This document summarizes a presentation about being trauma-informed during a pandemic for library staff. The presentation discusses how stress affects individuals in stages from personal to public relationships. It also explains how stress can activate "fight, fly, or freeze" responses and shortcuts in the brain. The presentation provides tips for self-care, community care, assuming people are doing their best, encouraging boundaries, and how organizations can share information mindfully and allow space for feelings. The goal is to help staff understand and manage stress during this difficult time.

1. Being Trauma-Informed
During a Pandemic
An Introduction for Library Staff
Bryce Kozla
April 30, 2020

2. Housekeeping
● 50 minutes (time for questions)
● Fidgeting/doodling/knitting welcome!
● Ask questions in the chat

3. Trauma-Informed Care: Like a Car Signal

4. Who here has ever been stressed?

5. “Not another self-care talk!”
● Trained by Trauma-Informed Oregon
● Lived experience; not a medical
professional
● Knows what wonderful, malleable jerks our
brains can be

6. Empathy
● ability to regard someone else as a human being, just like you are
● being able to bear witness to someone else’s struggle and
understanding how they’re feeling through their frame of reference,
not our own
● some of the greatest gifts we can give each other are TIME and
VALIDATION
● When we are stressed, our ability to empathize is affected

7. Stress: Recognizing Where We’re At
Stage 1: In ourselves
Stage 2: In our intimate relationships
Stage 3: In work relationships
Stage 4: In working with patrons and the public

10. Shortcuts to stress
● The same mechanisms that make our day run smoothly can also
adapt to high levels of stress
● Fight, fly, freeze
● Self-preservation technique
● Can be more easily activated long after the threat is gone

11. What is in my individual control? What can I personally do in this
situation to help with stress? Can I reframe my expectations for how this is
going to turn out? --self care
What is in our collective control? What’s within your control as an
organization, as a team, or at home as a family? What collective action
can be taken to mitigate stress? --community care

13. Self Care for the Rest of Us
“Everything is Awful and I’m not Okay: Question to Ask Before Giving Up”
By Tumblr user Sinope
“YouFeelLikeSh**.com” a micro-self-care game

14. Community Care
● It’s not just on individuals to make sure we’re surviving
● We are more interdependent than we think
● Helping others is one way to mitigate our own stress

15. Assume that everyone is doing their best
Underdeployment
Encouraging Boundaries
Leading by Example

16. Other Tips for Organizations
● Share crisis-related info in a staff-inclusive way
● Be mindful of sharing stats or shocking news about COVID
○ “Content: COVID-19”
● Allow space for feelings
● Be as predictable as possible

17. Fun fact:
You might not remember this presentation
due to stress!
I probably won’t!
Good thing it’s being recorded!

18. Hang in there
I believe in you
Be well
Thank you

19. Questions?
Bryce Kozla
brycekozla@gmail.com
https://brycekozlablog.blogspot.com/
Artist: KC Green