This book deals with all aspects of severe trauma and stress recovery. It offers tools and techniques to manage triggers, flashbacks or intrusive thoughts, helping survivors of severe trauma and stress to regain control of their lives.
The techniques and advice described here are organised into six sections: Triggers; Flashbacks; Unwelcome Thoughts; Dealing with the Lows; Disturbed Sleep; and Living Life to the Full: Meaning and Purpose in Life. Readers can refer to each section and experiment with methods that work best for them.
This is a useful guide for survivors of severe trauma and stress, psychotherapists, social workers, counsellors, welfare workers and volunteers in the field.
Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction (94.5 KB)
Section 1. Dealing with "Triggers" (141 KB)
Contents:
- Dedication
- Disclaimer
- The Book's Purpose
- Introduction
- How to Use This Handbook
- The Term "Survivor"
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Dealing with "Triggers"
- How to Deal with Flashbacks
- How to Deal with Unwelcome Thoughts
- Dealing with "The Lows"
- Dealing with Sleep Disturbance
- Living Life to the Full (or, as Full as Possible)
- Appendices:
- Reassuring Things for Survivors to Know
- What Survivors Have Found to be Helpful in This Work
- Helpful Questions and Statements from the Worker
- The Three Stages: Victim –Survivor–Thriver (Living Life to the Full, or as Full as Possible)
- Blocks to Disclosing
- How to Avoid Retraumatisation and Revictimisation
- Benefits of Doing This Important Work
- Two-Day Solution-Focused Workshops on Working with Severe Trauma and Stress
- Supporting Research Evidence for Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Bibliography
- Index
Readership: Psychotherapists, counsellors, welfare and social workers, volunteers in social and welfare work, and survivors of trauma and abuse.
"It is useful for anyone who wants to manage their lives better and seek to take steps to a better way of being and doing. I will be recommending this book to the people I work with as it explains so much, so simply and in bite size chunks."
Steve Flatt
Director
Psychological Therapies Unit, Liverpool, UK
"This book serves as a compendium of immediately applicable tools to use with people who have experienced trauma. A beginning practitioner will be able to act as a seasoned therapist using this book and the experienced trauma clinician will find it a highly practical reminder of what works and perhaps get a few new ideas."
Stephen M Langer, PhD
Director, Northwest Brief Therapy Training Center, Olympia, WA USA
faculty, International Trauma Treatment Program, USA
"As a family therapist, this book will not sit on my bookshelf: It will be in my hands and on my mind for a long time, with the best hope of it influencing my practice.
As a trainer in Solution Focused Practice, John Henden's book contributes many very useful and concrete tools and techniques for people suffering from severe trauma and stress. The book is set to be included in my education program at the Danish Solution Focused Institute."
Anne-Marie Wulf
Managing Director, Solutionsbywulf; and
Chair of Danish Solution Focused Institute, Denmark
"A thoroughly practical and helpful read. The information contained enables one to take immediate and action. We use John's insights to help our clients on a regular basis."
Lee Hayward
Managing Director, Save Our Soldier, UK
"This excellent book is a useful resource for distressed individuals and for those who work with sufferers from post-traumatic stress. Good results in a safe fashion are guaranteed by the author's own personal experience and his long history of working with such clients."
Dr Alasdair Macdonald
Consultant Psychiatrist, UK
"Readers will find solid practical techniques, balanced with reassuring facts drawn from well documented scientific research and exemplified by scenarios drawn from real life situations. This is a must-read for anyone dealing with the aftermath of trauma."
Yvonne Dolan
Director Emeritus, Institute for Solution-Focused Therapy
Co-founder and Past-President of the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Association (SFBTA), USA
"In this groundbreaking work, John gives survivors (and practitioners) options that work, based on his knowledge and vast experience in the field of trauma and recovery. The tools and strategies that he details are not just life-saving; they are life-enhancing!"
Dr Rosario Margarita A Aligada
College of Education Dean, Miriam College, The Philippines
"This book contains an abundance of concrete ideas, practices and techniques; it's like a trauma re-wiring toolbox in one place: From somatic exercises, such as breathing, to visualizations, useful therapeutic stances (i.e. working with guilt), a basic self-care checklist, working with sleep disturbances, and existential questions of meaning and realizing one's full potential. I would highly recommend it."
Olga Zotova
coach, narrative therapist, solution focused and
EMDR practitioner, Moscow, Russia
John Henden is an adult survivor of severe and enduring childhood abuse and neglect. He had several traumatic experiences as an adult, including a near-drowning, three road traffic crashes and a hold-up at knife point in a mental hospital. Through a combination of self-help and psychotherapy, not only could he declare himself a 'survivor', but has gone on to be a 'thriver'.
Henden has a background in psychology and is a solutions-focused therapist, having specialised in severe trauma and stress recovery for nearly 25 years. He is a regular presenter at European Brief Therapy Association conferences and was a founding member of Solutions in Organisations Link-up.
He has worked in mental health, welfare and psychological support services for nearly 40 years, and has developed a deep knowledge and a wide experience of what works when it comes to helping individuals get their lives back on track. Throughout his career, he has never lost sight of the potential in people to make the necessary changes to live useful and productive lives, despite earlier debilitating labels they may have been given.
In addition to solutions-focused severe trauma and stress recovery, Henden's other interests include stress awareness and management for a healthy work-life balance and a solutions-focused approach to suicide prevention.
