Chaplain-Led Lunch & Learn Series focused on the human domain of leadership, Session #5
Norms:
Respect (for self, others)
Participation
Willingness to Learn
Today, focusing on, “Leading with Empathy, pt. 2: Leading through Traumatic Events, Suicidality, and Substance Use”
Why? One way to increase empathy is to gain awareness of how life events may impact the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of ourselves or others. Moreover, as persons who are responsible for others, we must know how to respond well when persons in our formation go through major life events; in particular, when traumatic events occur, when someone expresses suicidality, or when one struggles with substance use. The way that we, as leaders, respond to these events has the potential to hinder or facilitate healing.
Empathy and Trauma
Discussion: What do you think isthe relationship between leading with empathy and leading after trauma? What does one have to do with the other?
As a reminder, empathy is:
= “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another;” feeling with someone
With four primary components (Brene Brown):
perspective-taking
listening instead of judging
recognizing a common emotion
communicating the familiarity of the feeling of that emotion
Like we discussed in September for those who were on, developing our ability to be empathetic communicates compassion, establishes safety, and builds trust
When being with someone after a major life event has occurred, to include traumatic events, compassion, safety, and trust are essential
Obviously, this looks different for each of us.
Providing care after trauma looks different for me than XXX, which is different than XXX, etc. Position does matter and knowing who can provide what level of support matters.
Empathy-informed leadership in these moments includes both emotional awareness and awareness of resources à it also requires a basic understanding of responses to trauma, to include behavioral reactions and coping mechanisms
At the end of the day, regardless of position, our ability to show empathy is essential to helping our people heal, be rehabilitated, and come back to the fight
Thus, building our empathetic abilities, knowing when to be empathetic, and knowing how to use empathy as leaders will better enable us to lead, guide, and support our personnel after tragedy.
Questions? Thoughts?
Defining Terms: Trauma
To really delve into this intersection of empathy-informed leadership and trauma, we need to take a minute to define trauma.
We probably all have different defs of trauma, but, at its core, it is…
Trauma, defined:
An event that occurs that disrupts our norm/what we believe to be normal or normative for our worlds
Trauma is “a horrific event beyond the scope of normal human experience” (Greenwald, 2007, p.7)
Event: something that causes trauma
Results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances
Experience: determines if the event is traumatic to the individual (ie. our lived experiences and who was involved in the event impact what we process as trauma or not trauma)
Is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening
Has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, and/or spiritual well-being
Overwhelms the capacity to cope
Discussion: In your opinion, where might we encounter traumatic events in our profession?
Major surgeries, pregnancy, divorce, sexual assault
Normal stuff + hazards of the profession of arms where we are poised to engage in war
Nearly 70% of adults in the US have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime (National Council for Behavioral Health)
**Super brief overview with limited nuance à but the point is that traumatic events occur in our world and everyone processes these events as traumatic or not, differently à if someone processes as an event as traumatic, then this has a lasting impact on their functioning and well-being. We need to be aware of this for two reasons (1) what might be traumatic to someone else may not be traumatic to you, but that does not mean you can dismiss or belittle their reaction to an event, and (2) knowing the impacts of trauma helps us grow in our empathy.
So, let’s talk impacts.
Impacts of Trauma
neurological
physical
mental
emotional
spiritual/existential
coping responses
familial/relational strain
problems with authority
We bring this up to gain awareness that, sometimes, the manifestation of trauma may be off-putting; but, if we can remember that a person experienced a traumatic event that has altered their neurophysiological state and sense of self, then we may be able to engage them more holistically and help bring them back into the team, rather than give up on them or isolate them.
Trauma Responses & Coping Mechanisms
Given the way that trauma impacts people, we all can likely imagine that when someone has experienced a traumatic event, they look for ways to cope.
Let’s look more specifically at two potential trauma responses/coping mechanisms that we deal with with some frequency in the Army…
Suicidality and substance use à note: sometimes these behaviors, thought patterns, and illnesses are not trauma responses, and sometimes they are à today, looking at them through the lens of trauma because, as a fact, trauma places persons at a higher risk for mental health illnesses (obvs not everyone who has experienced trauma will be suicidal or abuse substances)
Trauma Responses: suicidality
At this point, you all know what to do if someone expresses suicidality à you ask, care, and escort; this is the best model and method that we have available to us to ensure that we are taking a person seriously and ensuring that they get to a professional to be assessed for whatever care that they need
Today, I want to give us more context on one place from which suicidal ideation can come = after experiencing a traumatic event, so as a trauma response
People who experience trauma are at a higher risk for suicidality, esp. if they are also struggling with acute stress disorder or post traumatic stress/post traumatic stress disorder à this is v common in the military
When we say suicidality, we don’t mean that someone is ready to kill themselves à just mean that they are somewhere on the spectrum and experiencing intrusive thoughts
*show spectrum*
So, if we’re aware that after a traumatic event someone may be more susceptible to suicidality, we as leaders must be mindful when leading a formation or supporting an individual who has experienced trauma
Discussion: What do you think are some healthy coping mechanisms to traumatic events? Unhealthy coping mechanisms?
Coping Mechanisms: Substance Use/Abuse Disorder
Shifting gears slightly to talk coping mechanisms
There are many ways that people cope with trauma à some healthy, and some unhealthy à one way, is turning to substances (alcohol, drugs)
Like with suicide, persons who experience trauma are at a higher risk of abusing substances (PTSD and SUD often co-morbid)
Substance use and, at times, abuse is one such way that persons may cope with trauma in the absence of feeling safe, secure, and connected to other persons or places
this is so because the substances provide a respite from the mental, emotional, and physical pains of trauma and addiction, if formed, creates a false sense of attachment and security in a person; which, if feeling disconnected due to trauma responses, this sense of fulfillment feels a void
So, in terms of trauma, substances are addictive due to their properties that create dependency and addictive due to the perceived benefits that they provide to persons who use them
Addiction is a mental, neurological illness
Highlighting suicidality and substance use because they are common occurrences in the Army. Understanding both with nuance helps us reduce stigma around struggling with suicidality and substance use, which then can empower those who struggle to seek help and empower leaders to provide support.
Leadership after Trauma
Discussion: How can having empathy help you lead well after a traumatic event (at both the individual and communal levels)?
Leading after trauma:
How do we lead when something traumatic occurs?
Awareness:
Realize the impact of trauma
Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma
Respond with care and support systems
Resist traumatization (ie. pay attention to language)
Behavior:
Actively listen
Create space (physically and metaphorically)
Find ways to give the person power, control, and safety
Safety – physical and psychological – is key
Don’t shame or make the person feel guilty
Don’t move the person to happiness, hope, productivity, etc. before they are ready
Action:
Work with the individual to establish a plan (around care, for work, for progress, etc.)
If need be, restructure policies or procedures that could be unintentionally retraumatizing for a person (ie. remove a trigger from a situation)
Seek help of professionals who specialize in the result of the trauma that the person is experiencing:
If someone has PTS/depression/anxiety/moral injury/substance abuse/etc., work with a professional who can help you and them establish a plan. à you do not need to know what to do or be responsible for a person’s healing, you as a leader simply need to have awareness that people are not binary, that behavior is informed by experiences, how to listen well and create safe environments, and what resources are out there to provide the explicit help
How do we lead when something traumatic occurs and the person who experienced this event has done something illegal, etc.?
Do all of the above
+ need to process the paperwork, flag, etc. à which, to name it, is a really hard spot to be in, especially if you have an aversion to feeling like the “bad guy.” But, this is the art of leadership. Of balancing your empathy-informed leadership with also the necessary administrative actions.
Consider:
when you do the administrative action (do you do it right away or do you schedule a follow-up?)
tone of delivery when telling the person(s) of the consequence (what does this person need to feel supported even while receiving a consequence or punishment?)
who should deliver the news (are you a trigger?)
what other support is available for this person and ensure you tell both (1) the supporter of what is happening and (2) the person who has been traumatized of the support systems available
Need for awareness of how trauma impacts people and need for understanding of common coping mechanisms and trauma responses to ensure people get care, rather than being shamed
We will all encounter traumatized people and we, ourselves, may also be traumatized at some point. Trauma responses may manifest in a way that is, initially, off-putting. However, if we understand that trauma impacts people in unique ways, then we can learn to pause, listen, breathe, and approach the situation with the person and their healing in mind. Ultimately, this will lead to more success in helping them heal, bringing them back into the team, increased trust and efficiency.