Menu
Menu

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Find work
    • Find work
    • MAX Connect
    MAX Employment Services
  • Improve your skills
    • Improve your skills
    • Find a course
    • Study with us
    • Learning resources
      • Living in Australia
      • Learning English
      • Using computers
    Training courses
  • Health and disability
    • Health and disability
    • Health assessments
      • Do you need an assessment?
      • Refer someone for a disability assessment
    • Manage your disability at work
    • Group health programs
    • NDIS and Disability Employment Services
    • Long-term disability
    • Therapy Services
    • School leavers and students
    • Injury or Illness
    Support services
  • Help and advice
    • Help and advice
      • Getting started
      • Resumes and cover letters
      • Improve your skills
      • Health and wellbeing
      • Applications and interviews
      • Job searching tools
      • Starting work
      • Ongoing support
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Your rights and privacy
    • Help with Centrelink
    • Useful contacts
    • Feedback and complaints
    Get the support you want
  • Employer services
    • Employer services
    • National partnerships
    • Find candidates
    • How we support employers
      • Financial support
      • Employee Assistance Program
    • Employ someone with disability
      • Benefits of diversity
      • Types of disabilities
    • Offer work experience
      • Join the PaTH program
      • Offer a traineeship
      • Be a work for the dole host
    • Our work with employers
    Find great staff
  • What we do
    • What we do
    • MAX Employment
      • jobactive
      • Disability Employment Services
      • NDIS School Leaver Employment Supports
      • Parents Next
    • MAX Support
      • Adult Migrant English Program
      • Skills for Education and Employment
      • Youth jobs PaTH
      • Vocational Training
      • Child Welfare Assessments
      • Disability Assessments
      • National Panel of Assessors
      • Program for Students with Disability
      • Therapy Services
    • MAX Community
      • Housing Employment Program
      • Opportunity Pathways Program
      • School Based Trainee Program
      • Prison-based services
    Our services and programs
  • About us
    • About us
    • Careers with MAX
    • Our customer promise
    • Our partners
    • MAXIMUS Worldwide
    • Our impact
    • Our leadership team
    • MAX Foundation
    Learn about MAX

Header Navigation Secondary Menu

  • News
  • Careers with MAX
  • Locations
  • Contact
  • Feedback and complaints

Language menu

  • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
  • اللغة العربية
  • پښتو ژبه
  • دری
  • 中文 Zhōngwén
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
  • हिन्दी भाषा
  • 中文
  • Wikang Filipino
  • زبان فارسي
Aa

MAX Connect

Social Icons

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

Talk to our team

MAX solutions

MAX Solutions.

X

Services

  • Disability Employment Services
  • Assessments Australia
  • jobactive

Training Courses

  • Adult Migrant English Program
  • Skills for Education and Employment
  • PaTH Employabililty Skills Training

Articles

  • Getting Started
  • Resumes and Cover Letters
  • Health and Wellbeing

General

  • Careers
  • Find an office
  • Feedback and Complaints
  • FAQs
MAXsolutions
  • English
    Choose a language:
    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي
  • Aa
  • MAXconnect
Search
Locations Contact

Breadcrumb

Home
  • Home
  • Understanding traumatic events and available support
  • Understanding traumatic events and available support

    Published by MAXSolutions on February 5 2020
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in
    Understanding Traumatic Events and Available Support
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in

    Understanding traumatic events and available support

    Understanding Traumatic Events and Available Support

    What is a Traumatic Event?

    Traumatic events may happen at any time and can involve a single experience, or repeated events. They most often lie outside the rage of normal experiences. They usually involve a direct threat to a person's safety or that of others. They could include witnessing or learning about a threat or actual experience of death or serious harm of others. Sometimes traumatic events cause a significant challenge to a person’s view of the world leaving them struggling to make sense of the meaning and emotions arising from that experience.

    Examples of potentially traumatic events include but not limited to, harassment, abuse, violent personal assaults(e.g., robbery, mugging, physical attack) torture, incarceration as a prisoner of war or in a concentration camp, life-threatening medical conditions, accidents and catastrophic events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, floods, war or other mass violence. The critical element that makes an event traumatic is the subjective assessment of a person about how threatened and helpless they feel. As such, not all people who experience a potentially traumatic event will react the same way so that one person may experience an event as traumatic while another person might not.

    What are Normal Responses to Traumatic Events?

    Despite individual differences in reactions to traumatic events we know that there are a range of normal responses that people may experience following a traumatic event.

    » Shock & disbelief

    » Numbness or lack of emotions

    » Guilt and anger

    » Flashbacks, intrusive thoughts or preoccupation with event

    » Memory loss

    » Mood swings

    » Heart Palpitations

    » Tremors or jumpiness

    » Anxiety and fear

    » Chest pains or rapid breathing

    » Nausea and appetite changes

    » Disturbed sleep and odd dreams

    Some individuals may experience one or more of these common responses following a traumatic event and their ability to function on a day to day basis may be initially disrupted. It is important to emphasise that this is usually temporary with reactions from the trauma subsiding within a few weeks.

    What can I do to manage this?

    • Remember responses to traumatic events are individual and can vary in intensity from one person to another.

    • Be aware that others may be affected by the event even if they were not directly involved.

    • Seeking encouraging support from family, friends and co-workers can be very beneficial in helping to come to terms with the experiences you have had

    • Do not avoid talking about what has occurred as to do so can isolate you and heighten negative reactions

    • Try as much as possible to maintain normal routines. If you are working, continue to do so as the routine and interaction with others helps you to manage any emotional responses to what has happened

    • Avoid using alcohol and other drugs as a way of managing your reaction to the event. This is likely to prolong negative thoughts and emotions rather than decreasing them

    • Recognise that in most cases, you will effectively manage extraordinary experiences over time

    When does a Normal response become one that may need intervention by a trained professional?

    Sometimes, a small number of individuals can experience severe reactions which make sustaining normal activities of daily living such as going to work or chores at home increasingly difficult.

    • If you have severe responses persisting for more than 2 weeks or such responses are getting worse or they are significantly affecting your day to day life it is important to seek advice from a health professional. You can access free, confidential counselling through MAX Solutions Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or speak to your family doctor for advice on how to manage through this challenging time.

    • Talk with your supervisor about what support you need to assist you at work during this time.

    What can your organisations do next?

    Your supervisor is available for you to seek support at work during this time. In addition to this, confidential counselling is available for you to access off-site through the MAX Solutions EAP.

    In some instances, your employer may also arrange for support at your workplace if a traumatic event has occurred at your workplace.

    MAX Solutions can assist an organisation to prepare for and manage well through a critical event that occurs at the workplace by assisting staff deal with a traumatic event in the initial stages which increases the likelihood that things return to normal more quickly. 

    Confidentiality for EAP Services Confidentiality is of the highest priority. MAX Solutions counsellors are bound by ethical and professional standards set by the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency, Australian Psychological Society and The Privacy Act 1988 ensuring the confidentiality of all information provided.

    No personal information including your identity or information about your access to counselling services will be revealed to your employer or to any other person unless you give prior written authorisation for the release of information. Exceptions to this rule of confidentially apply only if there is a court order instruction to release information or a failure to disclose would place you or another person at serious and imminent risk.

    MAX Solutions provides telephone counselling and face-to-face services in each Australian State and Territory.

    Contact your EAP: 1800 629 277 in Australia and 0800 327 669 in New Zealand or email support@maxsolutions.com.au

    Tags
    • Everyone
    • Health
    • Log in or register to post comments
    Category
    EAP Library
    Was this article useful?
    Why did you choose Yes?
    Why did you choose No?

    Do you think this post is helpful to others in your network?

    Share this article

    Contact us

    • Have a question?

      Chat Now

      Find quick answers about employment services.

    • Customer Enquiries

      1800 603 503

      If you are a new or existing customer or have an enquiry about a service, contact our Customer Servicing Team

    • Need support?

      1800 807 505

      Talk to someone in our health team.

        

      If you need urgent help or are in an emergency, please dial 000.

      Alternatively please call:

      Lifeline: 13 11 14

      Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

      Respect Domestic Family Violence Service: 1800 737 732

       

    Send us an email:

    • General enquiry
    • Register for Disability Employment Services
    • Register for a service
    • Feedback and complaints

    General Enquiry

    General Enquiry

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Register for a service

    Register for a service

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Register with us now

    Register with us now

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Feedback and complaints

    Feedback and complaints

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Please fill in the contact form below or   Complete a survey

    Categories Lists

    Getting started
    Applications and interviews
    Resumes and cover letters
    Health and wellbeing
    Improve your skills
    Job searching tools
    Starting work
    Ongoing support
    COVID-19

    Recent posts

    The Importance of Sleep
    Narcissistic abuse: the signs, and ways to cope.
    How to build a successful relationship
    Coping with the financial demands of Christmas
    High cholesterol: How can diet help?

    Monthly archive

    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020

    Pagination

    • Page 1
    • Next page Next
    • Find a MAX office near you

      Office

      Our locations

       
    • Register with us

      Edit

      Register now

       
    • Talk to someone now

      Call

      Contact us

       
    • Let us know how we're doing

      Feedback

      Feedback

       
    Providing employment, disability and training services

    Providing employment, disability and training services in suburban and regional areas across Australia including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth, Canberra.

    Providing employment, disability and training services

    Ensuring your safety and support

    If you need help or support, our offices are a safe environment.

    Contact us

    Language menu

    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي

    Footer

    • Home
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
    • Quality
    • Contact
    • Locations
    • Sitemap
    • MAXConnect

    Social Icons

    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

    © Copyright 2019 MAX Solutions. All rights reserved Registered Training Organisation: 0667

    Ask a question