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It is normal to
feel emotional discomfort in response to socially and sexually inappropriate
behaviour. Our own memories of experiences with sexual connotations
colour how we respond to similar encounters with other people, including people who have had head injuries.
Have there been situations where you have felt uncomfortable?
Ways
of dealing with our feelings include:
- talking about what has happened and how we feel to other workers or
a supervisor
-
giving ourselves permission to feel what we feel, i.e. saying
to ourselves, “I
feel quite shaky after what happened,” rather
than saying, “I shouldn’t
feel this way, he/she can’t help behaving like that” or “I’m a professional, I shouldn’t
get upset”
- remembering
that feelings do not have to be acted out, eg. we can feel angry
but may decide not to show the anger to the client if the anger would
be unhelpful
- remembering not to take it personally
-
saying something to reassure ourselves, eg. “It’s over
now”
- using a quick
relaxation procedure to help ourselves calm down, so that one upsetting
event does not contaminate the whole day. A few slow, deep breaths
are
useful for calming down quickly.

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