How to cope with a major personal crisis Information book
Easy English edition
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What this book is about This is an easy English book. It is about •
how you feel after an emergency
•
how to look after yourself.
What is in this book? Words in this book
page 3
How you may feel
page 5
How your body reacts
page 9
People who may need more help
page 11
Children
page 14
Family and relationships
page 16
Help for you to feel better
page 17
How to ask for more help
page 22
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Words in this book
Emergency An emergency is something •
that happens very fast
•
you may not expect.
For example, •
windstorm
•
cyclone
•
flood
•
bushfire
•
car accident.
It may be called a crisis. crisis
3
Counsellor This is someone who is trained to talk to you. A counsellor talks to you about •
your feelings. For example you may feel - angry - sad - scared
•
why you feel that way
•
what you can do to feel better.
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How you may feel
Emergencies are stressful. You may •
lose people you love
•
lose your house
•
get hurt.
You will feel lots of different emotions. It is ok to feel these emotions. Emotions are normal. You will not feel them forever.
Some feelings you may have are Shock You feel •
it did not really happen
•
it is like a dream.
Numb For example, •
you do not feel sad
•
you do not feel happy
•
you feel nothing. 5
Fear You feel scared that •
you or someone you love - will die
or - get hurt •
you will be left alone.
Helpless You feel there is nothing you can do.
Want You want all the things you lost. For example, you may have lost •
your house
•
your car
•
pets
•
people you love.
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You may feel •
guilt
•
shame
•
regret. regret
For example, •
you could not help your friends
•
you did not get hurt and other people did.
Happy You are glad you are alive.
Anger You feel •
the emergency should not have happened
•
it is unfair.
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Let down You may feel let down by other people. For example, if rescue workers did not save someone you love.
Hope You feel that life will get better.
You may have memories of the emergency. emergency Your memories may happen in •
dreams
•
flashbacks
•
daydreams.
This is normal.
You need to let yourself have these feelings. This will help you to get better. You may feel these feelings for a long time. You can ask a counsellor for help.
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How your body reacts You may also have some changes to your body.
Your health may change. For example, you may •
feel dizzy
•
get runny poo
•
vomit
•
put on weight
•
lose weight
•
find it hard to breath
•
shake.
Women may get changes in their period.
Your sleep may change. For example, you may •
not sleep well
•
feel tired. 9
Your behaviour may change. For example, you •
feel like having more sex
•
feel like having less sex
•
find it hard to think about other things.
You may feel sore. sore For example, a •
sore chest
•
headache
•
sore back.
You may have •
alcohol
•
coffee
•
drugs.
You may do this to try and feel better. Do not have too much.
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People who may need more help
You do not live near people. For example, people who live on a farm.
You do not have any friends or family near you. For example, you just moved to Australia.
You have a disability.
You do not have much money.
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You have been hurt.
You saw someone get hurt
You know someone who died.
You may have helped during the emergency. emergency This is a hard job to do. If people died you may feel you did not help enough.
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Older people need more help. They may have less energy. For example, it may be harder for older people to rebuild their house.
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Children
Children can feel scared after an emergency. emergency They find it hard to talk about their feelings. Children show their feelings by behaving in a different way. For example, holding onto people and not letting go.
You can make children feel better. You should
•
hug them
•
play with them
•
talk to them about the emergency
•
tell them they will be ok
•
let them draw about their feelings.
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Children should not •
look at pictures of the emergency
•
hear adults talking about the emergency.
If you are worried about your child you can •
talk to their teacher
•
talk to your doctor
•
contact Kid’s Helpline.
Kid’s Helpline
phone 1800 55 1800
Website www.kidshelp.com.au
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Family and relationships After an emergency your feelings change. You feel stressed. This can change how you feel about your family and friends.
You may feel •
angry
•
jealous. For example, you were hurt and your
friends were not. not
Some friends may help you.
Other friends may not be good at helping you.
You may make friends with other people in the emergency. emergency You know how they feel.
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Help for you to feel better There are things you can do to help you feel better.
Do jobs that need to be done. For example, •
cleaning up
•
cooking food.
Know the truth. Do not pretend it did not happen. •
Go back to the place where the emergency
happened. •
Visit people who are hurt.
•
Someone you love may have died. It will help
to go to their funeral.
Talk to people. Talk about •
how you feel
•
what you saw
•
what happened to you.
You should not keep your feelings to yourself. 17
There may be news about the emergency. Do not look at this too much •
on the TV
•
internet
•
newspaper.
Watching too much can make you feel sad.
Spend time with your •
friends and
•
family.
Spend time alone. You need might time to think about the emergency. emergency
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Exercise. For example, •
go for a walk
•
play sport with friends.
Get enough sleep. It can be hard to sleep at night. You may need to have a sleep in the day.
Try and get back to your normal life. For example, •
go back to work
•
go back to school
•
play sport
•
cook.
Eat healthy food. For example, •
fresh fruit
•
fresh vegetables
•
food you cook at home
•
not take-away food.
19
Do not have too much •
coffee
•
smokes
•
alcohol
•
drugs.
Drive safely.
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Take enough time to do jobs. Do not rush. For example, if you rush cooking you may forget to turn the oven off.
Keep taking your medication.
Work normal hours.
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How to ask for more help
There are 2 types of help you can ask for.
1 Informal. This is a chat you do not have to pay for. It can be with •
family
•
a friend
•
a work friend
•
a person from your church
•
a person from your community.
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2 Formal help. For example, a counsellor. counsellor
When you should talk to a counsellor
You have strong feelings. feelings For example, you •
feel very sad
•
feel very angry
•
have no one to talk to
•
feel like you want to die.
You have health problems.
For example, you •
do not sleep well
•
have problems with sex
•
have memory loss
•
are sick
•
smoke more
•
drink more.
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You have problems with friends and family. For example, you •
get angry at your friends and family
•
are not doing well at work.
You can also get formal help from •
your doctor
•
a community health centre.
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You can get more information from
Australian Red Cross
Phone National office
03 9345 1800
ACT
02 6234 7600
NSW
02 9229 4111
NT
08 8924 3900
QLD
07 3367 7222
SA
08 8100 4500
TAS
03 6235 6077
VIC
03 8327 7700
WA
08 9225 8888
Visit the Australian Red Cross website www.redcross.org.au
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Developed by the Communication Resource Centre – a service of Scope. For more information, •
phone 03 9843 2000
•
visit the Scope website www.scopevic.org.au.
This is Version 1 of ‘Coping with a major personal crisis’, easy English book. Tell us what you think of this book. We can make changes for Version 2.
Contact Australian Red Cross to obtain the original booklets: •
‘Cleaning up after an emergency – Dealing with wind and water damage’
•
‘Coping with a major personal crisis’.
The Picture Communication Symbols ©19812009 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.
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