Spreading calm

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Facilitator: Charis
Medics:
Time: 30 mins; 2040-2110
Actual time:
Learning Objectives:
Materials: Butcher paper for buddy check-in, 1 Reader

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Grounding

Everybody take a deep breath in...

and let it out (maybe repeat a few times).

Basic self-care, buddy care, and spreading calm

That deep breath is a grounding exercise. When to ground?¹

• Stressed.

• Approaching patient.

• About to call 911.

• About to talk to a cop, or a medic with whom you got drama.

• Trying to let go of the day and sleep.

Other ideas for grounding

are in your CAM handbook.

Neurodiversity

A bleeding injury looks familiar no matter who got cut, and you stop the bleeding in about the same way. Our bodies are not particularly diverse. That's why it's possible to teach first aid in a short course.

The amount of human diversity mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and socially is astounding.

Everybody responds to stress differently. Ain't no cookbook solution to acute stress reactions. The best care helps people find their own ways to cope and heal, and supports them along the way.

Five different ways people react to stress

Let's talk about stress. Medics do jail support. We hang around and wait for people to come out after their arraignments.

Imagine that at that action we just roleplayed, five people were arrested together, and you're doing jail support the next day. When they get out of jail, one by one, you notice they are all dealing with it differently. Lets brainstorm five different ways people might act when released from jail. Students list a range of reactions this diverse:

• One person thought it was awesome and lifechanging.

• One person had been holding it together all night and taking care of other people but when he saw his friends waiting for him he just fell apart.

• One person is kind of shy or withdrawn and not into all the attention.

• One person just wants to get back to work.

• One person is totally exhausted and can't think straight.

Five different experiences of shared stressful event

You sit down and talk to each of these five released arrestees, and they had five totally different experiences in the last 24 hours, even though they were arrested together. What things could have happened to cause such different experiences? Students list a range of reactions this diverse:

• Different expectations based on past experiences or old trauma, abuse, or fear that was reawakened.

• Targeting, bullying, sexual harassment by protesters, cops, or other people (before or while in lockup).

• Separation from people he was worried about.

• Witnessing violence.

• Really awesome cellmates in lockup: songs, skillshares, badass advocacy.

Medic neurodiversity

Our reactions and experiences as medics, helpers, and caregivers are just as diverse. Our experiences range from empowerment, hope, and excitement to acute stress, secondary trauma, and burnout.

Have a buddy, ground, and do something

Basic solution for the hard stuff: have a buddy, ground, and do something.

Buddy check-in

Sugar's buddy check-in can take care of all three basic solutions at once. It can be helpful or can make you feel vulnerable. You're welcome to not do it.

Model buddy check-in

²

• Permission: "Yo, today was a lot. Can we do a buddy check-in?"

• What did you do for yourself today?

• What do you need to do?

Practice

Pair off with the same buddy you had during the "RIVAL" exercise and decide if you want to do this or sit it out. If you identify immediate needs, help each other take care of them.

Process

Did you learn anything about yourself by doing this? How did it feel? Did you like it? Do you think you will use it again?

Spread calm

Medics are an island of calm in situations where other people are hurt or feel out of control -- we share our calm and support with other people, and even a whole crowd.

• We already got our big yell out.

• Medic face.

• "Walk" (not "don't run"). Even in really fast night marches walk with purpose to keep up without letting the speed get you scattered.

Prepare to spread calm by learning your strengths and limits and your buddy's strengths and limits, planning to get your needs met, and supporting yourself and each other.

Responder stress

Sometimes you encounter stuff that sticks with you. Someone you couldn't help, a situation where everything went really wrong really fast, the long-term stress of extended actions or financial scarcity, bad drama.

• Acute stress is the geared-up fight-flight-freeze-appease reaction that our bodies go into to make it through shit so intense that the body figures it's gonna die.

• We can get acute stress from stuff that happens to us, or from witnessing or hearing stuff that happened to somebody else.

• When acute stress passes, it's just another day in the life. If it sticks with you -- either as intrusive stress reactions that affect functioning or as exhaustion and burnout -- you've got to have some space and time to attend to wellness and recovery.

Preventative measures for traumatic stress and burnout

Lazy Medics can start to use at any point.

• Use grounding -- we already talked about this.

• Drink water -- hydration makes all body systems work better and helps flush stress chemicals that are hanging around. Large amounts of water or rehydration drink (8 tsps of sugar or honey and 1 tsp of salt to 1 liter of water) can dramatically improve functioning. Liver support foods and herbs like milk thistle capsules or cooked bitter greens can increase the power of water to de-stress you and your buddy.

• Support without rescuing -- be clear about your role.

Being supportive

Being supportive is very different from trying to rescue somebody. Rescuing is a very draining activity. Rescuing means:

• Doing something for others that they can reasonably do for themselves.

• Assuming you know what another person wants or needs.

• Not doing something because of its assumed effect, such as not saying something because you assume somebody can't handle it.

• Doing something you really don't want to do for someone.

How to be supportive without rescuing

1. Ask the person what he wants and doesn't want.

2. Be clear about what you want to do and don't want to do.

3. Be clear about what you are capable of doing and what you aren't capable of doing.

4. Negotiate about what you will and what you won't do.

5. Acknowledge you may have an investment in rescuing others -- and find out why.

More preventative measures for traumatic stress and burnout

• Buddy debrief -- let go of the big stuff before you go to sleep each day, even if it doesn't seem like any big stuff happened, and harmonize your experiences with your buddy's experiences.

• Connect with someone outside the situation (call/chat/write). Use warmlines (non-crisis peer-run support lines) -- store numbers in your phone (there's a list in your CAM handbook).

• Move your body to release stress stored in your body -- move-stretch-shake-hop-shimmy.

Build a supportive medic culture

In additional to individual support, medics can build a culture of support.

Build a support network

• Buddy check-ins as needed; buddy debrief every night.

• Big dinner, party.

• Calling people to check in.

• Check in weeks or months after big events, and on anniversaries of big events.

If a medic is bullying

or maliciously gossiping about another medic -- confront the bully and find a productive way for grievances to be addressed. Don't stand by and tolerate bullying or malicious gossip! It can undermine the basic solidarity in a medic group more efficiently than any other threat.

If a medic is acting inappropriately

due to stress reaction, coping mechanisms (like sex, drinking, drugging, being controlling), or inexperience -- find a way to mobilize appropriate support.

In a capitalist society, money is a basic need.

-- Help friends figure out preventative measures and strategies for dealing with financial instability (go to the food stamp office with them, make organizing medic housing/hang out space a priority, bring food to meetings, etc).

We have different abilities and different needs

• Run with a buddy who has similar priorities (you both want to organize medic housing or a training but not run in the street, you both are unarrestable, you both are committed to jail support, you both work better at night).

• Get a support buddy and work to understand what kind of support you want and what the person can give.³

Make it okay to step-up/step-back

from organizing, medic work, whatever: recharges your batteries and makes space for someone else to step up

Moving on

We started this section with grounding in place using breath. Lets end it by grounding in motion: move-stretch-shake-hop-shimmy.