if you can smooth out,

Melt,

And round the breath into the out-breath.

Tracing down the opposite side of that figure eight.

And when your out-breath reaches its end point,

Again,

Instead of stopping the breath or holding the breath,

See if you can melt the breath right back in to the inhale.

Experimenting with what it feels like to smooth the breath,

To slow the breath down as it reaches the end points,

But to melt it into the next breath.

You get to choose how fast or how slow the breath weaves in and out.

You may wish to experiment with growing the figure eight larger or making one section wider than the other.

You may wish to experiment with different paces of the breath,

But working towards the sensation of constant movement of breath in and out of the body,

No matter how small.

Much like the waves of the ocean that come up on the shore,

The shore never gets fully dry.

And so working towards this idea of seeing our breath as the waves,

Where instead of the shore,

Our body never gets fully dry or stale with no air.

Continue using this figure eight technique as long as you can.

Moving your breath in and out of the body so that we can feel this continuous flow of breath.

Reviews

This was very helpful as we face returning to work. Thanks 🙏🏻

Thank you 🙏

Dear Megan, thank you for providing a roadmap for navigating a trauma informed workplace and providing a bridge for business mind thinking of getting back to business...This gives me great hope for creating a welcoming healthy environment, thank you and sending good wishes.

Thank you , thank you thank you for this space and talk. Honoring person centered thinking and that we are not just “ bottom lines.” I want to share this everywhere as I’m witnessing such opposite trajectories.
I so respect your work and thank you for sharing your gifts.🙏🏻

Excellent strategies to implement in my workspace and really appreciated the call to action.

You so so much for this.
I had a trauma whilst I was ill 5 years ago and ever since struggled to managed it until I listened to your talk, meditation.

I will use it often thank you.

Many blessings John 🙏

I love all of Megan’s offerings! They are so useful, practical, thoughtful, and helpful. Thank you Megan!

That was an excellent piece ... I would hope people would be knocking your door down ... to learn how to cope and reintroduce the work force to normal when we get a handle on this pandemic - fantastic ideas!

Thank you I am a therapist in the USA. Very helpful will listen again. Glad to see you have many other podcasts. I plan to check them out

Excellent! Thank you, bless you 💗🙏🏻💗

This is so wonderful. And I love the infinity breath instruction at the end: the beach that doesn’t fully dry; the size and shape of the infinity to incorporate the in breath and the out breath.
And the information on trauma-informed work settings is very helpful for at-work support people (It should be everyone!) to best understand and assist.