15/12/2025
As it's Christmas and I like to share my idea, here is another freebie for you,
Trauma-Informed Occupational Therapy Kit that focuses on restoration, grounded in the principles of safety, stabilisation, and reconnection to meaningful life roles.
Here is a structure to reflect a trauma-informed approach:
π‘οΈ The Trauma-Informed OT Repair Kit: Rebuilding Safety and Connection.
Trauma profoundly disrupts a person's relationship with their body, their environment, and their sense of self. The Occupational Therapy approach focuses on regaining physical safety, emotional regulation, and re-entry into meaningful life occupations.
This kit is designed to be used in consultation with a therapist, focusing on stabilisation and gradual re-engagement.
1. Establishing Internal & External Safety (The "I Am Here" Kit)
This module focuses on regulation, grounding, and making the environment feel predictable.
πThe Personalised Sensory Regulation Toolbox:
π Focus: Addressing hyper- or hypo-arousal by recognising the body's warning signals (Interoception).
πͺTool: A curated list of sensory occupations (input activities) tailored to the individual (e.g., deep pressure, specific scents, slow rhythm music, visual anchors). The client actively chooses and uses these tools to move their nervous system back into the "Window of Tolerance" when dysregulated.
π Grounding and Anchoring Routine:
π Focus: Disorientation and dissociation are common trauma responses. This tool helps the client firmly connect to the present moment.
πͺTool: Integrating simple, tactile, and sensory-rich steps into daily routines (Occupations). Examples include mindfully feeling the pressure of feet on the floor when standing up, or focusing on the smell and temperature of a hot drink before starting a task.
πThe Safe Space Inventory:
π Focus: Modifying the home or work environment to maximise feelings of control and safety.
πͺ Tool: An assessment that looks at environmental factors (lighting, noise, placement of exits, proximity to windows). The OT guides the client to implement simple, practical changes that increase their perceived safety (e.g., changing a chair location, adding a lock, minimizing visual clutter).
2. Regaining Control & Choice (The "I Decide" Kit).
Trauma removes choice; recovery restores it, especially regarding one's body and time.
πThe Micro-Choice Menu:
π Focus: Reintroducing small, safe, consistent choices throughout the day to combat feelings of helplessness.
πͺ Tool: A simple list of small, autonomous decisions the client can make when faced with routine (Occupations), such as: "Which music to listen to during hygiene?" "Which route to take for the walk?" "Which color pen to use for journaling?" The repeated act of choosing restores a sense of agency.
π Pacing and Energy Protection Plan:
π Focus: Managing chronic fatigue and hypervigilance without burning out.
πͺ Tool: A visual schedule or activity log that emphasizes planned rest and downtime as essential, productive occupations (not as failure). It helps the client identify and grade the difficulty of their tasks to avoid the 'boom and bust' cycle common in trauma recovery.
π Boundaries of Engagement Script:
π Focus: Asserting needs in social and relational occupations.
πͺ Tool: A collaborative development of simple, non-confrontational scripts for saying "No," for asking for space, or for leaving an overwhelming situation. The focus is on preserving their energy and safety, affirming that their personal limits are valid.
3. Reconnection to Meaning (The "I Am Still Me" Kit)
This module focuses on rebuilding identity and connection through valued roles and occupations.
π Valued Roles Exploration:
π Focus: Identifying and affirming identity outside of the trauma narrative.
πͺTool: A reflective exercise where the client lists the roles they value (e.g., Friend, Parent, Creative, Advocate, Learner). The OT then works to incorporate one small, low-demand occupation related to that role back into the weekly schedule.
π Adaptive Re-entry Planning:
π Focus: Gradually and safely returning to avoided places or activities.
πͺ Tool: Uses principles of Graded Exposure within a safe context. If the client avoids supermarkets, the plan is broken down into tiny, low-threat occupations: sitting in the car park (Week 1), walking past the entrance (Week 2), entering the quietest aisle (Week 3), etc. This is always done with a safety plan and sensory regulation tools on hand.
π Narrative and Occupational Storytelling:
π Focus: Integrating the trauma experience into the life story without letting it define the whole identity.
πͺ Tool: Using a non-verbal occupation (like painting, clay work, gardening, or building) to process and express feelings that words cannot capture. This enables the client to create a new occupational narrative that is oriented toward the future.
This kit emphasizes that recovery is an active process of doing, choosing, and regulating the body, which aligns perfectly with the expertise of Occupational Therapy.
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