Many people experience some post-traumatic symptoms after a traumatic event. The symptoms can be emotional, physical, or both. If you have had an event in your life that has been difficult to get over, and it seems like you are stuck in a cycle of trauma, it might be time to make an aftercare plan. In this post, we will go over how to do so and what makes one.
What Is An Aftercare Plan?
An aftercare plan is a way of taking care and looking out for yourself. When you are dealing with a traumatic event, and your body is going through all types of reactions, it can be easy to forget what is normal for YOU. This plan helps you stay grounded and centered in yourself to take care of both your physical and emotional needs. When you make an aftercare plan, you will be able to step into it and begin to live again. The help and support you will get from this will help your mind and body heal from the event and help you to move forward in your life, free of the trauma. You will have a sense of direction, purpose, and comfort with what happened that was a very painful time.
How To Make An Aftercare Plan
Things you will want to do to create this plan are:
Step 1: Creating a Basic Plan That You Can Start Using Right Away.
Once you have decided what type of plan you want to make, the first thing you need to do is go over this with the people in your life that could be useful. Include everyone who can help and is close to you, including family members and friends. Ask them for their opinions on things like food, exposure to sunlight, and other things you may need to help with the process. Make a list of the areas of your life that have been affected by the traumatic event and make notes in areas that can use some improvement. Once you have come up with a plan, it is time to start using it right away.
Step 2: Taking Some Action About Your Plan
With this plan out of the way, it is time to take action about it. Take your plan and start making changes to it as soon as possible. If you have not made other changes before now, this is a great opportunity. You will want to start making some changes right away. Whether you decide to go on a diet, exercise more, get outside more or help others in your life by doing something nice for them, this is the time to do so.
Take these changes into consideration when starting an aftercare plan and make them easy enough to be something you can live with. If you have decided that you need help working through your traumatic event, look into your options and decide which one is best for yourself. You can also go with a therapist or counselor to help in this area. It is important to do so if it is something that you feel like you need extra help with.
Step 3: Making Adjustments To The Plan
This is where you will start to adjust to the plan you created in step 1. You will want to make sure your changes will be easy to handle and not so big that it becomes overwhelming. If this is your first time doing this, you may want to even out the changes a little bit so that the process is not too difficult for you. When making these changes, do them one at a time instead of all at once.
It is important to know that you will make mistakes while making these changes, and your traumatic event won’t just go away after a few weeks. Even when you think that you are doing better, your symptoms may come back in other areas of your life. This is completely normal, so don’t get discouraged by this.
Step 4: The Aftermath Of Your Aftercare Plan
Now that everything has gone on with the traumatic event, you have slowly been making adjustments to the plan. At this point, you are now ready to start the actual aftercare plan that you made. You will want to make sure your plan works well for you and is easy to follow. Make sure to take as many breaks as needed when necessary and do not feel like it is your job to be perfect by any means. If you are struggling with something, talk to someone about it because this could lead to some very important insight in your life.
When going through trauma, you will begin to change in many ways. This often results in a new perspective on life and how you look at things. This will happen even if you are not making an aftercare plan. Making this plan is not something you need to be worried about but rather something that will help you along your way. If You Are Looking Like A Professional For Help With Creating Your Aftercare Plan, Our counselors are available 24 hours a day. Call 844-639-8371.